This area is designed to provide information and resources to help you successfully support, supervise and assess physiotherapy students in the practice setting.
If there is any information that you think would be useful to add, please contact Kimberley Paget: [email protected].
View the MSc welcome pack (PDF)
View the degree apprenticeship welcome pack (PDF)
It is the responsibility of learners to notify their placement if they are not able to attend. Learners must ensure that they formally notify the placement area, using the correct local procedures, if they're unable to attend placement for any reason.
Good practice is to call before the shift is due to start and learners should ensure that a that a record is kept of the name of the person spoken with and the date/time of the phone call. Learners must follow their placement provider's policies, and this may include calling in on each day they are not attending placement (unless they have a medical certificate which indicates they will be off sick for a period).
The learner then records their absence in the MyProgress ePAD.
ARU offers two programmes:
Both enable registration with the HCPC to practice as a physiotherapist.
Students are assessed using the CSP Common Placement Assessment Form (CPAF).
Students on the MSc programme are assessed at Level 6.
Degree apprenticeship students are assessed: Year 1 Level 4, Year 2 Level 5, and Year 3 Level 6.
Example MSc Physiotherapy CPAF Level 4 (PDF)
Example MSc Physiotherapy CPAF Level 5 (PDF)
Example MSc Physiotherapy CPAF Level 6 (PDF)
Educators can access assessment documents on ePad and will complete the CPAF and students' timesheets.
In collaboration with our placement provider partners, we have developed an online workshop to prepare you to become a Practice Educator for an ARU student. A Practice Educator is a registered healthcare professional who is responsible for student supervision and assessment.
Access the course and find out more about the latest Practice Educator updates.
If a learner has been assessed and identified as at risk of failing, it is important to identify their learning needs and develop an action plan for working in your area of practice.
An action plan is a tool that can be utilised to set goals for behaviours and performance whilst creating discussion and a clear focus between the University, the educator and the learner.
An action plan should ideally identify learning outcomes that have not been met thus far; learning activities required to meet targets; identifying support needed; agreed timescales and evidence needed to prove development (Walsh, 2014).
The visiting tutor should be contacted first and the action plan completed collaboratively with the learner, educator and the visiting tutor.
The risk of failure documentation and action plan should be completed on ePad.
An action plan should be regularly reviewed at agreed points to ensure the learner is making progress. Using an action plan can support the learner to achieve their goals, or provide evidence as to why a learner has failed to achieve their set learning outcomes or developed sufficiently despite support.
A review date should be set in the initial meeting and agreed by the practice educator, visiting tutor and the learner. These reviews should take place weekly until the student is performing at the required level or has failed the placement.
Documentation relating to the review of action plan is completed on ePad.
If you are concerned about the immediate well-being or emotional health of an ARU learner, you should raise a concern directly with the ARU wellbeing service.
You do not need the consent of the learner to raise a concern with the wellbeing team. The wellbeing team aims to contact the learner the same day.
Call 01223 69 8276 OR 01245 68 4271
During university open hours, educators are advised to contact the learners named visiting tutor. Alternatively for an urgent response please email: [email protected]
If the University is closed and you have an urgent learner concern, that cannot wait until the university re-opens, please use the contact numbers below to speak to university staff urgently:
Clinical practice is a fundamental aspect of the development of professionalism, with clinical assessors responsible for the assessment of competence which establishes a student's fitness for practice. This is mirrored within the academic environment with Personal Tutors playing a key role in the development of educational proficiency and professional behaviour within the university setting.
Therefore, to ensure a holistic approach to the assessment and management of student professionalism between the practice learning setting and academic institution, our intention is to include a transparent monitoring and recording system that supports the identification of low and higher-level concerns.
The LiP process is a mechanism to report and action any unprofessional behaviour during the student’s period of registration. When a lapse is reported, this will trigger actions between key stakeholders to award tariff points to develop a facilitative action plan together with the student before they lead to more significant fitness to practice issues.