ERIC Number: EJ1478215
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jul
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1368-2822
EISSN: EISSN-1460-6984
Available Date: 2025-07-07
Strengths and Challenges of the Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) Degree Apprenticeship Route: Initial Stakeholder Perspectives
Hazel Richards1; Victoria Lundie1
International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, v60 n4 e70071 2025
Background: This article shares details of a pilot research project that explored stakeholder perceptions and experiences of the academic and work-based elements involved in one university's innovative speech and language therapy (SLT) degree apprenticeship. Aims: To share findings about SLT apprentice learner and mentor expectations and experiences since this knowledge, including of barriers and facilitators, will enable the university concerned, and others already providing or developing their SLT degree apprenticeship, to enhance their offer and so apprentice learning experience and outcomes. Methods and Procedures: Following ethical approval, a mixed-methods research design was applied. In phase one, 18 apprentice and mentor participants involved in the programme completed online questionnaires. Themes identified from inductive thematic analysis of the questionnaire data were probed further in nine online semi-structured interviews, with transcripts also being analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Outcomes and Results: Findings offer new knowledge about the apprenticeship route into the profession and provide valuable insight for HEIs and employers considering or developing an SLT or wider allied health profession (AHP) apprenticeship offer. This includes detail about the strengths and challenges related to four key themes: internal factors; time and support; structure and organisation; and apprenticeship processes. Conclusions and Implications: The apprenticeship provides an economically sustainable and practical progression opportunity for learners, including SLTAs, and may provide SLT training that is better embedded in clinical practice than traditional routes. Collaboration between the key stakeholders (apprentice learner, workplace mentor, and HEI) is central to this, though challenges in terms of time and resources exist. Developing and sustaining SLT apprenticeships therefore has implications for future workforce development and the profession.
Descriptors: Speech Language Pathology, Speech Therapy, Allied Health Occupations Education, Apprenticeships, College Students, Program Effectiveness, Barriers, Stakeholders, Cooperation, Experiential Learning, Attitudes, Mentors, Work Based Learning, Foreign Countries
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Health, Education and Life Sciences, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, UK