Previous Practice Placements

My student has completed other practice placements. Shouldn't I be able to expect more?

Even if your student has had previous placements, they will be encountering completely new experiences in the new context of your workplace.

The student may be able to generalise some of the skills and behaviours developed on previous practice placements - particularly those described in domains 1-5. Students who come to you with previous placement experience may even show growth in these skills. However, even when students have established skills that they can draw upon, their knowledge of how to use them in the new context of your workplace, with its unique organisational culture, will need time to develop.

The ability to draw upon previous experience is much less likely for skills described in domains 6-8 where your student is likely to be encountering completely new skills in a new context.
 

Compare the following

• Completing a standardised developmental assessment of a 2-year-old girl with Down Syndrome in her own home.
• Completing a preliminary interview with a middle-aged man with schizophrenia in an acute mental health setting.

These are very different experiences, and undertaking one may not necessarily help you be proficient at the other. Yet these are both information gathering processes that may be evaluated using Information Gathering (Direct Service Provision), Item 3.

Just because students have completed previous practice placements it does not mean they will necessarily be proficient with the specific behaviours and skills required in your workplace.

Should I have higher expectations of final year students?

Listen to a practice educator respond to this question.
Transcript.