This study aims to identify the perception of third year physiotherapy students on the teaching and learning during clinical placements. A sample of 154 third year undergraduate and diploma students from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the Universiti Teknologi Mara and the Kolej Sains Kesihatan Bersekutu completed the questionnaire. High internal reliability of teaching and learning activities scale in the questionnaire was determined using Cronbach alpha (α = 0.94). Findings showed significant differences (p < 0.05) of perception among students in the clinical block between different levels of education, the ideal number of students in a group during clinical teaching session, and in the activity of ‘patient-centered activities,’ as well as 'feedback to the student.’ These findings demonstrated that the level of education does influence the students’ perceptions on their teaching and learning during clinical placements. In conclusion, the level of education is a contributory factor that influences the students’ rate of learning in clinical education.

Neurophobia, defined as ‘the fear of neural sciences and neurology’ is reported among medical students, which threatenedtheir performance in neurology course. This phenomenon has not been studied among rehabilitation sciences studentsdespite the significance of neurology as an area for rehabilitation. In this study we aim to assess the perceptions of neurologycourse and the possibility of neurophobia existence among rehabilitation sciences students of Universiti KebangsaanMalaysia (UKM). We also aimed to identify learning methods which are regarded as useful among the students. A surveyusing self-administered questionnaires was conducted among 73 students from School of Rehabilitation Sciences of theuniversity. Questions in the questionnaire were adapted from previous studies, in which neurophobia was indicated by poorknowledge and low confidence level in managing neurology course. Results showed that the percentage of participantswho perceived having good knowledge of neurology was significantly higher than the percentage who claimed of havingpoor knowledge level (90.4% versus 9.6%, p < 0.01). Similarly, the percentage of participants who claimed having highconfidence to handle neurology cases was higher than the percentage who expressed lack of confidence (79.2% versus20.8%, p = 0.03). However, neurology course was perceived as difficult by majority of the participants (78.1%) whencompared to other courses. Majority of the participants (97.3%) perceived clinical teaching as a useful method of learningrehabilitation science courses including neurology followed by problem-based learning (90.4%). While limited exposureto neurology cases was claimed as the main reason to why neurology is difficult. In conclusion, although neurology isperceived as a difficult course among rehabilitation sciences students, the students did not report lack of knowledge andconfidence in the course. This implies that neurophobia does not exist among UKM rehabilitation students. Enhancementof learning methods may assist in reducing the level of difficulty of neurology course among the students.