A presentation on developing competencies for occupational therapist including; what are competencies, why are they important and how to develop competencies. In the end there are references for further resources

1. Developing competencies for occupational therapy education and practice Nils Erik Ness Programme Coordinator Standards and Quality World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) Associate Professor, HiST, Norway

2. Developing competencies for occupational therapy education and practice Competencies What are competencies? Why are competencies important? How to develop competencies? OT competencies Resources

3. Greetings from the World Federation of Occupational Therapists - the key international representative for occupational therapy and occupational therapists

4. represents 69 member organisations worldwide and over 350,000 occupational therapists

5. Occupational therapy is the only health profession that has international quality assurance process for entry level education of its practitioners; WFOT Minimum Standards of the Education of Occupational Therapist & Program Review Process

6. The Council of WFOT 2010

7. The Executive Management Team

12. Professional Competencies are now in the process of being developed for most professions and disciplines all over the world A search on the web will give many hits also related to health professions

13. This presentation is relevant for all health professionals but the examples are related to occupational therapy

14. WFOT view on competencies is included in the following documents available from www.wfot.org: WFOT Minimum Standards for the Education of Occupational Therapists (2002) WFOT Entry-level competencies for occupational therapists (2008)

15. WFOT recommends that local/national context should influence the educational programmes Competencies should be adapted to each local/national context

16. However competencies should include the following areas: The person-occupation-environment relationship and its relationship to health Therapeutic and professional relationship Occupational therapy process Professional reasoning and behaviour The context of professional practice

19. 2. Defining OT competencies 3. Developing OT Education(Guidelines, curriculum) 1. Identifying baseline International standards (WFOT, WCPT) and National Standards International standards (WFOT, WCPT) and Local/National context and needs Local/National context and needs

20. What are competencies? Why are they important? How do you develop competencies? Were is knowledge on developing competencies?

21. Competencies are abilities to successfully carry out skills and perform profession-specific tasks and duties abilities to perform work to a set standard in employment the end product of an educational programme, or how learners are able to perform at the end of an educational process

22. Competencies Represent a dynamic combination of knowledge and understanding, interpersonal and practical skills, ethical values and responsibilities and abilities Are actions that need integration of knowledge, skills and attitudes

23. Why Focus on Competencies?

24. Why Focus on Competencies? Common description for the practitioners and the educational programs Education Competencies Practice Set learning objectiveand standards for practice

25. Why Focus on competencies? Maintain and enhance professional standard Easier to understand the different roles and expertise of different professions (eg PT, OT, rehab therapist and rehab physician) Support transparency for clients, employers and other stakeholders May be used as baseline for evaluating individual competencies and educational programs

26. Why Focus on competencies? Guide design of national guidelines, curriculums and educational programmes(e.g., Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK and more) Make it possible to have different content or sequence of subjects (different curriculums, but still the same competencies)

27. Why Focus on competencies? Support moving from teacher-centered and subject-centered education towards learner and competence-centered education Put emphasis on learning outcomes Support transparency during learning

28. Key themes of competencies for health professional(Rodger et al 2009) Competencies are more than the execution of a set of specific, technical skills; It is also: judicious and reasoned application of intellect to meet the expectations of the client and work environment sufficient insight to regulate own practice a relative term dependent on the context

29. Developing OT competencies Since competencies reflect practice and are the outcome of educational programmes they should be developed in cooperation with academics and practitioners

30. The European Tuning Project has developed a common methodology for all disciplines/ professions This methodology has been followed to develop European competencies for Occupational Therapy by COTEC (OT practicians) and ENOTHE (OT academics) The work was coordinated by the European OT Tuning Group (representing ENOTHE and COTEC)

31. The European Occupational Therapy Tuning Project Based on critical study of earlier work by: WFOT (Hocking & Ness 2002) College of OT’s in the UK (Turner 2004) Australian Association of OT’s (Ford & Tonkin 1994) Canadian Association for OT’s (CAOT 1998) European Curriculum Guidelines (Howard & Lancee 2000) Standards of Practice (COTEC 1996) Focus groups (annual meetings of ENOTHE and COTEC)

