Exploring the Teaching Methods and Approaches used by Australian Educators to Teach Occupation

Occupational therapy education standards for teaching occupation are inconsistently applied and there is a lack of evidence to inform teaching practice in Australia. This qualitative study explored what teaching methods and approaches Australian occupational therapy educators used in their classroom, and why those methods were used. The research was completed in two phases: narrative inquiry guided Phase I where educators were interviewed about the methods and approaches used to teach occupation. In Phase II video-reflexive ethnography was implemented, where a video recording of teaching was used as a prompt for a reflexive discussion about the educator’s teaching approaches. The interviews and discussions were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis. Thirteen educators participated who had an average of two decades experience as an occupational therapist and one decade as a university educator. Five themes explained the methods and approaches used to teach occupation: i) foregrounding occupation, ii) making occupation personal, iii) making occupation explicit, iv) being a guide: guiding rather than prescribing, and v) drawing on my inner occupational therapist. Recommendations for education practice include foregrounding occupation through repetition, reinforcement, and making overt connections to the concept in each learning encounter. Educators could also use intentional and deliberate strategies such as students exploring occupation from their own perspectives and through involvement in participatory community projects. Further research could gather additional perspectives from students and from teaching teams to better understand, interpret, and illuminate how occupation is taught in a course or program and in participatory community projects.