Impact of curricular change in an undergraduate program for speech pathologists on perceived preparedness for the workplace.

Recently, educational policymakers have emphasized the need for undergraduate programs to develop in their graduates generic skills and attributes beyond discipline-specific skills and knowledge. The generic skills and attributes should mesh with the requirements of the workplaces where the graduates will find employment. The present study examined the impact of curricular revisions to a program of study for speech pathologists on the perceptions of the graduates regarding their preparation in appropriate skill and knowledge domains. The curricular revisions sought to develop independent learning, critical thinking, research and evaluation skills, written and oral communication skills, and skills for seeking and providing support to peers. Seventy-eight graduates of the earlier program and 21 graduates of the revised program offered by the School of Communication Disorders at The University of Sydney completed a 52-item questionnaire concerning the extent to which the program had equipped them for the workplace. Eleven scales were derived from the questionnaire responses, reflecting skills endorsed by university educators and workplace supervisors of allied health professionals as being necessary for success in the workplace. The relative levels of perceived preparation on the 11 dimensions were similar across graduates of the revised program and those of the earlier program. Graduates of the revised program were significantly more positive about their preparation on five of the 11 dimensions, compared with earlier graduates of approximately equivalent age and experience. The dimensions where differences were observed generally reflected those targeted by the curricular revisions.