Starting November 1, 2014, the Federation
of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) will eliminate the distinction
between General Education and Professional Education. This is a modification of the Interpretive
Guidelines for the FSBPT Coursework Tool (CWT).
The Coursework Tool accepted by all
member boards to evaluate whether a foreign educated PT or PTA’s education is
substantially equivalent to a US PT or PTA education.
FSBPT’s Board issued a comprehensive
notice letting the public know that the Board “did not approve this change
lightly”. The Board explained that the
elimination of the distinction had been considered for several years and had
been recommended by the FSBPT’s Foreign Educated Standards Committee. Notably, within US education and within the
criteria developed by the Commission
on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE), there is no such
term as general education. The new
policy does not to eliminate the required courses within General Education, but
it does eliminate the artificial distinction between Professional Education and
General Education.
For foreign-educated PTs, this change
could be helpful. Presently the CWT
requires 150 total credits, which is comparable to what is needed for a US
post-graduate degree. In many
international PT programs these general courses are embedded into the PT
professional courses, not completed ahead of entry. The current model would not
allow the evaluator to give credit as a general course since it was taken as
part of their professional coursework.
Previously, some foreign-educated PTs
education was found to be incomparable to a US-educated because of the
distinction between Professional Education and General Education. This resulted in some foreign-educated PTs
having to take “make-up” classes, usually from CLEP.
As the Board correctly points out, “to ask an applicant to complete a
prerequisite after completing professional curriculum seems counterintuitive,
and sets up an unreasonable barrier to licensure.”
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ReplyDeleteWe at InterFysio welcome this positive change. For many years, we have had to reject excellent physical therapist candidates from certain countries due to the incompatible educational system in their countries. Since we file H-1B visa petitions for many international therapists, we had no choice but to reject otherwise qualified candidates. Hopefully, this new and more realistic approach by FCPPT will help.
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