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That can be essential for people who haven ’ t had contact with a higher education institution since they trained .
At face value , a lack of teaching experience among even the most successful staff in practice seems like the biggest issue . But universities are now used to having to recruit staff who don ’ t have any experience , and then investing in their teaching skills once they are in post .
Still , the issue points to the big divide between practice and academic routes . How can people in practice test the waters of academia and see if it is a good fit for them before committing to it ?
‘ I think the world of academia is more flexible than some people think ,’ says Dorothea , ‘ but one
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One of the delights of occupational therapy is the diversity of career opportunities it presents , and moving into academia may be a new avenue for people to explore as they consider their career options .
thing we would like to see is more flexibility and more opportunities for people in practice to get some teaching or research experience , rather than having to make that complete change .
‘ I think there are lots of people who would like to combine some practice with some research and teaching , rather than doing completely one or the other . More flexibility in the career structure would be fantastic .’
For those with no experience , that could involve shadowing staff ; for those with particular skills , it could include guest teaching . Secondments and research projects that cut across practice and academia offer other routes in – COVID-19 has prompted a large array of research opportunities right now .
Building up experience by supervising students in your workplace also helps to gain a foothold on what working with future professionals could look like . And if you are not sure what skills are involved in academia , take a look at some job adverts to see how you match them and what you may need to work on .
Occupational therapists have also tended to do well in clinical academic roles . While they remain small in number , they offer alternatives to the binary of having to choose between practice and academia – although they are patchily spread across the country , with some organisations viewing the hours , supervision arrangements and contracting as difficult to implement .
‘ Lots or organisations are really keen and want to increase these routes , so there is a big window of opportunity ,’ says Dorothea .
What can you do now ? So if you are interested in checking out your possibilities in academia , what can you do ? ‘ It can help to contact and talk with some people in the sector ,’ says Dorothea . ‘ Often they are much more approachable than you might think , and they often have had interesting career paths that are not straightforward at all .
‘ Finding mentors and role models who you can learn from and be encouraged by can really help you .’
Of course , the timing for this will not be ideal for lots of occupational therapists , and even less so for managers , as COVID-19 has prompted unprecedented workloads and staffing pressures on the frontline .
But with the end of the pandemic now something we can start to grasp on to as an idea , that poses new opportunities too . Says Dorothea : ‘ I know that ’ s a difficult point and managers may think , “ I have to fill these hours and can ’ t let people go ”, but it ’ s so important to let staff try things out and let them develop , let them have secondments , and at the end of the day it ’ ll all benefit the profession , as difficult as that may be .’
Adds Carolyn : ‘ One of the delights of occupational therapy is the diversity of career opportunities it presents , and moving into academia may be a new avenue for people to explore as they consider their career options .’
Says Dorothea : ‘ Academia is part of the profession and not something separate that we can just forget about in practice . It ’ s often difficult to think that way as you think about the immediate here and now , but for us the wish is that it is seen more as part of one system that links together .’
Andrew Mickel , OTnews journalist , email : andrew . mickel @ rcot . co . uk . Read the report at : www . bit . do / CoDH-academic-workforce
28 OTnews February 2021