Student education
Student education
Feature with key concepts such as quality, patient safety and patient experience.
This placement encouraged a shift in perspective, moving beyond hands-on clinical delivery to consider broader aspects of healthcare leadership and service improvement.
The placement model included two days a week embedded in clinical teams, where students led projects rooted in everyday practice. These included producing a video to promote the role of occupational therapists across mental health, physical health and learning disabilities, and mapping services against rehabilitation standards to identify improvements for community-based care. The remaining three days were spent with a range of AHPs in non-patient-facing roles, focusing on leadership behaviours, patient safety and professional identity.
Highlights included speaking at a careers expo for 15-year-olds, to promote occupational therapy, participating in a reflective workshop on leadership behaviours, and engaging in‘ 20-minute conversations’ with AHPs across diverse roles.
Cohort one( July 2024) experienced a five-week hybrid model, with 80 % of learning delivered virtually. Students collaborated on a project to create films for Allied Health Professions Day, attended senior AHP meetings, and received structured supervision.
While the virtual format offered flexibility and breadth, students noted a need for stronger links to clinical practice. Leadership education was provided throughout the placement, including reflective practice and observing leadership behaviours in practice.
For cohort two( early 2025), the placement model was altered in response to feedback. The placement was extended to six weeks and included two days a week in a clinical base, where students led service improvement projects aligned with community rehabilitation standards.
The remaining time focused on leadership education, reflective practice and exposure to nonclinical AHP roles, such as Freedom to Speak Up and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion leads.
More focus was aligned to leadership behaviours, the communication skills of the learners and how the skills they were learning could be used across clinical practice.
Creating the conditions for OTs to grow
Occupational therapy students thrived when leadership learning was grounded in real-world practice.
They applied the core occupational therapy skills of communication, reflection and collaboration to lead change. They explored how their leadership pillar worked alongside the other pillars of practice and how it could strengthen the clinical pillar that they were mostly focused upon.
They explored how leadership complements and strengthens the clinical pillar of practice and how their behaviours could shape outcomes for individuals and services alike.
A key moment in their development was attending a multi-professional trust preceptorship study day on leadership, which showcased the link between early career development and preceptorship. This experience helped students understand that once qualified, they would be expected and supported to engage in service improvement and project work from the outset of their careers. Key enablers included:
• Weekly supervision with an OT in a senior AHP leadership position.
• Reflective practice linked to Health and Care Professions Council standards, ending with a personal learning journey presentation.
• Project-based learning and a final presentation of the outcome.
• Exposure to system-level roles beyond traditional clinical settings.
• Multi-professional learning alongside physiotherapy peers and the wider multidisciplinary team.
• Supportive clinical occupational therapy teams guiding the project work.
• Group and project specific supervision to provide multiple avenues for feedback.
• Peer learning and shared reflection.
• Multiprofessional preceptorship study day on leadership.
Students reported a noticeable boost in their confidence across key areas including leadership, time management, interprofessional collaboration and professional behaviours. They demonstrated clear growth across all four pillars of practice and were able to articulate strong, reflective evidence to support their placement assessments.
What stood out most was their personal development. Each occupational therapy student left the placement with greater confidence, maturity and a clearer sense of how their leadership skills would support them in applying for their first roles.
Growth through experience beyond the classroom
At the outset, not all students were enthusiastic about the leadership placement. Some expressed disappointment at not being assigned to a traditional hands-on clinical setting.
September 2025 OTnews 43