Professional attitudes: balancing head, hand and heart in student learning project.

This pilot study aims to identify changes in professional attitudes within cohorts of students studying professional qualification courses in law, education, social work, and speech and language therapy. In this context, professional attitudes are defined “as a predisposition, feeling, emotion, or thought that upholds the ideals of a profession and serves as the basis for professional behaviour” (Hammer, 2000 p.456). The project aims to compare similarities and differences of professional attitudes between students across different disciplines; to pilot the proposed methodology for cross-disciplinary research in developing professionalism; and to establish a research and theoretical basis for interprofessional collaboration that would inform teaching programmes and establish a foundation for future interagency working.

The project should allow the researchers to compare the preparation provided for the different professions, and across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The research findings will inform structure and content of these courses at the University of Strathclyde in the future.