Welcome to the SPEF-R2 Flexible training package.

The SPEF-R2 Project Team, in collaboration with the SPEF and SPEF-R development teams before it, are excited to introduce you to the Student Practice Evaluation Form – Revised (Second Edition) (SPEF-R2), and to welcome you to the SPEF-R2 Training website.

The SPEF-R2 Update

In the years since the SPEF-R was released, the occupational therapy landscape in Australia has evolved significantly. Occupational therapy practice areas and service delivery models have continued to expand. Practice placement approaches have become more diverse, with innovative practice education solutions becoming commonplace, and emerging areas of practice creating new opportunities for occupational therapy service delivery. It was clear that the content needed to be reviewed and refined to make the SPEF-R tool more contemporary and relevant to the current health care environment. Adding further complexity was the release of the Australian Occupational Therapy Competency Standards (AOTCS) in February 2018 (Occupational Therapy Board of Australia, 2018).

Mapping of the SPEF-R to the AOTCS (2018) resulted in a series of additions, amendments and revisions in order to improve correlation between the tool and the standards. The project team built upon these with further suggestions based on years of experience and research with the tool. Consistent with both the SPEF and SPEF-R development, the SPEF-R2 process has involved extensive stakeholder consultation. The draft SPEF-R2 was distributed nationally for consultation and feedback amongst occupational therapy academics, practice educators and students from all Australian states. Responses from more than 200 clinicians and university staff, in addition to more than 60 students enabled the project team to identify key trends for reworking the tool. Further refinement of the draft SPEF-R2 occurred in 2019 through additional consultation with the SPEF-R2 Project Team and the SPEF-R2 Reference Group – resulting in the SPEF-Revised (Second Edition) Package – otherwise known as the SPEF-R2.

Piloting and Launch of the SPEF-R2

The Draft SPEF-R2 was piloted in late 2019 and early 2020 across six states and territories by public and private clinical occupational therapists and university practice educators spanning a wide variety of practice settings and contexts. This process was followed up with stakeholder feedback and consultation via focus groups undertaken in early 2020. This led to a handful of final amendments, additions and clarifications included within the final SPEF-R2.

 

"Very, very pleased with re-wording of all the sections. So much clearer to understand and differentiate between the different sections. I foresee this being much easier for students to understand and see how they can meet each of the domains.”  - Practice Educator

 

Updating the SPEF-R2 Training Site

One of the common themes of the SPEF-R update, SPEF-R2 development and indeed the SPEF-R2 Pilot was that there were many therapists who were uncertain how best to use and apply the SPEF-R/SPEF-R2 – whether it was due to insufficient or inadequate training in its use; using it in isolation from the tool’s User Manual; or simply not having sufficient knowledge and context around the design and purpose of the tool. In light of this, the SPEF-R2 Project Team updated the SPEF-R2 Manual and also this training website.

Please use this site to get to know the SPEF-R2, how to use it, how not to use it, and what part you can play in optimising student practice education both now and into the future.

For further context and on background the development of the original SPEF-R Training Site (upon which this site is based), please have a read of Associate Professor Sylvia Rodgers' original welcome message below.