Being a clinical educator.

Abstract

What is it like to be a clinical educator? How do clinical educators experience and describe their continuing journey of becoming a clinical educator? Within the model developed in this research, dimensions of being a clinical educator were identified. These dimensions include (a) having a sense of self (and the impact of bringing self into the clinical educator's role), (b) having a sense of relationship with others (and the place of this "interactive self" as a central feature of clinical education), (c) having a sense of being a clinical educator (and how this understanding relates to the previous two dimensions), (d) having a sense of agency (which is vital to the performance of many clinical education roles), (e) seeking dynamic self-congruence, and (e) growth as a clinical educator. This paper presents an overview of the model, discusses its strengths and limitations as a representation of speech pathology clinical educators' experiences, and briefly considers its value for professional development.