1. PEER COACHING AMONGST STUDENTS IN THE WORKPLACE Patricia Turnbull FHSCE & Claudine Wetherall FMS

2. BACKGROUND Students must undertake 2300 hours of work place learning across 3 years. A range of work place experiences are required. Specific professional body practice competencies must be achieved in each workplace. A qualified mentor in each workplace is allocated to each student to provide support and undertake assessment of competence. Workplace Requirements WW

3. BACKGROUND Student Experience Treated as a ‘pair of hands’ – supernumerary status is often ignored. Working with untrained staff for majority of their placement experience. Environment can be hostile, with some staff refusing to support students. Experience depends on attitude, knowledge and skill of mentor. Junior students leaving the course due to lack of support in the workplace

4. BACKGROUND Variable quality of support for students in the workplace Educational needs of students in the workplace Vs Professional responsibilities of employees Workforce shortages Mentorship viewed as burdensome Key Tensions

5. BACKGROUND Lead MentorMentorsCoaches Piloted in 8 work place settings across Essex, Cambridge and Peterborough Support of students in the workplace has become everyone’s responsibility Clear educational focus with students setting a daily learning goal with a coach ENHANCED PRACTICE SUPPORT FRAMEWORK

6. Anglia Ruskin University Student Coaching Log Topic Goal Reality Options Way Forward Signature Coach Date Provides guidance for the daily goal to be achieved by the student. Student's responsibility to complete documentation. Coach's responsibility to sign document to agree accuracy of student's notes. The coaching log provides written evidence that the mentor can review and also acts as a record of the student's experience. Only the coach -a registered professional- can sign the student coaching log

7. COACHING USING THE T-GROW MODEL Topic....Tell me what you want to gain from today and how this fits with your stage of training? Goal.... What is your actual goal for this shift? Reality.... What experience do you have related to this already? Options.....What is available / happening today that will support you in achieving this goal? What options do we have? Way Forward.......What else could you have considered today? What do you think you would do differently next time? How can you further improve? TopicGoal Options Reality Way Forward

8. What did students (N=46) say ?........ 89% considered their experience to be good or excellent. 81% received daily feedback on their learning and believed their learning to have been focused. Final year students considered their experience would have been enhanced by having the opportunity to coach a junior colleague to prepare them for their future role as a registered practitioner.

9. Peer Coaching in the Literature Growing recognition of potential advantages of Peer Coaching (Aston & Mollassiotis 2003,Moore et al 2003,Christiansen & Bell 2009, Stone et al 2013,Pegram & Fordham –Clarke 2015) Benefits: Increased self confidence and decreased anxiety when learning in workplace environments. Promotes integration in to workplace setting and teams. Interaction mutually beneficial to both parties. Challenges: Preparation for teaching/facilitation role Appropriate pairing of students

10. ARU Pilot : Preparing students for peer coaching Peer coaching piloted in 8 areas in Essex between September 2015 and December 2015 (Years 1 & 2 = Junior Students, Year 3 = Senior Students) Students prepared for the experience through a 2 hour workshop with content bespoke for level of year. Agreement received from organisation managers. Senior staff in each area contacted and made aware. Bi monthly visits to areas by the research team. Data collected through the use of anonymised questionnaires. Data analysed using SPSS software and thematic analysis. Number of Participants = 28Number of Respondents = 25Response Rate 89% Year 1 = 7Year 1 = 686% Year 2 = 7Year 2 = 571% Year 3 = 14 100%

11. Findings :Junior Students Personal Support

12. Personal Support ‘Felt that my coach was able to support me with the smallest of things that I was finding a little hard to get my head around, like reading documentation and what it was for, there was no presumption that I was able to undertake any task, each task was broken down into smaller achievable learning experiences. I was being reassured throughout each day I spent with my coach’. ‘I felt more confident to ask questions and the help I got was given to me from a student’s perspective’.

