Good luck Keren and I know I am lucky being registered by HPC as a speech
and language therapist, but many of my colleagues working in further and
higher education come from such a wide range of professions as to fail to
fit any of the groupings and yet they still need somewhere to go for skills
building and recognition.
Best wishes E.A.
Mrs E.A. Draffan
Learning Societies Lab,
ECS, University of Southampton,
Tel +44 (0)23 8059 7246
http://www.lexdis.ecs.soton.ac.uk
http://www.emptech.info
From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Keren Down
Sent: 20 July 2008 07:08
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Modernising Scientific Careers
As some of you may know, FAST and the AT Forum have put forward a national
strategy to develop Assistive Technology competence (based on a National
Occupational Standards framework) that would provide a coherent base across
AT practice integrated with related fields and applicable as a stand alone
or modular add-on to other practitioner frameworks at a range of educational
levels from National Qualification Framework (NQF) Level 2 right up to
post-grad, etc. (see the workforce development reports downloadable from the
FAST website)
Needless to say we're having a bit of a hard time selling it to the Sector
Skills Councils whose remit is restricted within separate fields of practice
(health, social care, education, housing, etc) and who have traditionally
responded to narrow practitioner/ disciplines (e.g. AHPs, clinical
scientist, etc). This of course will result in re-working AT competences
each time they are applied to a new practitioner group/ discipline. That
this goes against the drive towards universal access to services (i.e.
voluntary sector, social enterprise, private provision) and new ways of
working (Trusted Assessor, care navigators, brokers, etc) seems to be a
challenge too far at the moment.
(You can sense the frustration can't you). Anyway what we're doing at the
moment is trying to get some of the hot topic sectors together (i.e.
telecare/ access to ict/ community equipment) across the sector
(manufacturers, professional groups, education providers, service providers,
voluntary sector) to get them to decide if they need AT workforce
development and if the FAST/AT Forum proposals meet their needs. The sector
can then decide if it has the motivation/ resources to push the campaign for
NOS mapping for AT for their sector (i.e. to Government ministers who are in
position to identify the cash for the mapping process).
The alternative is that AT practice is defined for narrow groups or set by
groups with a particular focus and historical practice and that then sets
the AT standards of competence across the field - not ideal and certainly
not a coherent educational and career framework.
Am holding workshop for telecare/ environmental control/ automated homes
sector on Wednesday and will let you know how it goes (I think Zoe Robertson
from Barnsley will be attending so can also feedback).
Cheers. Keren
----- Original Message -----
From: Geoff Harbach
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 9:16 AM
Subject: Re: Modernising Scientific Careers
That is more encouraging.
However, if we are going to have an integrated career pathway, then should
we not encompass the technician and trainee aspects of the educational
route. School leavers need to start somewhere, and not everyone can go
straight in to further education.
Might it not also be a good idea for all three groups, FAST, Skills for
Health and the CSO of the DOH to talk to each other so that we have a
coherent national strategy?
Geoff Harbach
Clinical Technologist
In a message dated 18/07/2008 15:30:33 GMT Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Dear Mailbase
A similar project to the AHP project is being conducted by the
Department of Health's Chief Scientific Officer in England (but involves
all UK countries). This covers Clinical Technologists and Clinical
Scientists across the whole spectrum of Physical Sciences and
Engineering, Life Sciences and Physiological Sciences. It does, of
course, include the disciplines of Assistive Technology and
Rehabilitation Engineering. For further information follow this link:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/Publicati
onsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_085835
Regards
Jim Methven
Mr James Y Methven
Head of Medical Physics
North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Cumberland Infirmary
Carlisle CA2 7HY
Telephone: 01228 814700 (Carlisle)
01946 523457 (Whitehaven)
Email: [log in to unmask]
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