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JCPSLP Volume 14, Number 1 2012 3
et al., 2009, p. 217). Ryan and Patterson (2010) suggested
that Generation Y students are “easily distracted, bored
with knowledge and wish to be active in their learning” (p.
24). If it is possible to characterise an entire generation of
people, then the above suggests that new recruitment
messages for speech pathology may be required and that
retaining graduates in speech pathology may be particularly
challenging.
Every year universities play a major role in attracting and
recruiting the future members of our profession. University
marketing personnel in collaboration with speech pathology
academics craft descriptions of our profession and
speech pathology courses designed to provide accurate,
interesting, and exciting perspectives on our profession.
Often academics experience tension between wanting to
attract and match the aspirations of this new generation
of students and the realities of day-to-day clinical work in
overstretched health, disability, or education sectors. Given
the known aspirations of Generation Y and our rapidly
growing workforce, perhaps it is time to widen our view of
where and how speech pathologists will work in the future
and that broader view needs to be reflected in recruitment,
university curricula, clinical education experiences, and our
professional identity.
Challenge 4: Including international
perspectives on speech pathology practice
and service delivery in curricula as well
as developing an understanding of global
health issues
Universities are increasingly striving to become “global”.
This has several implications. University courses must
ensure that curricula attend to international contexts as
much as to Australian ones. Graduates must be explicitly
prepared for employment in international contexts. Further,
academics are expected to work collaboratively with
international colleagues in research and learning and
teaching. Global universities also create and foster an
international climate on campus (Murdoch-Eaton,
Redmond, & Bax, 2011). Accepting international students
into Australian universities is part of creating an international
climate which values and respects diversity and develops
and promotes cross-cultural competence. In tandem with
international students coming to Australia is the promotion
of international exchange or experience for Australian
students.
The globalisation of speech pathology curricula is
challenging in the context of already overcrowded curricula
with a high clinical education component (Lincoln, 2009).
While students currently learn about international research
as part of evidence based practice they are less likely to
learn about global health issues and international health
care systems. However, if we are to truly prepare our
students for international employment then this challenge
needs to be addressed.
Challenge 5: Finding space for
international exchange in 4-year
undergraduate curricula and 2-year
masters curricula
This focus on internationalising curricula and student
experience is also congruent with the aspirations of
Generation Y. In the past it was common for young speech
pathologists to work after graduation in the UK but now
graduates are more likely to aspire to work in a developing
15 in 2011, with 3 new courses due to open in 2012. It
is estimated that presently there are approximately 2,000
students enrolled in speech pathology courses in Australia.
When this figure is added to the approximate 4,500
current members of SPA it is apparent that the size of our
profession is growing rapidly.
Rapid workforce growth is likely to continue and with
it comes many benefits including increased industrial
power; a stronger, larger professional association;
expanding workforce; increased diversity in members
of the profession; potentially more services for clients;
and the growth of the private sector. More speech
pathologists may move into roles such as project and
case managers, consultants, and educators. The above
outcomes effectively increase the sphere of influence of our
profession. As with all rapid growth this situation presents
a number of challenges for universities and the profession.
One major challenge discussed later in this paper is
providing appropriate clinical education experiences for this
growing number of students.
Challenge 2: Increasing university
participation levels of Indigenous,
culturally and linguistically diverse, and
low socioeconomic background students
The Commonwealth government also has a second
objective to increase the number of students from low
socioeconomic (SES), culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds, and Indigenous backgrounds completing
university degrees (Australian Government, 2009). Speech
pathology university programs have not recruited and
graduated many Indigenous speech pathologists, and the
proportion of students from low socioeconomic
backgrounds and culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds remains relatively low. The Australian National
Census in 2001 showed that 0.1% of the speech pathology
workforce were Indigenous Australians. While the figure is
now outdated, it is worth noting that at that time only 4
people in all of Australia identified themselves as Indigenous
speech pathologists (Australian Health Workforce Advisory
Committee, 2004). The Australian government also reports
that the participation of low SES background students in
university studies has remained static at 15% for the past
twenty years (Australian Government, 2009). Consequently,
university speech pathology programs are faced with the
challenge of finding ways to recruit more Indigenous,
culturally and linguistically diverse, and low SES background
students into their degrees. Once in the degrees it is
possible that some of these students may require different
support or learning and teaching approaches to facilitate
their learning both academically and clinically.
Challenge 3: Capturing and holding
Generation Y’s interest in speech
pathology
Today’s 20-29-yr-olds are the next generation of speech
pathologists. As a group they are referred to as Generation
Y the “net generation” or “digital natives” as this group grew
up with computers, the internet, and mobile phones
(Prensky, 2001). Generation Y is the most educated
generation ever and many believe they are more interested
than previous generations in work–life balance, social
justice, and global issues (Dodd, Saggers & Wildy, 2009).
They are also likely to take career breaks to work overseas
and seek jobs with “positive organisational cultures” (Dodd