As the foundation of the profession, PA education prepares students to succeed as clinicians, patient advocates, and stewards of health in communities across the country. That is why PAEA is dedicated to teaching PA students how to become successful advocates for PA education policy through our customizable advocacy curriculum. Our curriculum is divided into several key components that each contain supportive resources that allow PA faculty to build an educational experience that is most compatible with the needs of their program.
Component 1: Lectures
The first component of the PAEA Advocacy Curriculum is the following pre-recorded lectures featuring PAEA’s Government Relations team. Using the videos below, PA programs have the option to share one of two lectures with their students depending on how much time is available to devote to the content as well as on their individual learning objectives.
PA Education Policy and Advocacy Essentials
The PA Education Policy and Advocacy Essentials presentation is a 25 minute lecture covering basic topics such as PAEA’s role in PA education policy and advocacy, the Association’s overall policy agenda, and PAEA’s grassroots advocacy activities.
PA Education Policy and Advocacy Comprehensive
The PA Education Policy and Advocacy Comprehensive presentation is a 45 minute lecture that covers both basic and advanced topics such as policy actors in the PA profession, PAEA’s legislative priorities, the “advocacy toolkit”, examples of recent lobbying campaigns, how to conduct common grassroots advocacy activities, and ways to get involved in PAEA’s advocacy engagements.
Component 2: Classroom-Based Exercises
To complement the Essentials/Comprehensive lectures and help students retain core concepts, PAEA has developed a menu of classroom-based exercises along with a guide that assists PA faculty in facilitating these exercises. Download the Advocacy Curriculum Faculty Guide and make your students’ learning more interactive.
Advocacy Curriculum Faculty Guide
A written guide providing sample exercises and instructions to build advocacy skills among students.
View PDF
Component 3: Effective Grassroots Advocacy Activities
Now that your students have explored the world of PA education policy and advocacy through lectures and classroom-based experiences, they are ready to apply their knowledge and practice grassroots advocacy in support of current or emerging PA education policies. However, with so many different ways to get involved, students may be wondering how to begin their journey as a grassroots advocate as well as which approaches to advocacy are most successful. If you are interested in providing your students with evidence-based advocacy strategies in a brief format, share the following video.
Top 5 Grassroots Advocacy Strategies
A 7 minute video that lists grassroots advocacy options ranked by effectiveness.
Component 4: Advocacy Modules
In addition to the three primary components of the advocacy curriculum, PAEA invites faculty and students to explore our five interactive advocacy modules. Each module includes post-tests and covers topics such as effective communication strategies, building long-term relationships with legislative offices, and other critical elements of policy and advocacy. To get started, click on the desired module below.
Component 5: Grassroots Advocacy Resource Guide
For students who are interested in following more in-depth instructions on how to execute an array of different grassroots advocacy activities, please encourage them to download PAEA’s 20 page Grassroots Advocacy Resource Guide.
Grassroots Advocacy Resource Guide
A comprehensive toolkit intended to provide all stakeholders with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively advocate on behalf of PA education and the profession.
View PDF