Veterinary student and staff perceptions of small group sessions in final year

Veterinary students at the Bristol Veterinary School (BVS) participate in small group sessions during some of their rotations (placements) in final year usually held by primary care veterinary educators or staff in the workplace for the rotation. These sessions vary in format, structure and aims. Some sessions will be dynamic in design for example responding to cases being seen in clinics while others will be standardised discussing a particular clinical topic, either using a didactic approach or asking students to consolidate their own knowledge. Small group teaching sessions are supported in the literature with exploration of student perceptions of individual novel sessions without exploration of how they may be perceived across the whole year. This study explored the perceptions of small group sessions across the whole of final year at the Bristol Veterinary School.