Reache North West – Applying transition pedagogy principles to Refugee Healthcare Professionals and International Medical Students/Graduates

Transition pedagogy has a wider application of practice outside of the first year higher education experience. International Medical Graduates (IMGs) who have qualified in a country other than the one they may be undertaking further training or practice can also benefit from a scaffolded approach to their transition to education and work. Reache North West provides a transition programme of education and training into working in the UK National Health Service (NHS) for refugee and asylum seeking healthcare professionals that has wider applications for international undergraduate medical students and international medical graduates (IMGs)

Engaging students from a collaborative partnership in Sri Lanka

Transnational higher education and collaborative partnerships are a growing trend in UK higher education institutes (Baskerville, 2013). The exponential growth described by Naidoo (2008) can be seen beyond the UK in a global context, though there are limited statistics to quantify this (British Council, 2013). The University of Bolton is no exception with 32 collaborative partnerships, with 17 of those outside of the UK. Providing a comparable experience for students being taught in collaborative centres is a challenging concept dependent on a variety of factors including delivery mode, the quality of training, resources and support available. Cultural and pedagogical challenges also arise (Smith, 2014) alongside logistical challenges and appropriate infrastructural developments. This poster addresses both the ‘student’ and ‘success’ elements of the conference in relation to who the students are, their needs and engaging the students in their expectations and realities. Findings from a pilot scheme that used semi-structured interviews to engage students studying at a collaborative partner in Sri Lanka will discuss the student identity, engagement from students, and how to engage more with this group of students to provide a comparable student experience

Reach North West; 10-year Evaluation Report

As Reache North West approaches its first decade it was felt that it was time to re-evaluate the programme and its journey. An external report was produced in 2006 and much has changed in the intervening period. It was felt that it was appropriate to use similar models of evaluation as the 2006 report, as it allows a comparable evaluation with regards to the contextual placement of Reache. The evaluation in this report differs from the 2006 report as it does not engage with the current membership body, but instead engages with those who have gone through the programme and have successfully gained employment, therefore being able to give a more informed review of Reache North West and its programme of study

Reache North West: education and training for refugee healthcare professionals in the UK, and the development of language and communication skills training

My original contribution to the body of knowledge is a portfolio of evidence which includes: • An evaluation of Reache (Refugee and Asylum seekers Centre for Healthcare professionals Education) North West using a PEST (Political, Economic, Social and Technological) analysis and Thematic Content Analysis of semi-structured interviews which led to the development of the Reache North West model of education and training for refugee healthcare professionals. • The development of a course entitled Safe and Effective Clinical Communication Skills and the dissemination of this course via conference posters, oral presentations and a published journal article. In the case of the conference posters, the course was identified as good practice on two occasions. • A business case which led to the development of the Salford Communication and Language Assessment Resource (SCoLAR). This thesis analyses and critically appraises the action research, ideas, reports and publications, from 10 years of organizational experience. This also includes over ten years of personal experience teaching and managing education programmes for international students, and over four years of working with refugee healthcare professionals, assisting them in returning to their professional role in the UK. The evaluation of Reache North West sought to answer the research question ‘Are we effectively preparing refugee doctors for work in the NHS?’ Although there were only 5 respondents the evaluation answered this question positively. Also discussed is the process for the development of the safe and effective clinical communication course and the difficulty in this course to other groups of internationally trained doctors. My observations and experience of working with International Medical Graduates who have encountered language and communication difficulties are also discussed with the acknowledgement that more robust research processes are needed for future research

Students as Partners in E-Content Creation: A case study exploring student-staff partnership for learning and student engagement using digital applications for co-creation of e-learning materials.

In order to enable learners to take control of their learning needs and actively contribute in their learning processes, educators can partner with students in various reciprocal student-staff partnership (SSP) settings where students can be co-creators, co-producers, curators or co-deliverers of the curriculum. This case study, undertaken to enhance the curriculum as part of teaching qualification, places emphasis on educators partnering with first-year undergraduate students over e-content creation within an existing module using readily accessible digital applications in order to promote active learning in students and improve student engagement. The extent to which SSP as an approach to the creation of e-learning materials using digital applications, enhanced learning and student engagement in an existing module, was evaluated. Results indicated, students’ perceived SSP to be an excellent platform for learning, actively engaging in the classroom as well as for developing various skills. However, some concerns were expressed with regards to overcoming the power hierarchy barrier within an SSP initiative