Singapore's perspective on applied learning in occupational therapy: beyond clinical practice education

ABSTRACT

The occupational therapy education programme in Singapore strives very much to link theory to practice throughout the curriculum. While it is commonly understood that applied learning will occur during fieldwork/clinical placement or what we term clinical practice education (CPE), the case studies describe educational methods employed to facilitate theory-practice-reflection cycle in innovative ways that are grounded in occupational therapy's significant roles in effecting community participation. The first example is about teaching clinics where students learn from service users such as persons with disability or individuals with mental health issues within services sited in the community. These teaching clinics are jointly facilitated by academic staff and service users who help to make links between practice and learning objectives from academic modules as well as personal feedback of service users on actions of students. The second example focusses students on occupational participation. Individuals with physical disability are hired as community teachers for students to follow and observe them perform daily occupations such as taking public transport, shopping and work in the community. Such learning activities promotes occupation-focussed and client-centred practice while helping students develop empathy, and a more holistic understanding towards disability.

KEYWORDS:

• Applied learning
• teaching clinic
• reflective learning
• experiential learning
• service user involvement