Abstract

The practitioner-scholar model, often called the Vail model, is a training model for graduate

programs that is focused on clinical practice. It was developed primarily to train clinical

psychologist was adopted by other specialty programs. According to this model, a

psychologist is a scholar, a consumer of research, and a highly-trained professional practitioner

who applies knowledge and techniques to solve problems of clients. The analyses explains the

differences between the practitioner-scholar and scholar-practitioner models.

Understanding the Practitioner-Scholar and Scholar-Practitioner Models

A scholar is a learned person who has applied their education to the to their specialized

environment. Intensive theory and research formed their concept of a practitioner. We often

think of practitioners as a person in the medical community.

According to recent research, the term practitioner is being used for other professions

also. It takes hard work and extreme dedication to be considered a practitioner. The fact that

effective practitioners require an experiential knowledge base, their formal education is

composed largely of didactic learning, whether in the physical or virtual classroom, grounded in

theory and in research that presumably underlies’ practice expertise (American Association,

2003).

A common buzzword used in graduate programs today is Scholar-Practitioner model. The

term was once used in reference to graduate programs of a clinical nature, and the model was

originally referred to as Practitioner-Scholar. The term scholar practitioner expresses an ideal of

professional excellence grounded in theory and research, informed by experiential knowledge,

and motivated by personal values, political commitments, and ethical