Competency standards being developed for Occupational Therapists

06 Jan 2016

Project update on the development of threshold competency standards for Australian occupational therapists.

The Occupational Therapy Board of Australia, the national occupational therapy regulator, is developing new competency standards for the profession. These standards will define the minimum expected competencies of everyone applying for registration as an occupational therapist. They are expected to be a useful assessment tool for regulatory purposes, as well as being used in professional and educational contexts¹.

The Board has established the Occupational Therapy Board Competency Standards Reference Group (Reference Group) to provide important stakeholder input into the development of the new competency standards for the profession. The Reference Group includes members nominated by ANZCOTE, OTA, OTC and OTCNSW. More information about the Reference Group and its Terms of reference can be found below.

The Board has also appointed an Occupational Therapy Board Threshold Competency Standards Advisory Panel (Advisory Panel) consisting of occupational therapists from a broad range of practice areas who have experience in training, teaching and/or the assessment of professional competencies. The Advisory Panel will provide the critical pool of knowledge and experience that will assist in the development of new threshold competency standards for the profession. More information about the Advisory Panel and its Terms of reference can be found below.

The Board has appointed Carramar Consulting to research and develop the new standards. Throughout the project Carramar Consulting will be supported by multiple layers of Board and profession specific input, including extensive preliminary and public consultation. At all stages during the project, the Board will retain oversight of the development of the new standards.

For more information

• List of Competency Standards Reference Group members  (41.0 KB,PDF), Word version (522 KB,DOCX) 
• Terms of reference - Competency Standards Reference Group (43.6 KB,PDF), Word version (523 KB,DOCX) 
• List of Competency Standards Advisory Panel members (43.7 KB,PDF), Word version (522 KB,DOCX)
• Terms of reference - Competency Standards Advisory Panel (44.4 KB,PDF), Word version (523 KB,DOCX)   
• PowerPoint presentation about the Carramar Consulting Pty Ltd project team and the project methodology (287 KB,PDF)

¹There are current competency standards for occupational therapy graduates, the Australian minimum competency standards for new graduate occupational therapists (ACSOT), which are owned by Occupational Therapy Australia. However, these were not designed as an assessment tool for regulatory purposes.