Are you interested in helping to promote speech and language therapy as a career choice?
These resources can help SLTs and student SLTs to raise awareness of the speech and language therapy profession, whether by giving a talk at a local school or attending a careers event.
Why promote the profession?
Research shows that one of the biggest barriers to the growth of the profession is that most young people simply don’t know about it. Those joining the profession tend to find out about it from family or friends, or hear about it during their first degree, usually in English, linguistics or psychology.
There is a potential role for every SLT to attract the next generation of students. This can be done by taking part in a careers event, but also in every contact with service users – there is always potential in spreading knowledge of the profession.
RCSLT resources
Becoming an SLT
When promoting the profession, you might find our pages on becoming a speech and language therapist helpful. We also provide information on which universities offer pre-registration training and details about the apprenticeship route.
Careers guide and templates
This careers toolkit provides SLTs and student SLTs with material to promote speech and language therapy as a degree. They can be used when you visit a school or careers event.
Download these resources and use them as required for your audience:
- RCSLT careers guide (PDF) – This booklet is an essential guide to becoming a speech and language therapist.
- Micro careers booklet for prospective SLTs – Our pocket-sized handout promoting speech and language therapy as a career.
- Careers powerpoint presentation template (PPT) – You can download these presentation slides to use when giving a talk in a school or university. Thank you to BCU SLT student society for their contribution in producing this template.
- Template letter to schools (Word) – You can use this letter template to offer to talk to schools about speech and language therapy as a career.
Email info@rcslt.org if you would like hard copies of the careers guide or leaflet for an event or if you have resources to share with us and other members.
Media
Virtual reality experience
Experience a day in the life of an SLT with the new virtual reality film produced by Health Education England (HEE). Created with input from SLTs and the RCSLT, the video covers a good range of settings and service users with the aim of being used for careers promotion. You may find it helpful to use it for events and outreach with groups of prospective students and school children.
The video can been viewed with or without a virtual reality headset. It was filmed both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
View the virtual reality film on the HEE website.
Videos
Here are some videos about speech and language therapy that you can use in careers promotion activities.
You could use the following video as an introduction to a careers event or presentation about careers promotion:
RCSLT would like to develop a wider range of videos to help promote the profession.
If you would like to contribute a video, please read the guidance below.
Images
The RCSLT is collecting a range of images about speech and language therapists.
You are free to use them in career promotion activities to reflect the diversity of the profession.
Read the guidance below if you can contribute images to the bank.
Guidance and consent
We encourage greater diversity in the profession and, where possible, a broader representation.
Examples of questions we hope to answer with images and videos:
- What do speech and language therapy students do?
- What does a first job look like?
- What are some surprising things about speech and language therapy?
- What are the common myths about speech and language therapy?
- What characteristics or skills are useful?
For images and videos featuring SLTs and SLT assistants/students, we require you to fill out this consent form. You may also need the consent of your employer, so please bear this in mind.
If there are any service users or school children in your images or videos, you will need a different form. Please get in touch to request this at info@rcslt.org
Photos should be at least 240 dpi, but preferably 300 dpi. They can be either jpeg or png.
Videos can be MP4 format and ideally between 1–3 minutes long.
External resources
Health Education England’s strategic framework, What comes next? (PDF), can be used for engagement with schools and communities to build a diverse healthcare workforce.
It sets out how to reach out to young people, broaden their horizons and raise their aspirations to create a more diverse workforce within health.
By working with Health Education England and NHS England we are able to ensure there is material about speech and language therapy as a career.
The NHS has been working working with Inspiring the Future to help NHS ambassadors to go into local schools and colleges to talk about their roles and a wide range of healthcare careers.
If you would like further information about becoming an ambassador please visit the Inspiring the Future website.
