Using Learning Contracts in Fieldwork Education: the Views of Occupational Therapy Students and those Responsible for their Supervision

Occupational therapy students at the University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, use learning contracts during fieldwork placements. A learning contract is a practical agreement between the student and the fieldwork educator, which is designed to take account of the student's individual learning needs. Studies have considered the value of using learning contracts within health care settings; however, there is little evidence available of their use with occupational therapy students and fieldwork educators.

The aims of this study were to consider occupational therapy students' and fieldwork educators' opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of learning contracts and to identify how contracts were used in the fieldwork setting. A further aim was to identify the attitudes of students and fieldwork educators towards the educational theory — andragogy – underpinning learning contracts.

A postal questionnaire was used to gather information from a year group of 46 occupational therapy students and the 52 fieldwork educators responsible for their supervision. The respondents suggested a number of advantages and disadvantages of using learning contracts and most respondents had positive attitudes towards andragogical theory. The study found that the majority of the respondents supported the use of learning contracts in fieldwork settings and further research is recommended.

Conclusion and recommendations

Learning contracts can be used to apply the theory of andragogy to the fieldwork component of health care courses. Some research has looked at the use of contracts in clinical settings; however, research that took account of the views of occupational therapists and occupational therapy students was not found when reviewing the literature.

Overall, the study is supportive of research that suggests that learning contracts can be a useful tool in fostering independent learning and the skills of self-evaluation. However, when interpreting the findings, it needs to be taken into account that the study focused on one group of occupational therapy students from one particular problem-based learning course. In view of this, the following recommendations are made: