The Educational & Professional Conceptual Frameworks

The Department of Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science has written the MScOT Educational Conceptual Framework (ECF) to illustrate how the program’s philosophy and values provide a foundation for the learning and education within the program. This framework guides the department on decisions around educating future occupational therapists, and selecting teaching methods for our curriculum.

It was created to outline the why and how of the MScOT curriculum that is used to educate students to become occupational therapists. In addition to providing a framework for teaching and learning, the document provides a guide for the renewal of both academic and fieldwork course content and teaching processes.

The foundational theory guiding the Educational Conceptual Framework is transformative learning theory (Mesirow, 1991). This theory focuses on the ‘deep learning’ that students undergo when significant shifts in their perspectives take place. Transformative learning is encouraged through a variety of approaches including experiential labs, fieldwork, critical reflection exercises, role-playing and group-based projects. Other theories that contribute to the Framework include: Kolb’s theory of experiential learning, social constructivism, critical pedagogy, cognitive neuroscience theory, Indigenous pedagogies, foundations of online pedagogy and Bloom’s taxonomy of learning. Kolb’s theory of experiential learning (1984) proposes a cycle of experiential learning where the learning occurs by a cyclical process of encountering the phenomena, observing the consequences of the encounter, analyzing patterns and formulating general principles, and then testing these in context through active experimentation. Social constructivism leads to greater focus on self-directed learning and assumes that learners construct knowledge based on internal cognitive processes, social interactions, and other experiences (Merriam and Caffarella, 1999). Critical pedagogy is an educational philosophy that endorses and nurtures students’ critical thinking through cycles of theory, application, evaluation, and reflection (Giroux, 2010; Shor, 1996). Critical pedagogy aims to have students critically examine implicit assumptions, power imbalances, inequities, and the social systems that maintain these structures. The theory of cognitive neuroscience discusses that learning processes occur within the neural networks of the brain leading to permanent changes in the neural architecture of the brain. Foundations of online pedagogy are incorporated to build relationships and community, embrace mastery of learning, incorporate active learning and personalise the learning experience. In keeping with our values of diversity, inclusion, justice, equity, and accountability and with a desire to participate in a meaningful way in the process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, we aim to embrace Indigenous Ways of Knowing in our pedagogical approach. Examples of some of the specific concepts seen in the curriculum are the belief/focus on holism and seeing individuals in context; the value of narrative to understandings of individual lives and of community life; appreciation for life in urban, rural, remote and reserve locations; and learning through observation, including close listening and observation of the natural world. Integrated with all of these approaches, is Bloom’s taxonomy, updated by Atherton (2011), which is used as a comprehensive categorization of knowledge types and specific learning processes.

The MScOT curriculum and evaluations are structured to reflect the principles of these theories. The ECF is dynamic and will evolve in response to feedback from students and changes in professional practice.

**With thanks to MScOT Class of 2024 students: Mikaela Correa and Maria Zainab for their contribution to the development of this summary.

Guiding Principle: The MScOT program’s professional conceptual framework embodies notions of ‘health through occupation’ and ‘scholarly-practitioner’ and is responsive to new and emerging theories in occupational science.

We are committed to advancing knowledge through excellence in research. As scholarly-practitioners, occupational therapists are expected to maintain a practice based on evidence, one aspect of which is current research. “Evidence-based occupational therapy is client-centred enablement of occupation that is based on client information, critical review of relevant research, expert consensus, and past experience” (CAOT, 1999/2009; Law & MacDermid, 2008). “Occupational therapists believe that evidence-based practice is a major element of what is now described as best practice”. (CAOT 1999/2009, para 2). Thus, we aim to graduate students with skills in contributing to programs of research and in the translation and utilization of research, leading to the advancement of knowledge supporting the profession.

Our professional conceptual framework provides the foundational philosophy and values statements of the Program that inform our curriculum.  Our professional conceptual framework embodies values that are deeply rooted in both current and emerging occupational theory and practice, as reflected in the following value statements:

1. Occupation: We believe in the value of occupation and its importance to health and well-being. We also believe in the importance of the environment as an influence on occupation and quality of life.
2. Leadership: We value a variety of notions of leadership. We believe that leadership is a process where one individual influences a group of people to achieve a common goal. We also believe that a leader is anyone willing to help and that “one can lead from any chair”.
3. Interprofessional Collaboration: We are committed to collaborative relationships and partnerships with clients/caregivers and health/social care providers.
4. Culture, Equity and Justice: We value cultural diversity and individual differences. We situate discussions of culture, equity and justice in the context of social inclusion and occupational justice concomitantly with oppression, privilege, discrimination, exclusion and injustice, all of which impact health, well-being and occupation.
5. Client-centredness: We believe that people’s occupational repertoires are idiosyncratic and, as such, clients are the experts regarding their own life experiences and occupations. Therefore, clients must be active partners in the occupational therapy process to realize the full potential of occupational engagement.
6. Professionalism: We value professionalism and are committed to fostering its development throughout the MScOT Program.