Foundation Degree

De Montfort University

Prof. Gerald Armstrong-Bednall

Notes from meeting Thursday April 30, 2009.

General background

You could say that in the U.K. they have (or will soon have) five “layers” of audiological competence/educations:

  1. Ph.D doctor
  2. MSc
  3. BSc (those we normally refer to as audiologists)
  4. Foundation Degree (associate)
  5. Assistant (no fixed title yet. A new education under development. Students will be educatedsolely through eLearning. Gerald is currently working to develop the eLearning part for a private company eLfH = eLearning for Healthcare. The company pays de Montfort University for his time. 750£ per day!)

Students acquire merit if, at a later point, they want to move “up the ladder”.

The Foundation Degree has been officially approved by

  1. The University itself (as a degree. Educationwise)
  2. The Hearing Aid Council (Audiological content)

A student with a Foundation Degree is qualified to be registered by the hearing aid council as a “registered hearing aid dispenser”. After the exam has been passed, the student can theoretically open up his or her own shop. Most of them seem to be contractually bound to an additional 12 months with their employer/dispenser.

The great advantage of the Foundation Degree is the combination of theory and practice.

Time

The total time spent at the University is

1st year: 10 weeks

2nd year: 8 weeks.

1st year: last week of the month

2nd year: first week of the month.

In this way, if a dispenser has both a 1st and a 2nd year student, they are not both away at the University at the same time.

Job success: do candidates get jobs?

Yes. They start out as “students” and afterwards will typically be employed as assistants or associates to the dispenser.

Are they widely “accepted”?

Yes. As a matter of fact, it is now THE way to start, if you want to become a dispenser.

Training materials:

All materials are produced at the De Montfort University, mostly a combination of self-authored material, articles and chapters from existing textbooks. Powerpoint presentations. They also have facilities for integrating video in the teaching (recording practical performance and then discussing/evaluating it afterwards.)

Assessment/Exam: What is the role of the employer/dispenser and De Montford University?

They have an interesting system with a “logbook” (officially: reflective portfolio) where all tasks are lined up in schematic form including also a system of prioritization. The employer must then test his student a certain number of times (defined per task according to importance). When the employer finds that the student is now doing OK, a person from the University is called in to make an external observation. The student gets two chances to pass. (I have a printed version of the logbook). Students are encouraged to keep this logbook in a large binder into which they can insert other educational material they may get from their employer (e.g. courses offered by manufacturers, etc.). In this way the logbook “grows” and after two years is the final proof of their competences. This logbook is shown to the HAC in order to become registered as a hearing aid dispenser.

In the assessment, the employer should distinguish between 3 levels of “ability”:

  1. O = Observe. This means the student has KNOWLEDGE of…. a certain topic, but doesn’t necessarily know how to do it.
  2. P = Perform. This means the student can perform the task in question, possibly under supervision.
  3. C = Competent. This means the student CAN do this task, on his own.

How does the curriculum stand in relation to the upcoming EU standard CEN380?

Gerald was not aware of the CEN380 project (not surprising since no one from the U.K. is participating in the work). I left him the CEN380 draft, which he will study. It is my impression that the requirements in the CEN380 come closer to the BSc level.

Do some employers have two students who “overlap” so that one is constantly in the shop, making money for the employer?

So far, this is only seen with students from the public sector. Private dispensers usually only have one. But they may have both a 1st and a 2nd year student.

As their education progresses, are they allowed to perform “increasingly professional” tasks?

YES, and this is very clearly defined. There are about 10 steps/competences, and it is communicated very precisely what the student is now allowed/expected to be able to do.

How does the Foundation Degree education level (curriculum) measure up against the requirements in other European countries?

Gerald is not aware of any similar education in Europe.

Any cooperation with the American IHS Distance Learning programme?

(30 lessons, 30 quizzes, final exam: 75% correct)

NO, but having now been made aware of it, Gerald will look into the IHS concept.

Could Foundation Degree be “exported” as a practical concept? YES

If yes, would De Montfort be interested in being a partner in this?

In principle YES. Gerald has already asked the University management officially, and the answer is yes, with only one condition: there must be academic credibility. If they are to lend their name to the project, not to mention participate in it, there is no way it can be “watered down” in academic content.

What role could De Montfort play?

  1. The most obvious role is that of helping EHIMA to develop the “package”. This should, in my opinion, be done with a minimum of work effort. There is absolutely no need to reinvent the wheel. We should see, if we couldn’t use their concept, setup, materials almost as is.
  2. De Montfort could possibly also play an active role in a setup where one imagined that e.g. 10 of the 18 weeks’ curriculum was being taught as eLearning (it would be necessary to analyze precisely which topics would be suitable for this). The remaining 8 weeks could then be taught at De Montfort as a summer course. The University is closed down anyway and there are many cheap available rooms. Some of the teaching could perhaps be carried out by under-graduates. In this way, students from a country which cannot or will not or cannot afford setting up their own education, could still get a Foundation Degree. The eLearning could be in their native language (provided someone pays for translation), whereas the 8 weeks in Leicester will be in English. This is just an idea and it has been discussed with no one.

Have you been in contact with other countries about similar initiatives?

No.

Do you have a contact network which could potentially be used to lobby for a European-level initiative?

The short answer is No, but Gerald has good personal relationships with top people in the U.K. who could perhaps help. He is very willing to establish the contact, if this becomes desirable.

______

Next steps:

Gerald finds it very important that EHIMA defines the “scope of practice” for this education. What is it exactly we want our educated candidate to be able to do?

Gerald has given me the scope of practice they are working with (one for private, one for public). This has the advantage of having already been approved by the HAC and the BSHAA. It seems to me this would be a good starting point for EHIMA.

We will then need to get this approved by our member companies. THAT, then, is our starting point.

Then we could start putting together the “package”.

Once that has been approved, we could offer it to 2-3 pilot countries.

Depending on each country’s situation, one could imagine offering such a package to:

  1. The National Health Ministry (or equivalent)
  2. A university or higher education college, possibly one which already has a Health dept.
  3. A national distributor (chain)
  4. All EHIMA companies in that country (especially if there’s a manufacturers association)
  5. A large hospital which has its own internal education department.

April 30, 2009/sh