Qualitative study of social and healthcare educators' perceptions of their competence in education

Competent educators are needed to ensure that social and healthcare professionals are effective and highly competent. However, there is too little evidence-based knowledge of current and required enhancements of educators' competences in this field. The aim of this study was to describe social and healthcare educators' perceptions of their competence in education. The study had a qualitative design, based on interviews with educators and rooted in critical realism. Forty-eight participants were recruited from seven universities of applied sciences and two vocational colleges in Finland, with the assistance of contact persons nominated by the institutions. The inclusion criterion for participation was employment by an educational institution as a part-time or full-time, social and/or healthcare educator. Data were collected in the period February-April 2018. The participants were interviewed in 16 focus groups with two to five participants per group. The acquired data were subjected to inductive content analysis, which yielded 506 open codes, 48 sub-categories, nine categories and one main category. The educators' competence was defined as a multidimensional construct, including categories of educators' competences in practicing as an educator, subject, ethics, pedagogy, management and organisation, innovation and development, collaboration, handling cultural and linguistic diversity, and continuous professional development. Educators recognised the need for developing competence in innovation to meet rapid changes in a competitive and increasingly global sociopolitical environment. Enhancement of adaptability to rapid changes was recognised as a necessity. The findings have social value in identifying requirements to improve social and healthcare educators' competence by helping educational leadership to improve educational standards, construct a continuous education framework and create national and/or international curricula for teacher education degree programs to enhance the quality of education. We also suggest that educational leadership needs to establish, maintain and strengthen collaborative strategies to provide effective, adaptable support systems, involving educators and students, in their working practices

Continuing professional development among social- and health-care educators

Abstract Future social- and health-care educators will be required to have versatile competence in educating professionals that reflects both the constantly changing health-care environment and delivery of high-quality patient care. Continuing professional development can be defined as a process that aims to increase educators’ competence and well-being, along with the effectiveness of an organisation. This study aimed to describe educators’ continuing professional development and clarify the contribution of continuing education. The research applied a qualitative approach as only limited information about social- and health-care educators’ professional development currently exists. Data were collected by group interviews of 35 experienced social- and health-care educators from six institutions of higher education and two vocational schools across Finland. An inductive content analysis yielded 39 subcategories, 11 categories and three main categories, namely, educators’ approaches for developing professional competence, barriers to continuing education, and educators’ continuing education needs. The educators reported that they maintain and develop their competence in versatile ways; for example, continuing professional development takes place through both formal continuing education and informal collaboration at daily work. Regarding barriers to continuing education, the educators most often cited the lack of planning and a lack of resources, for example, scheduling and financial factors. The continuing education needs of social- and health-care educators are highly individual and should not only reflect organisational goals. The fact that this study only included experienced educators can be considered a limitation, as a sample that also included novice educators may have yielded different perceptions of continuing education and professional development. The results of the research can be utilised when designing the continuing professional development of educators at the individual, group or organisational level

Social-, health care and rehabilitation educators’ competence : a cross-sectional study

An educator’s competence influences the implementation of evidence-based education and the overall quality of social and health care. This study aimed to identify distinct competence profiles from Finnish social, health and rehabilitative care educators, as well as describe which personal and professional characteristics influenced belonging to a certain profile. Data were collected from 28 educational organizations located throughout Finland using the Health and Social Care Educators’ Competence instrument. The survey was answered by 422 educators. The performed K-means cluster analysis identified three distinct educator competence profiles, which differed in terms of self-assessed expertise in various competence areas and certain background characteristics. The results highlight that educational institutions should concentrate on refining the digital competence of educators, which requires networking, collaboration, and work-related pedagogical competence. The differences in evaluation identified for the three profiles demonstrates that more experienced educators should mentor their less experienced counterparts to ensure a high quality of education.peerReviewe

Qualitative study of social and healthcare educators’ perceptions of their competence in education

