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RCOT Carnduff Learner Forum

The RCOT Carnduff Learner Forum (RCLF) is a new forum for pre-registration occupational therapy learners (students and apprentices).

We launched the RCOT Carnduff Learner Forum following a generous legacy donation from Ann Carnduff.

The forum is a group of 12 pre-registration occupational therapy apprentice and student representatives who meet and share their views and experiences of learners in the UK.

Forum members are in direct contact with RCOT, to tell us about all aspects of the learner journey and what is happening in higher education.

Through direct engagement with the forum, we aim to gain a greater understanding of current and evolving issues within occupational therapy, health and social care education and within universities and practice-based learning.

Members of the RCOT Pre-registration Education team support the forum and work collaboratively with the elected forum chair and vice chair.

The forum met for the first time on 8 December 2021 and will continue to meet three times a year. Please see below for further meeting dates.

Hear Jay (Chair) and Jules (Vice-Chair) share at ENOTHE 2022 about the forum and their experiences as members.

How to apply to join the forum

We have four vacancies on the forum due to members completing their occupational therapy studies and moving into practice and further studies.

Join the forum:

The application asks for some information about you and the programme you are currently enrolled in and there are three questions to complete.

  1. Reflecting on your skills, knowledge, and personal attributes, please let us know how you will apply these assets within the forum to benefit learners.(max 250 words, about 1min 10–20seconds).
  2. It is important to engage regularly with other learners so that you can continue to best represent their interests. Please can you tell us how you plan to do this? (max 150 words, about 1 minute).
  3. How will being a member of the RCLF continue to support your development as a future professional? (max 100 words, about 30–40 seconds).

All applicants need to ensure they have support from a member of their programme team. Please ask your tutor to complete this MSForm.

Review criteria

When reviewing your applications, we will be considering responses that:

  • are within the word count/time limit.
  • provide/demonstrate a clearly articulated answer to all elements of the question.
  • provide/demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the required skills, demonstrating a high level of self-awareness.
  • provide/demonstrate knowledge and understanding of some appropriate strategies to engage with learners representative of the pre-registration population, and how to utilise this learning for the forum.
  • provide/demonstrate knowledge and understanding of potential personal benefit to forum membership.

Get in touch with us

For more information, please contact rclf@rcot.co.uk.  

Meeting dates

  • Thursday 30 November 2023
  • 2024 dates TBC

Forum members

  • Anna Fischer, Queen Margaret University 
  • Hannah Jewell, Canterbury Christ Church University 
  • Helen Smith, Coventry University 
  • Karishma Dama, University of Brighton 
  • Patrick (Paddy) Cohen, St George's University of London 
  • Roxanne Talbot, University of Northampton 
  • Stella Burke, Brunel University 
  • Jeantique Hommel, London South Bank University
  • Sian Kelly, University of the West of England
  • Shir Grunebaum, Oxford Brookes University
  • Paul R. Johnson, University of Plymouth
  • Natalie Rivers, Canterbury Christ Church University

Ann Carnduff's legacy

We created the forum using a legacy of £10,000, left by Ann Carnduff to support occupational therapy students and apprentices. Ann was head of the Glasgow Occupational Therapy school, now part of Glasgow Caledonian University.

You can read Ann's memorial here.