Foundations for Paramedic Education

Abstract

Having laid a basis for the bread-and-butter of clinical teaching (skills, assessment and feedback), the next two chapters delve into what clinical education means for both educator and student. This chapter considers the role of the health professions educator, how the perceived role is tied to identity constructions and how it informs the tasks at hand. Education is a complex phenomenon, with learners bringing individual needs, strengths and tendencies to the interaction. Clinical practice is also highly variable, resulting in the need to apply principles adaptively, according to the patient’s needs and the unique situation. Clinical education in this context is an infinite task. There are innumerable variables, and the results from a single action within that system of variables cannot be predicted. If an educator perceives that their role is a finite one, however, they will be more inclined to apply a pre-determined approach to the education interaction, and expect a predictable outcome in response. The standardisation of teaching and clinical practice, as described by Pasi Sahlberg’s Global Education Reform Movement (GERM), is offered as an established example to argue that the health industry can no longer recruit educators to teach on that basis alone.