Performing a dual roles in education and practice

AIM: To examine the benefits and challenges of dual posts, defined here as lecturers who work in clinical practice and have separate contracts with different organisations.

METHODS: A case study approach was used to collate different perspectives. Equal numbers of participants were selected from lecturers (n=3) and dual post holders (n= 3), and one manager was included (n=1). Semi-structured interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim to collect data. Key words were identified then highlighted throughout the transcripts and text retrievers searched the large amounts of data gathered. Key words were grouped into multiple sub-themes, which were then further grouped into four themes.

FINDINGS: Four main themes emerged from the data: duality, theory/practice, credibility and student experience. Some benefits and challenges of dual posts were identified. Benefits included helping students contextualise theory into practice and maintaining currency in practice. Challenges were maintaining a multifaceted role and managing expectations in both roles.

CONCLUSION: Dual post holders are regarded as an important part of the team by all stakeholders involved in this study. However, more clarification about the expectations of each role is required and post holders should have more support from their organisations.