32. The European Occupational Therapy Tuning Project Online Questionnaire for all European occupational therapy practitioners, academics and students (Tuning methodology) Open feedback process from COTEC and ENOTHE, e-mail and consultation with experts Feedback from employers and client groups Validation meeting with stakeholders (international experts in health and education) Parallel meetings with the medical, nursing and physiotherapy professions

33. The European Occupational Therapy Tuning Project European OT competencies are described in 6 categories: Knowledge of occupational therapy (5) OT process and professional reasoning (9) Professional relationships and partnerships (5) Professional autonomy and accountability (5) Research and development in OT/science (6) Management and promotion of OT (5)

34. Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists Profile of OT Practice in Canada (2007) The concept used for developing the profile is based on the competencies framework for medical specialists produced by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada: the “CanMEDS Roles” (Frank, 2005).

35. Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists The profile outlines the seven main “roles” of the occupational therapist: 1. Expert in Enabling Occupation 2. Communicator 3. Collaborator 4. Practice Manager 5. Change Agent 6. Scholarly Practitioner and 7. Professional

36. Issues and dilemmas to consider when developing competencies

37. Issues and dilemmas to consider when developing competencies Competences are the aims that are guiding all five areas in WFOT Min Standards Philosophy and purpose Curriculum content and sequence Educational methods Fieldwork Educational resources Educators

39. Competencies are often grouped under headings, but have common content in different standards

41. OT education should prepare competencies in following area: Person-environment-occupation-interface Collaboration and partnership Enabling occupation and participation Professional reasoning and behaviour; ethical, clinical/practical and scientific Local and international orientation

42. Issues and dilemmas to consider when developing competencies Competencies are: complex (an integration of knowledge, skills and attitudes), but should still communicate clearly related to contexts (eg. consider if the health professional (OT, PT) should work in hospital or primary/community settings or both)

43. Issues and dilemmas to consider when developing competencies Competencies are: described with an active verb, as a performance, behaviour or skill (eg. apply, collaborate, disseminate, demonstrate) the core of the professions roles, duties and strengths (and does not include every single detail of a curriculum) often related to national priorities in line with international standards (WFOT, WCPT)

44. Issues and dilemmas to consider when developing competencies Consider the number of competencies (not few, not too many) difference between technical –prescriptive competencies (including verbs like: shall, should, must) and enabling competencies that allows flexibility and some variations of practice (Rodger et al 2009)

45. Issues and dilemmas to consider when developing competencies Consider also Regular update/revision of competencies in view of national health needs and development Competences formulated as a continuum to be developed through life; this continuum might be operationalised with specific learning outcomes at certain steps(1st, 2nd, 3rd year, Bachelor, Master, Doctoral level) (eg European Tuning system)

46. Competencies Learning outcome Bachelor Learning outcome Master Learning outcome Doctoral

47. Helpful resources WFOT Minimum Standard for the Education of Occupational Therapists (2002). (available in different languages) WFOT Entry-level competencies for occupational therapists (2008) Online order from WFOT shop https://www.wfot.org/wfotshop/ or WFOT secretariat; admin@wfot.org.au

48. Helpful resources The Reference points for the Design and Delivery of Degree Programmes in Occupational Therapy (ENOTHE and COTEC 2008) Introduction to Occupational Therapy Summary of the OT TUNING process Application of competencies (Including designing curricula and ideas of approaches to learning, teaching and assessment including fieldwork) Includes bachelor, master and doctoral level Challenges and trends for the future Download book from http://tuning.unideusto.org/tuningeu/, scroll down to bottom of page, click third book from left

49. Helpful resources European Occupational Therapy Competences(ENOTHE and COTEC 2008) translated into 20 languages: http://www.enothe.hva.nl/tq/tuning_line2.htm

50. Helpful resources Profile of OT Practice in Canada (CAOT 2007): Download from http://www.caot.ca/default.asp?pageid=36 Sylvia Rodgers et al (2009): A comparisons of international occupational therapy competencies: Implications for Australian standards in the new millennium, Australian Occupational Therapy Journal vol 56, issue 6 372-383.

51. Helpfulresources More information on Tuning process: Tuning Educational Structures in Europehttp://tuning.unideusto.org

52. Thank you very much