Students' perceptions of field experience in professional development: A comparative study

The movement of the health care and education professions from an apprentic eship model in the early half of the century to the tertiary education sect or has brought an awareness of the key role field experience or practicum p lays in professional development. The literature has demonstrated that fiel d experience during teacher education and clinical education is a valuable part of preparation for entry into the teaching and nursing professions. Th e purpose of this study was to compare and contrast the perceptions of fina l year students from three distinct undergraduate field experiences. Queens land University of Technology students from adult and workplace education, secondary education, and nursing participated in the study. Data were colle cted through a series of focus group interviews with groups of five to nine participants across the three discipline areas. Students described their e xpectations of the practical side of their learning and the learning outcom es that eventuated during the practicum.