On June 5, 2020, the team of the Erasmus + KA2 “UKROTHE” project represented by Drohobych State Pedagogical University, Khmelnytsky National University and Prydniprovsk State Academy of Physical Culture and Sports together with partners from Belgium, Portugal and Spain met at video-conference with the Vice President of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) Samantha Shann (UK).
Samantha Shann presented to the participants information babout “Minimum Standards of Occupational Therapists” from the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (2016), which revealed the strategy for the development of occupational therapy in the world, educational requirements for the occupational therapist in accordance with international standards. According to the WFOT vice-president, international standards do not offer recipes for the development of occupational therapy programs, as each educational program should be sensitive to local culture and the main principle of the occupational therapy program should be to support human rights. Samantha Shann emphasized the importance of the Minimum Standards of Education for Occupational Therapists from the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) when developing an educational program for occupational therapists at Bachelor’s level. It is the content of this document and the process of approving educational programs together with development monitoring from the World Federation of Occupational Therapists that provide a global unifying approach to curriculum development of quality occupational therapy programs, focusing on interpretations of local contexts.
Samantha Shann believes that the success of any occupational therapy educational program in terms of its WFOT approval will depend on how well the philosophy and purpose of the program meet the requirements of the WFOT Occupational Therapists’ Minimum Standards for Occupational Therapists and how unique it is in the local context.
The project participants discussed the prospects of training bachelors in occupational therapy and physical therapy for certain educational programs in the Free Economic Zone of Ukraine. Samantha Shann informed the audience that the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) is actively negotiating with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to separate the training of physical therapists and occupational therapists at the bachelor’s level in higher education in accordance with international requirements.
The moderator of the meeting and project coordinator Sharon Schilwart (VIVES University of Applied Sciences) acquainted the project participants with the final report on the results of interviews with students and stakeholders who conducted teams of Ukrainian free economic zones within the project.
Joachim Fayas, a professor at the Porto Polytechnic Institute (Portugal), head of the occupational therapy program and an occupational therapist in pediatrics, shared his experience in developing curricula for bachelor’s occupational therapists. Participants of the meeting had the opportunity to get acquainted with the types of educational and training activities, forms of assessment of higher education at Porto Polytechnic Institute, the list of disciplines that form general and special competencies of occupational therapists and the method of distribution of ECTS credits between general and special competencies and clinical education. practice) bachelors in occupational therapy.
Anne-Marie Denolf (VIVES University of Applied Science (Brugge, Belgium) presented the presentation “Co-creation: manuals”, which revealed the essence of the method of co-creation, which will be used by project teams in creating manuals, which should be at least ten. Anne-Marie Denolf believes that equality of participants, openness and trust, dialogue, a common position, enthusiasm, determination and focus on results are the prerequisites for the successful co-creation of manuals. .
The next meeting within the framework of the Erasmus + KA2 “UKROTHE” project is scheduled for June 24, 2020.