Hi there I am a new member to healthy pages and I thought I would ask opinions on a course I have just completed.
I have just gained another qualification this time in Reflexology.
I studied at a local college under ITEC.
This year it had changed so 100 treatments were required this consisted of 10 actual case studies (treating 10 people a total of 4 times in each, I realise many of you will know what case studies are all about anyway - groan!) and then another 60 treatments on as many different people as possible and these to be written up in more basic way including foot charts etc.
The plus side for some was there was no written exam(multiple choice).
Im trying to find out if anyone else who has just completed this struggled to fit in all these treatment as some in my course did. (my course was only 25 weeks)
Ive heard rumours ITEC are now of the mind that this is mayne too much to ask and are looking at lessening the treatment total, but as I say this is only hearsay.
ALSO our case studies and treatments were not looked at just glanced over for approx 2 minutes (all that work!!). We were all disappointed in our marks, some of them were 16 points lower than their moch results and others got 81% a credit none the less which is to be proud of but it was then marked down to a 'pass' because the A&P result that by the way was taken 2 years ago was then taken into account and this was only a pass so the final result was actually less than what she achieved. This is really annoying as surley you should be marked on your actual performance on the day and for Reflexology, and not an exam that you did 2 years ago, which was actually the first exam/course sat after 15 years of being out of education. I find that unfair to knock students down after all it was a Reflexology exam not A&P!!
Are there others out there disappointed in their exam marks who have just finished ITEC Reflexology??
Im qualified now and nothing can change that and I love Reflexology but as a class we were all wondering how others felt, did we just have an Examiner who was in a bad mood because you are at their mercy really and as the guinea pigs for 100 treatment how did you do!
Sincerely hope you all passed!! xx
Welcome any replies even from ITEC examiners - good to get a varied response!
I would say that was a lot of work to get done in 25 weeks, I heard a rumour that ITEC are going to change these courses to 1 year or more. On the plus side having to treat so many people can only be a good thing as you learn so much more by doing the actual treatments than you would ever learn through books. I put an awful lot into my case studies which were 10 people x 4 times (08/09) and yes they were barely glanced at and the tutor would have preferred if I had kept my descriptions and treatment notes to a few lines.
Your A&P results are used to calculate the final result of all of your therapies, and the only way to change your result to a Credit or Distinction is to re sit your A&P - if it really bothers you.
An awful lot does depend on the examiner on the day. In my reflexology class of 6 people, my friend and I were the only ITEC qualified therapists and we felt that the examiner reserved the hardest questions for us and was particularly hard on us. I was disappointed with my result in the practical. But at the end of the day, it is actually practicing your skill and treating clients that counts so I wish you the very best of luck in your career and many happy hours doing what you love.
Hi there,
I qualified with ITEC last year and found the 40 case studies tough to get finished - but always felt that it was because I did a lot of informal, undocumented "practicing" on people and only started classing these practice sessions as documented "case studies" when I felt confident enough to give a full treatment. My mistake & I won't make the same mistake again. The changes you're describing sound like they'd be a lot to get through in 25 weeks. I prefer the thought of extending the length of the course to 1 year and keeping up the number of case studies - the more feet that go through our hands, the better 🙂
There were 3 in our practical exam and the examiner spent an hour in a separate office going through the case studies. We received no feedback on them but she did photocopy all of my case studies and took them away with her. I think we all found the practical exam tougher than the written and I was slightly disappointed with my practical marks (I'm too critical of myself and expected too much! And my nerves got the better of me!)
Our lecturer did warn us that our A&P results would count towards every ITEC qualification we do forever, so I did put a huge amount of effort into that. Personally I don't have a problem with that but can understand some people's frustration with it. Unfortunately, the only way of changing the impact of the A&P exam is to re-sit it.
If you have a huge passion for reflexology, this will show through in your work and clients will not be asking if you got a Distinction/Credit/Pass. None of my clients has even glanced at my diploma on the wall - they value their treatment on the experience you give them 🙂 Well done in qualifying and enjoy it - wishing you many, many happy clients.
Love,
Elaine xxx
Firstly,
tutors will /should assess all work, although when I look at case studies, I "select randomly" and check that the direction of the treatment is appropriate for the presenting condition, I use clinical experience and think to myself, would I be doing this ? if the first is ok, I will look at another, and so on, if the first is not ok I will write some notes and this would be discussed in the post assessment viva. It is not usally necessary to go through them all, so time consuming and not cost effective for the training provider.
Assessors, depending on their experience are required by the external stakeholders to "sample" upto 50 % of case studies, it is also dependant on the length of time the college/school has been running the qualification as to how many are then sampled by the external assessors.
Any modules which fom part of the syllabus will be graded and count towards the final grade, it is therefore possible that a pass in A&P and a credit in practical exam along with daily of weekly grading by tutor will result in a lower final grade, the difference of these types of course are described as either product courses, where all weighting is placed on summative final exam day performance or process courses where all formative (ongoing) assessment will count towards final grades.
ITEc are more than likley going to have to change a lot of their courses to meet the new 370 hours required for minimum standards, that is possibly the reason they increased the case studies hours to attempt to meet these standards but have nowrealised it is not workable for the students.
There is the case that all assessors SHOULD mark to set criteria and should not "save all the harder questions" for certain students, however experienced assessors will be looking for you to use your clinical experience and reasoning to answer more searching questions if they feel you need to supply supplementry evidence that has not been collected during the practical exam.
well done on passing anyway and enjoy the journey of continued professional development
BGFL
Wow this is amazing, they say you need to see someone on average 4 times? What form of treatment is this?
(treating 10 people a total of 4 times in each)