Unit rationale, description and aim
This unit is the final Professional Practice unit and enables students to apply their knowledge and skills from all previous theoretical and professional practice units to demonstrate readiness to enter the profession.
In this unit, students undertake a professional practice experience, consolidating their knowledge and skills in assessment, analysis and interpretation, intervention planning and implementation of intervention. To meet the SPA requirement that students have an experience with a different population from their penultimate placement students will work with a different population in this unit.
This unit contains a learning outcome from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework (HCF, 2014) specifically addressing the HCF cultural capability-Self Reflexivity.
Students will demonstrate skills in professional conduct, reflective practice and lifelong learning, showing transferability of skills and knowledge across contexts and populations.
The aim of this unit is to enable students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in working with clients or communities across the continuum of care, at the level required for entry into the profession, enabling a successful transition into the workforce.
Finally, Honours students will have further opportunity to demonstrate their developing skills in critical analysis, evaluation and translation of research literature to speech pathology practice.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Demonstrate professional, ethical, and evidence-ba...
Learning Outcome 01
Integrate theoretical knowledge and skills to enga...
Learning Outcome 02
Critically reflect on the transferability of knowl...
Learning Outcome 03
Critically analyse, evaluate and translate researc...
Learning Outcome 04
Design practical strategies to enable ongoing self...
Learning Outcome 05
Content
Topics will include:
Competency and Range of Practice Areas of focus:
· Skills required for entry to the profession
· Assimilating and applying previously learnt knowledge and skills to workplace settings, populations and practice areas.
Professional Conduct (Domain 1)
· The role of speech pathologists in advocating for consumers and the profession.
· Ethical challenges and the Speech Pathology Australia Code of Ethics.
· Independent use of sound EBP processes to support professional reasoning and decision-making
· Communication which demonstrates professional reasoning and professional and clinical knowledge and skills
· Communicating with the consumer, family and support members, and other professionals in practice
· Working collaboratively and respectfully when working in teams
Reflective Practice and Lifelong learning (Domain 2)
· Using critical reflection skills independently in clinical practice beyond graduation.
· Professionalism
· Identification of points of difference as a graduate speech pathologist of ACU
· Reflect on future opportunities to apply learnt knowledge and skills.
· Using Critical reflection to develop goals for professional development.
· Using reflexivity to guide culturally responsive practice
Speech Pathology Practice (Domain 3)
· Time and caseload management.
· Service delivery models.
Assessment strategy and rationale
Assessment 1 Professional practice competency assessment: This ungraded hurdle assessment evaluates the minimum professional and clinical competencies required for the placement experience. Demonstrating these competencies is essential to support safe, ethical, and effective practice. Students need to achieve a “Satisfactory” for this task with one attempt to pass this hurdle.
Assessment 2: Critical analysis of research literature: This ungraded hurdle assessment requires students to produce evidence of having critically analysed and evaluated research literature to transform speech pathology practice. As students transition towards graduate practice, they are expected to identify service improvements, evaluate the evidence supporting current approaches, and make informed recommendations. Students will need to achieve a 'Satisfactory' for this task with two attempts to pass this hurdle.
Assessment 3: Professional development plan and reflective statement: This ungraded hurdle task provides evidence of the ability to critically reflect on performance with increasing breadth and depth applying insights to future professional growth. This professional competency is fundamental to lifelong learning. Students need to achieve a “Satisfactory” for this task with two attempts to pass this hurdle.
To pass the unit, students must demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome, attend all allocated placement days/hours, and pass all the hurdle tasks.
Overview of assessments
Assessment 1: Professional Practice Compete...
Assessment 1: Professional Practice Competency Assessment
This task enables students to complete a Professional Practice Placement and demonstrate:
• Completion of mandatory tasks
• A grade on COMPASS at entry level
Ungraded
Hurdle
(pass/fail)
Assessment 2: Critical analysis of research liter...
Assessment 2: Critical analysis of research literature
This task enables students to undertake a critical analysis of research literature to improve or modify practice.
Ungraded
Hurdle
(pass/fail)
Assessment 3: Professional Development Plan and R...
Assessment 3: Professional Development Plan and Reflective Statement
This task enables students to prepare a professional development plan outlining learning goals, activities and timeframes for completion which will allow for critical reflection of learning on placement.
Ungraded hurdle
(pass/fail)
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This is the final professional practice unit, and as such, is the final opportunity for students to gain workplace exposure prior to entering the profession. The blended approach to this unit acknowledges that students will be experiencing a range of contexts, supervision styles and practice areas and populations throughout the semester.
The professional practice experiences are conducted external to the University or within on-campus speech pathology clinics. These experiences are integral to the development of speech pathology skills, knowledge and attitudes within a ‘real world’ context. Students are supervised by qualified speech pathologists who support learning and development of competencies. In addition to the professional practice experiences, students will engage in learning activities including tutorials, group and individual discussions, self-directed learning activities and assessment tasks. These activities foster peer learning, reflective practice, professional reasoning and shared problem solving, and expose students to workplace contexts which they might not individually experience.
All content is designed to assist the development of students’ professional skill and identity as a speech pathologist, reflecting their readiness to enter the profession.