Reflections of a Paramedic Lecturer

Lecturer Paul Oliveri

As an educator/lecturer/teacher we often get caught up in the administrative minutiae of the highly bureaucratic organisations for which we work.  Our days are spent attending meetings and hastily preparing lessons/lectures and practical exercises, to ensure learning outcomes, graduate attributes and assessment pieces match each other and ultimately meet the requirements of course profiles.

This frenzy of activity often leaves very little time for one to examine practice.  In my case reflective practice often comes in the form of intrusive thought patterns while sitting drinking coffee in the dark, very early hours of the morning.

Recently when asked to reflect on my current practice as an educator it took some time to formulate a response. 

As a Paramedic and ‘In-house’ style VET lecturer/mentor for around 20 years, who now works for a University I consider current practice as an educator to be at a single point and geographical place in time. 

For example as a VET lecturer and mentor I considered myself to be operating within a Core Skills for Work (CSFW) Generic Stage of Performance of five, an expert performer.  Whether in a traditional classroom or whilst washing my hands after a ‘big job’ I was always learning and teaching.

Landing in a Public Park

Overall I’d had 30 years as a Paramedic and 20 as an educator/mentor in the field so extensive practical experience wasn’t an issue.  Nor was the ability to operate fluidly, intuitively and flexibly whether working out of a plane, helicopter, boat or plain old ambulance vehicle (unfortunately air and sea sickness was a minor issue from time to time).

I could use this practical experience to reconceptualise approaches and practices for students to assist them to learn in ways suited to their particular learning style all while drawing on my previous case histories to provide context.

On entry to a University environment and to a largely virtual geographic classroom this changed.  I no longer operated fluidly and intuitively at stage five but rather stage two, an advanced beginner.

Students at University residential school

Whilst I had a very well equipped toolkit within the ‘Interacting with others’ and ‘getting the work done’ skill clusters, the ‘navigating the world of work’ skill area became problematic.  Policies and procedures surrounding student learning and learning outcomes was extremely different.

For a start the base relationship between students and myself, went from fellow employee to client/service provider.  This wasn’t a monumental change for me as I had operated a freelance writing business and worked with people of varying backgrounds and businesses.

The difference was the administrative environment, roles and responsibilities, organisational protocols and the legal framework as well as changing classroom environments from lecture room/face to face to the virtual. 

Technology skills weren’t the problem as I had operated a website and had a variety of experience using differing devices for self-education.  What was missing was familiarity of context, the organisational culture and value-based factors.  To gain an understanding of these I had to rely on my previously hard earned ‘interact with others’ toolkit. 

Years of dealing with people in crisis including mental health issues helped me navigate the bureaucratic, monolithic structure in which I work.

While I feel I now operate at CSFW level of three (capable performer) after 18 months within my new organisation I can now rationally reflect on the route.  In the deep dark of early morning, I can make the connection between development of skills throughout life and current practice.

For the majority of us, our skill set is a continually changing skills cluster pie graph, the components of which change with organisation, context, family life and every chance encounter between humans.

I think its best summed up in this statement, ‘What I do tomorrow is a reflection of all I’ve experienced and learnt today and in the days preceding’.

References:

Australian Government Department of Industry 2013, Core Skills for Work Developmental Framework, viewed 26 February2014,  http://industry.gov.au/Skills/CoreSkillsForWorkFramework/Pages/default.aspx#1