The healthcare industry is characterized by a high demand for skilled workers in Germany and other EU countries. Staff shortages prevail not only in care facilities, ambulant services and hospitals, but in all areas of the therapeutic professions. With the aging of the population in the EU, therapeutic services are becoming increasingly important. The aim of the project is to increase the attractiveness of the profession of the occupational therapist through transparency and comparability of the theoretical and practical vocational training of occupational therapists between DE, BG, IT, PL by preparing a comparative study of the vocational training programs, to the recognition of the degrees, on the financing of occupational therapy services in the partner countries, as well as the development, testing and evaluation of the EUPRAC practice curriculum for regular integration and recognition in the respective VET structures, based on the EQF and the national QR. The EUPRAC curriculum promotes a practice-oriented vocational qualification that contributes to ensuring the demand-oriented supply of occupational therapists in the EU and at the same time increases the quality of education in this profession throughout Europe. Direct target groups in the project are trainees (apprentices) and VET students in Europe (in the project: DE, BG, IT, PL) with an interest in occupational therapists as well as interest in Europe-wide professional employment opportunities and perspectives (including entrepreneurial start-up). The direct target group are trainers, VET teachers in occupational therapy, who broaden their professional expertise by providing practical teaching skills as well as intercultural communication, including language skills and mobility. The target group are educational institutions focusing on practical training for occupational therapists in Europe, who benefit from Europe-wide comparability of educational content and qualifications. Target group are providers of occupational therapeutic services (care facilities, ambulant services, hospitals) in Europe with a need for theoretically and practically competent staff. The innovative outcome of the project is the EUPRAC comparative study on theoretical and practical training, the European recognition of degrees and the financial frame of occupational therapy services in the European health market between the countries DE, BG, IT, PL. It will be developed according to the criteria of compatibility by the EUPRAC project team (15 experts): - training content (competences), including modern online reporting procedures; - training periods; - Qualitative and quantitative requirements, also concerning the level of education (university, technical school, vocational school); - Recognition practices of the regional and national authorities; - Comparison of social security systems in relation to the occupational areas of occupational therapists in the EU and the financing of occupational therapy services. The innovative result is the practically tested EUPRAC curriculum, based on the quality framework of the WFOT, the EQF and the national QF. Components of the curriculum are: - learning content and learning objectives catalog for practical training in the respective areas of work; - Expectation profile of the internship institution to the trainees / VET-students; - internship assignment; - assignment of practical lessons; - Criteria for the assessment of the trainee / VET-student. Important contents are additional European competencies, such as intercultural communication, language skills and knowledge in dealing with modern online reporting systems in the fields of work for occupational therapists. 12 foreign apprentices, VET students and 6 foreign VET teachers participate in the EUPRAC tandem internship (2 flows of 4 weeks) in health care companies in DE to test and evaluate the EUPRAC curriculum (EUROPASS Mobility). They are looked after by 6 German trainees (2nd-3rd year of training) as well as 6 German tutors and 6 mentors. The results are published as OER in 5 languages (DE, BG, IT, PL, ENG) as pdf downloads on the EU platform EPALE. Sustainable use is ensured by the regular admission and recognition of the EUPRAC curriculum, including the European EUPRAC tandem internship, in the occupational therapy training of the project partners in DE, BG, IT, PL and the LoC with the associated partners for Europe-wide distribution. In the long term, the occupational therapist's attractiveness increases throughout Europe, the number of practically trained occupational therapists is growing, and at the same time the demand-oriented supply of skilled workers in the health market of the EU is growing.
Therapeutic services increasingly gain in importance. This can be attributed, among other things, to the progressive ageing of the population in Europe. But also the latest scientific knowledge shows the high effectiveness of non-drug procedures, which as therapeutic approaches offer real alternatives to conventional pharmacological treatments. With the continuously growing demand for therapeutic services, the need for qualified therapists is also constantly increasing. Thus, it should be the goal to convince young people to start a training to become occupational therapists. In addition to a high quality of theoretical training, the practical imparting of professional competences and the possibility of finding professional employment opportunities in all countries of the European Union play an important role in the attractiveness of the profession. Under the title "EUPRAC - Europractice for Occupational Therapists", a European project partnership therefore concentrated primarily on the part of the practical training of occupational therapists, for which there are still no uniform regulations in the country comparison, but which is a decisive component of the training. In the period from 01. October 2018 to 31. March 2021, educational institutions from four European countries cooperated: • IBKM gemeinnützige Schulträger GmbH as the project executing organization (DE), • „Angel Kanchev“ University of Ruse (BG), • Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego we Wroclawiu (PL), • ICM Fachhochschule Krems GmbH as well as • IBKM Praxismanagement GmbH as an important practice partner. The target groups of the project included: • trainees (apprentices) and students (in the project: DE, BG, AT, PL) with an interest in occupational therapists as well as interest in Europe-wide professional employment opportunities and perspectives, • trainers, VET teachers in occupational therapy, who broaden their professional expertise by providing practical teaching skills as well as intercultural communication, including language skills and mobility, • educational institutions focusing on practical training for occupational therapists in Europe, who benefit from Europe-wide comparability of educational content and qualifications, • providers of occupational therapeutic services in Europe with a need for theoretically and practically competent staff. In the first step, an EUPRAC comparative study was developed, which focused on the training programmes, the framework conditions of the training and the recognition practices of the regional and national authorities, as well as on the financing of therapeutic services and the position of occupational therapists in the social security system in the participating countries. Based on this study, a common training basis for the practical training of occupational therapists was developed in a second step. The qualification framework of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT), the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and the National Qualifications Frameworks (NQF) also formed important bases for the creation of the EUPRAC curriculum. Components of the curriculum are: • Competence-based learning objectives and contents for the practical training of occupational therapists in the context of internships in other European countries, • Recommendations for a preparatory procedure within the sending educational institutions for completing occupational therapy placements in other European countries, • a questionnaire to ensure the recognition of occupational therapy internship institutions in other European countries, • Guidelines for students in preparation for an occupational therapy internship in another European country, • Profile of expectations and offers of occupational therapy internship institutions to students/trainees from other European countries. The initial testing was carried out within the framework of tandem internships with students/trainees from the participating European educational institutions in occupational therapy practices in Germany. The results and experiences were also implemented in the EUPRAC curriculum. A job shadowing programme provided further essential insights from the perspective of the teachers. With the EUPRAC curriculum that has been developed, the European project team aims to provide guidelines for the barrier-free completion of internships that are both relevant to practice and serve as a model for other actors, in order to open up new perspectives and opportunities for young people on the European labour market. At the same time, this aims to promote the attractiveness of the occupational therapy profession. The EUPRAC curriculum promotes a practice-oriented vocational qualification that contributes to ensuring the demand-oriented supply of occupational therapists in the EU and at the same time increases the quality of education in this profession throughout Europe.