European Organisations
European Organisations
Within Europe, two major organisations have been established to represent and develop occupational therapy. The Council of Occupational Therapists for the European Countries (COTEC) (www.cotec-europe.org) was established in 1986 to coordinate the views of the national associations of occupational therapists of the member states of the European Communities. In 2001, membership was broadened to include those countries that are not members of the European Union, but being part of Europe share the same aims. The aims of COTEC are to develop, harmonise and improve standards of professional practice and education (e.g. through the production of European Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice), as well as to advance theory and research in occupational therapy throughout Europe.
COTEC supports the development of new occupational therapy associations, education and services in European countries and the free movement of professionals and mutual recognition. COTEC gathers and disseminates information/statistics from all its members regarding the numbers and employment of graduates, levels of education and emerging areas of practice. It also organises a European Congress of Occupational Therapy every four years. By the end of 2006, COTEC had 27 member associations.
The European Network of Occupational Therapy in Higher Education(ENOTHE) (www.enothe.hva.nl) was founded in 1995 on the initiative of COTEC. In 1997, it became a Thematic Network, funded by the European Commission Socrates/Erasmus programme. The main aims ofENOTHE are to unite the European occupational therapy educational programmes and proposed programmes in order to advance the education and the body of knowledge of occupational therapy, and to work with COTEC to promote occupational therapy education in Europe. Since the foundation of ENOTHE in 1995, the objectives and the work of the network has been closely related to the Bologna process. Through the project groups of the network, and the resulting publications, work has related to: the implementation of ECTS and competence based learning/learning outcomes (Howard & Lancée 2000); re ection on different teaching and learning methods such as problem based learning (Crowder et al. 2004); case studies (Daniels et al. 2000); e-learning (Andresen et al. 2004), teaching practical skills (Dehnerdt et al. 2004); as well as quality enhancement through international peer review (Howard & Carnduff 2004).Additional work focused on developing knowledge and understanding of occupational therapy education throughout Europe (Bruggen et al. 2000) and the development of joint education/European programmes. The network also provides assistance to institutions and countries that wish to start occupational therapy education programmes (e.g. Central and Eastern European Regions) and advises on potential resources.
ENOTHE gathers and disseminates information and statistics from all its members regarding the Implementation of the Bologna process, such as:
— Implementation of generic competences at curriculum level
— Implementation of specifi c competences at curriculum level
— Implementation of competences at unit/module level
— Use of ECTS
— Diploma supplement
— Use of a quality assurance/monitoring system
— Three cycles
— International mobility and collaboration.
By the end of 2006, ENOTHE had over 190 members, including educational institutions, professional associations, employers and client-organisations from 38 European countries and some additional countries outside Europe.