| Summary: | Universities, students, and employers have been reported to “...live in
parallel universes” due to a lack of shared expectations (Mourshed, Farrell,
& Barton, 2012, p.18). Therefore, it is not surprising that anecdotal reports
of a gap between the expectations and preferences of current university
students and the staff involved in their fieldwork education have been raised
with and by Curtin University staff. The majority of students currently
attending university have been classified as ‘millennials’. To optimise
millennial students’ learning and transition to practice – be that through
fieldwork placements or entry into the workforce – all staff involved in the
education of millennial students need to understand the attitudes, values,
and preferences of this population. While millennials are the most studied
generation to date (National Chamber Foundation, 2012), minimal literature
exists which has explored millennial students within the context of fieldwork.
To address this gap, the overarching aim of this project was to gain an
increased understanding of allied health millennial students to facilitate
their engagement, learning, and hence success within placements and
ultimately enhance their employability in the 21st Century workplace.
Following a scoping review of the literature, focus groups with millennial
students, millennial clinical educators and non-millennial clinical educators
were held in July and August, 2017. Participants represented a range
of allied health disciplines, including physiotherapy, speech pathology,
nursing, and radiation therapy.
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