Abstract Competent educators are needed to ensure that social and healthcare professionals are effective and highly competent. However, there is too little evidence‐based knowledge of current and required enhancements of educators’ competences in this field. The aim of this study was to describe social and healthcare educators’ perceptions of their competence in education. The study had a qualitative design, based on interviews with educators and rooted in critical realism. Forty‐eight participants were recruited from seven universities of applied sciences and two vocational colleges in Finland, with the assistance of contact persons nominated by the institutions. The inclusion criterion for participation was employment by an educational institution as a part‐time or full‐time, social and/or healthcare educator. Data were collected in the period February–April 2018. The participants were interviewed in 16 focus groups with two to five participants per group. The acquired data were subjected to inductive content analysis, which yielded 506 open codes, 48 sub‐categories, nine categories and one main category. The educators’ competence was defined as a multidimensional construct, including categories of educators’ competences in practicing as an educator, subject, ethics, pedagogy, management and organisation, innovation and development, collaboration, handling cultural and linguistic diversity, and continuous professional development. Educators recognised the need for developing competence in innovation to meet rapid changes in a competitive and increasingly global sociopolitical environment. Enhancement of adaptability to rapid changes was recognised as a necessity. The findings have social value in identifying requirements to improve social and healthcare educators’ competence by helping educational leadership to improve educational standards, construct a continuous education framework and create national and/or international curricula for teacher education degree programs to enhance the quality of education. We also suggest that educational leadership needs to establish, maintain and strengthen collaborative strategies to provide effective, adaptable support systems, involving educators and students, in their working practices

Täydennyskoulutustarpeet ja täydennyskoulutuksen merkitys uransa alussa olevien sosiaali-, terveys- ja kuntoutusalan ammattikorkeakouluopettajien osaamiselle

Abstract Up-to-date competences of educators in the social, health care and rehabilitation sector in universities of applied sciences are crucial for top-quality education. The purpose of this research was to describe the needs and meanings of continuing education for teachers starting their career. This study is a part of a national TerOpe project. The method of data collection was a theme interview. The interviews were arranged to four teacher groups consisting of 2—5 people. The people interviewed (n=14) were educators of nursing, fysiotherapy and social work on three universities of applied sciences located in different parts of Finland. The data were analysed with inductive content analysis. Those teachers who had less than five years of teacher experience wanted to have further education which answered to individual learning needs, were useful, included collegial interaction and were of high-quality pedagogically. Teachers also felt they need possibilities for development of their work organized by their employer, such as job orientation, supervision and mentoring. Teachers felt that they need to develop their own work, co-operation competence and they need personal professional development, and development of teaching competence and digital competence. The meaning of further education for teachers was diverse ways of gaining of professional knowledge and improvement on personal working abilities. The results can be used for the design and development of continuing education for social and health care teachers in the beginning of their career in universities of applied sciences.Tiivistelmä Sosiaali-, terveys- ja kuntoutusalan ammattikorkeakouluopettajien ajantasainen osaaminen on edellytys laadukkaalle koulutukselle. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kuvata uransa alussa olevien sosiaali-, terveys- ja kuntoutusalan opettajien täydennyskoulutustarpeita sekä täydennyskoulutuksen merkitystä heidän osaamiselleen. Tutkimus on osa valtakunnallista TerOpe hanketta. Aineistonkeruumenetelmänä oli teemahaastattelu. Haastattelut toteutettiin neljälle 2—5 hengen opettajaryhmälle. Haastateltavat (n=14) olivat hoitotyön, fysioterapian ja sosionomin koulutusohjelmien opettajia kolmesta eri ammattikorkeakoulusta eri puolilta Suomea. Aineisto analysoitiin induktiivisella sisällönanalyysilla. Alle viisi vuotta opettajana toimineet haastateltavat toivoivat tarvetta vastaavaa täydennyskoulutusta, joka on itselle hyödyllistä, sisältää kollegiaalista vuorovaikutusta ja on pedagogisesti laadukasta. Opettajat kokivat tarvitsevansa työnantajan tarjoamia työssä kehittymisen mahdollisuuksia kuten perehdytystä, työnohjausta ja mentorointia. Opettajana kehittymiseen he arvioivat tarvitsevansa oman työn ja yhteistyöosaamisen kehittämistä, henkilökohtaista ammatillista kasvua sekä opetusosaamisen ja digiosaamisen kehittymistä. Täydennyskoulutus merkitsi uransa alussa olevien opettajien osaamiselle ammattitaidon kehittymistä ja henkilökohtaisten työskentelyvalmiuksien vahvistumista. Tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää uransa alussa olevien ammattikorkeakouluopettajien ammatillisen kehittymisen ja täydennyskoulutuksen suunnittelussa ja kehittämisessä