SUSTAINABLE ACCREDITATION

AND LEARNING

IN

INTERNATIONAL REHABILITATION

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

1EDEN 2011

Ireland

Alan Bruce, Universal Learning Systems

United States

David Perry, University of North Dakota

Michelle Marmé, Northeastern Illinois University

Chrisann Schiro Geist, University of Memphis

Regina Robertson, East Central Oklahoma University

❧Sustainable

❧Accreditation

❧Learning (beyond WHAT is taught…

what knowledge & skills are acquired)

❧ International Rehabilitation

❧Professional

❧Globalization

Overview

2EDEN 2011

❧ Change dynamic

❧ Impact of crisis

❧ Imperatives of continuing professional

development

❧ Standards and quality

❧ Ethical practice

Contexts of Inclusive

Practice

3EDEN 2011

Using the Experience of

Disability

Beyond Barriers to

Shared Excellence

From Competence to Creativity

European Challenges

American Perspectives

Innovative Learning

4EDEN 2011

Thinking Globally

Anticipating Future

Demographics

ICT & Supported Systems

Policy and Transformation

Linkage and Recognition5EDEN 2011

❧ Globally, there are almost 1 billion people with disabilities (PWD)

❧ Estimates of PWD by continent: Europe – 98 million, Africa – 137

million, Asia – 553 million, North America – 67 million, South

America – 57 million

❧ U.N. estimates 13.3 % of world population has some form of

disability

People with Disabilities

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❧While “disability” is defined differently in different

countries, the U.N. offers these definitions:

Impairment: “any loss or abnormality of

psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or

function”

Disability: a “restriction or lack (resulting from an

impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or

within the range considered normal for a human being”

People with Disabilities7

Supporting Independence

❧ Social Dynamics of Marginalized Populations

❧ Interpersonal Communication & Advocacy Skills

❧ Medical Services

❧ Physical Restoration

❧ Psychological Supports

❧ Independent Living

❧ Housing & Transportation

❧ Community Living Skills

❧ Avocational Pursuits

❧ Spiritual Development

❧ Vocational & Job/Career Development

❧ Legal Rights and Recourse

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❧ A variety of services are offered to help PWD become

more independent, such as: medical services, physical

restoration, psychological supports, job placement,

housing services, transportation assistance,

communication aids, and assistive technology.

❧ Rehabilitation Service providers receive various kinds

of training, ranging from on-the-job training to college

degrees.

❧ Higher education programs often seek accreditation to

demonstrate the quality and sustainability of their

degrees.

Interventions and

Training

9EDEN 2011

Council on Rehabilitation

Education (CORE)

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❧ Has offered accreditation of master’s programs in

Rehabilitation Counseling since 1972

❧ Accredits approximately 100 programs in the United

States

❧ Is recognized by the Council on Higher Education

Accreditation (CHEA), an organization that certifies a

variety of international accrediting bodies (e.g.,

engineering and business)

Commission on Undergraduate

Standards and Accreditation (CUSA)

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❧ This commission is part or CORE and is responsible

for sanctioning quality undergraduate rehabilitation

education programs

❧ The goal is to promote the effective delivery of services

to individuals

❧ Services improve when professionals receive better

training

❧ Accreditation standards promote continuing review and

improvement of high quality training programs

❧ Maximizing participation of

❧ people with disabilities

❧ in mainstream of life

❧ Creativity

❧ Commitment

❧ Collaboration

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International Rehabilitation

Education

❧ Building on firm foundation fromCORE and CUSA, our goal is to providean opportunity for other countries tohave their training programs recognized

❧ Advantages include programmatic review with respect to established standards of quality, economic viability, sustainability, portability of credentials,course transferability, and unified ethical codes

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❧ Profession defines fundamental standards of practice and

essential knowledge

❧ Students’ best interests & educational goals protected

❧ Strengths of Existing Models

❧ Protocols to follow, refine, & modify for new contexts

❧ Structured process of self-reflection for programs

❧ Asynchronous sharing of information

❧ Data gathering from constituents

❧ “Outside” review & validation from profession

❧ Educational institutions & programs are acknowledged for

developing/providing “best practice”

Accreditation

14EDEN 2011

Accreditation

as a Growth Process

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❧ Voluntarily organized, by educators, to develop and implement common

policies and standards, to evaluate educational quality

❧ Non-governmental, entirely voluntary, peer review, ensuring educational

programs meet educational and professional standards of quality

❧ Consider faculty academic preparation, demonstrated excellence,

programmatic recruitment practices and admissions procedures, course

content

❧ Outcome measures with respect to knowledge and skill attainment, from

the perspectives of a variety of stakeholders: supervisors, employers,

graduates

People with Disabilities

Pedagogy

Standards

Accredita-tion

Technology

Process of Continual

Refinement1

6EDEN 2011

❧ Establishing and supporting “best practice”

❧ Reimagine “accreditation” as

❧ Growth-oriented

❧ Supportive

❧ Enhancing outcomes

❧ Building upon established structures to address evolving needs of our students and practice

❧ Recontextualizing process in light of varying contexts and technologies

Re-evaluating

Accreditation Process

17EDEN 2011

New Models

of Program Assessment

❧ Consensus: some face-to-face components must be retained

❧ To ensure voracity of reports

❧ To address physical access in rehabilitation context

❧ In the absence* of technological alternatives

❧ Distance models for executing program evaluation & training of

evaluators

❧ Virtual training of site visitors

❧ More evaluators involved, enhancing the # observers involved

❧ Decreased costs for accreditation review process, increased cadre of

reviewers

❧ Multiple perspectives enhances sophistication of process

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Challenges

❧ World becomes flatter

❧ Boundaries blur

❧ Distinctions become less divisive

❧ Definitional considerations

❧ Universality of socially-endorsed and

❧ culturally-dependent phrasing & practices

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❧ Optimum training experiences for individuals

❧ interested in the full inclusion of people with

disabilities and differences, will be

❧ met through this refinement of sustainable

training and

❧ evaluation methodologies.

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Resources

❧ Council on Rehabilitation Education www.core-rehab.org

❧ National Clearinghouse of Rehabilitation Training Materials

https://ncrtm.org/moodle/

❧ National Council on Rehabilitation Education

www.rehabeducators.org/resources.html

revised 3/26/2015

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