Perspectives on Occupational Therapy Education (Past, Present, and Future)

John Dewey's (1939/2000) concept of growth provides a unifying theme for evolution of the profession of occupational therapy and its associated educational training over the past century. Growth, the constant process of change, is, for Dewey, a universal concept, applicable to situations biological, inanimate, and social (Cutchin, 2004; Taff & Danforth, 2016). The growth of any entity or phenomenon is equivalent to the accumulation of experience over time. Therefore, growth, time, history and place are closely related concepts instructive to our present discussion of occupational therapy education over the past century and into the future. History, broadly configured as a correlate of time and growth, offers important lessons as we reflect upon the continuity of events and experiences that have and will continue to shape professional education. French philosopher Henri Bergson's concept of duration is also instructive in helping us reframe time as a representation of both history and growth (Bergson, 1910/2014; 1911/1998). In relation to duration, time is a qualitative concept that embodies continuous experiences and subsequent changes (Linstead & Mullarkey, 2003). For Bergson, duration includes past, present, and future as additive experiences that unfold along the same continuum (Bergson, 1910/2014). Therefore, time is indivisible and the points along the continuum cannot be separated into historical epochs, but must instead be viewed as a series of growth events. Dewey (1939/1988) shares Bergson's conception of time as a series of interconnected events, a temporal seriality" (Mozur, 1991, p. 322) which defines the essence, or identity, of a person, object, or, in the present case, a profession. From a Deweyan standpoint, the professional essence of occupational therapy is an inherent growth capacity or potential to evolve. This potential is realized only through the profession's interaction with the environment through time. Just as humans experience the process of becoming through contextualized occupational engagement, so too the profession moves towards its potential, guided by key environmental factors at each point along the continuum of time. The trajectory of occupational therapy education has typically paralleled that of the profession at large, each event and consequent change part of a constant pattern of growth. For these reasons, we believe, that the publication of this text, Perspectives on Occupational Therapy Education: Past, Present, and Future, is timely. The text, as indicated in its title has three main sections - Past, Present, and Future - each weaving a unique perspective on the growth of occupational therapy education. Examining the Past Section 1 authors narrate two histories of occupational therapy education. One history, told in chapter two, examines critical philosophies, such as progressivism and essentialism, which prevailed at the time occupational therapy was founded. The chapter traces the influences those philosophies had on the emergence of the profession broadly and education specifically. Chapter 3 narrates a history of occupational therapy in search of its status as a profession. The chapter's premise is that occupational therapy education in the United States grew from tensions between the profession, higher education systems, and healthcare systems over time. xxii Introduction From these tensions grew new and expanded accreditation standards, new programs offering the entry-level professional degree for occupational therapy, new understandings of desired competencies for practice, and more. Responding to Present Trends in Healthcare and Higher Education Section 2 authors address trends in the American healthcare and higher education systems and illustrate how occupational therapy education is responding to or resisting those trends. The first chapter analyzes current issues and trends in healthcare and how occupational therapy education is addressing those to prepare the workforce of the future. Section 2 then proceeds to address this series of critical issues in occupational therapy education: an examination of pedagogies that are unique to occupational therapy; a discussion on how to bridge the gap between what is learned in entrylevel education and expectations in clinical practice; the use of competency exams to help students develop critical thinking and professional reasoning; measuring outcomes of occupational therapy education; expanding educational research in occupational therapy; promoting diversity and inclusion among faculty and students;"--

• | Author: Steven D. Taff|Lenin C. Grajo|Barbara Hooper
• | Publisher: Slack Incorporated
• | Publication Date: January 15, 2020
• | Number of Pages: 264 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1630915475
• | ISBN-13: 9781630915476