13. Findings: Junior Students Integration into the Workplace

14. Findings: Junior Students Development of knowledge and skills

15. Use of the Coaching Log in Development of Knowledge and Skills ‘It gave me a focus for the day and I felt like I had achieved something at the end of it instead of spending the time with the HCA’s’. ‘Setting a goal meant that I was able to achieve a specific skill on that day for the amount of time I had with my coach’. ‘This was very helpful. The first time I felt my practice experience was also an educational experience. I was focussing on my practice outcomes’.

16. Findings: Junior Students Five words to describe the experience ‘brilliant’, ‘helpful’, ‘supportive’, ‘friendly’, ‘focused’, ‘developmental’ ‘encouraging’ ‘engaging’, ‘good experience’, ‘educational’ ‘worthwhile’ ‘challenging’ ‘different’ ‘insightful’ ‘confidence’ ‘inspiration’ ‘enjoyable’ ‘wanted a real mentor’ ‘safe’ ‘less pressurised’

17. Findings: Senior Students Professional Development

18. Findings: Senior Students Development of knowledge and skills to support clinical practice

19. Findings Senior Students: Development of teaching Skills Development of teaching skills.YesNo The opportunity to practise teaching. 14 (100%) 0 (0%) The opportunity to practise skilful questioning. 12 (86%) 2 (14%) The opportunity to gain a little insight into aspects of mentorship. 14 (100%) 0 (0%) The opportunity to provide constructive feedback to a junior student. 13 (93%) 1 (7%)

20. Challenges in supporting junior students Time: ‘It wasn’t always easy to get to work with my student. We had different days off and I had to keep asking her mentor to let us have some time to work together. We got there but it was a challenge’. Resistance from staff/Workplace pressures: ‘ Some staff wanted us to work with them to get through the work and maybe did not view this as important. My mentor kept having to remind them that we had agreed to do this as part of a project’.

21. Findings: Senior Students Five words to describe coaching a junior student ‘excellent’ ‘rewarding’, ‘supportive’, ‘educational’, ‘worthwhile’, ‘developmental’ ‘challenging’ ‘being a role model’ ‘insightful’ ‘skills’, ‘practice’ ‘confidence’ ‘enjoyable’ ‘fun’ ‘interesting’. ‘made me think about what I knew and what I was doing’ ‘all final year students should do this’ ‘student not really responsive’

22. Conclusion Within a challenging environment senior students can provide meaningful support for junior colleagues. Junior students valued the protected learning time. Personal and professional development experienced by both groups. Leadership and prioritisation skills are enhanced through peer coaching.

23. Conclusion The ethos of peer coaching requires recognition and support in the workplace. Mentors need to monitor the ability of senior students undertaking coaching. Students will benefit from understanding learning styles and practising teaching in the classroom setting prior to undertaking peer coaching in the workplace.

24. Questions to consider Should peer coaching be part of the solution to supporting the development of students in workplace settings where resources are limited? What would be the drawbacks of using peer coaching as a key component of student support in the workplace? How could we instil the attributes of coaching /facilitation of peers in the classroom setting? Would having a formalised peer coaching system make our courses more attractive to applicants? Does peer coaching offer any potential to reduce attrition rates through dissatisfaction in the workplace?

25. References Aston, L,Mollasiotis,M (2003) Supervising and supporting student nurses in Clinical placements: The peer support initiative. Nurse Education Today,23, 202-210. Christiansen, A Bell, A (2010) Peer Learning Partnerships :exploring the experience of Pre- registration nursing students. Journal Clinical Nursing, 19,pp 803-810. Moore, A et al (2003) Evaluation of Physiotherapy clinical education models:Comparing1:1,2:1 and 3:1 placements. Physiotherapy 89,8,489-501. Pegram, A, Fordham-Clarke, C (2015) Implementing Peer Learning to prepare students for OCSCEs. British Journal of Nursing.24(21) pp1060-1065. Stone, R, Cooper, C, Cant, R (2013)The value of peer learning in Undergraduate Nursing Education: A Systematic Review: ISRN Nursing 2013.doi10.1155/2013/930901.