JCPSLP Vol 14 No 1 2012

15 in 2011, with 3 new courses due to open in 2012. It is estimated that presently there are approximately 2,000 students enrolled in speech pathology courses in Australia. When this figure is added to the approximate 4,500 current members of SPA it is apparent that the size of our profession is growing rapidly. Rapid workforce growth is likely to continue and with it comes many benefits including increased industrial power; a stronger, larger professional association; expanding workforce; increased diversity in members of the profession; potentially more services for clients; and the growth of the private sector. More speech pathologists may move into roles such as project and case managers, consultants, and educators. The above outcomes effectively increase the sphere of influence of our profession. As with all rapid growth this situation presents a number of challenges for universities and the profession. One major challenge discussed later in this paper is providing appropriate clinical education experiences for this growing number of students. Challenge 2: Increasing university participation levels of Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse, and low socioeconomic background students The Commonwealth government also has a second objective to increase the number of students from low socioeconomic (SES), culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and Indigenous backgrounds completing university degrees (Australian Government, 2009). Speech pathology university programs have not recruited and graduated many Indigenous speech pathologists, and the proportion of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds remains relatively low. The Australian National Census in 2001 showed that 0.1% of the speech pathology workforce were Indigenous Australians. While the figure is now outdated, it is worth noting that at that time only 4 people in all of Australia identified themselves as Indigenous speech pathologists (Australian Health Workforce Advisory Committee, 2004). The Australian government also reports that the participation of low SES background students in university studies has remained static at 15% for the past twenty years (Australian Government, 2009). Consequently, university speech pathology programs are faced with the challenge of finding ways to recruit more Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse, and low SES background students into their degrees. Once in the degrees it is possible that some of these students may require different support or learning and teaching approaches to facilitate their learning both academically and clinically. Challenge 3: Capturing and holding Generation Y’s interest in speech pathology Today’s 20-29-yr-olds are the next generation of speech pathologists. As a group they are referred to as Generation Y the “net generation” or “digital natives” as this group grew up with computers, the internet, and mobile phones (Prensky, 2001). Generation Y is the most educated generation ever and many believe they are more interested than previous generations in work–life balance, social justice, and global issues (Dodd, Saggers & Wildy, 2009). They are also likely to take career breaks to work overseas and seek jobs with “positive organisational cultures” (Dodd

et al., 2009, p. 217). Ryan and Patterson (2010) suggested that Generation Y students are “easily distracted, bored with knowledge and wish to be active in their learning” (p. 24). If it is possible to characterise an entire generation of people, then the above suggests that new recruitment messages for speech pathology may be required and that retaining graduates in speech pathology may be particularly challenging. Every year universities play a major role in attracting and recruiting the future members of our profession. University marketing personnel in collaboration with speech pathology academics craft descriptions of our profession and speech pathology courses designed to provide accurate, interesting, and exciting perspectives on our profession. Often academics experience tension between wanting to attract and match the aspirations of this new generation of students and the realities of day-to-day clinical work in overstretched health, disability, or education sectors. Given the known aspirations of Generation Y and our rapidly growing workforce, perhaps it is time to widen our view of where and how speech pathologists will work in the future and that broader view needs to be reflected in recruitment, university curricula, clinical education experiences, and our professional identity. Challenge 4: Including international perspectives on speech pathology practice and service delivery in curricula as well as developing an understanding of global health issues Universities are increasingly striving to become “global”. This has several implications. University courses must ensure that curricula attend to international contexts as much as to Australian ones. Graduates must be explicitly prepared for employment in international contexts. Further, academics are expected to work collaboratively with international colleagues in research and learning and teaching. Global universities also create and foster an international climate on campus (Murdoch-Eaton, Redmond, & Bax, 2011). Accepting international students into Australian universities is part of creating an international climate which values and respects diversity and develops and promotes cross-cultural competence. In tandem with international students coming to Australia is the promotion of international exchange or experience for Australian students. The globalisation of speech pathology curricula is challenging in the context of already overcrowded curricula with a high clinical education component (Lincoln, 2009). While students currently learn about international research as part of evidence based practice they are less likely to learn about global health issues and international health care systems. However, if we are to truly prepare our students for international employment then this challenge needs to be addressed. Challenge 5: Finding space for international exchange in 4-year undergraduate curricula and 2-year masters curricula This focus on internationalising curricula and student experience is also congruent with the aspirations of Generation Y. In the past it was common for young speech pathologists to work after graduation in the UK but now graduates are more likely to aspire to work in a developing

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JCPSLP Volume 14, Number 1 2012

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