Professor Gisela Sole is looking forward to an insider's view of the processes that shape how physiotherapy programmes are assessed and accredited, in her new role as part of the Australian Physiotherapy Council Accreditation Committee.
Professor Gisela Sole, from Otago's School of Physiotherapy, has been appointed to the prestigious Australian Physiotherapy Council Accreditation Committee.
Professor Sole says she feels very welcome in the group and is excited by the opportunity. She looks forward to broadening her own perspectives and contributing to the team.
“While we will be in regular contact throughout the year via Zoom, we recently had our first meeting in person in Brisbane. It was fantastic to hear the group's thoughts, because the Physiotherapy Board of New Zealand (PBNZ) contracts this group for the accreditation processes of our entry-level physiotherapy programmes.”
The Australian Physiotherapy Council is the accreditation authority to guarantee standards of the physiotherapy profession and its teaching. The Accreditation Committee provides advice and recommendations for accreditation and assessment to the Physiotherapy Boards of Australia and of New Zealand. Professor Sole will now directly contribute to the processes that shape how physiotherapy programmes are assessed and accredited, including those in New Zealand.
Professor Sole says it's great to have a New Zealander on this Committee to get an "inside view” into how these processes can and should work, and to network with other professionals in Australia.
“The Committee is also going through the very important move of considering indigenous perspectives in their activities and it will be great to be a part of this journey because, even though this is done slightly differently in New Zealand, there are similarities that can be shared with the Australian programmes.”
“The main function of the Physiotherapy Boards is to keep the public safe and so the accreditation committee will contribute to this goal by ensuring that the teaching programmes offered by various institutions are appropriate and up to standard,” Professor Sole says.
Professor Sole has given several decades of service to physiotherapy practice and education. She is currently Deputy Dean of the School of Physiotherapy, a member of the Board of Postgraduate Studies and has been on the University's Board of Undergraduate Studies. She is also part of an Academic Advisory Group which is advising research undertaken by Physiotherapy New Zealand alongside ACC.
Kōrero by the Division of Health Sciences Communications Adviser, Kelsey Schutte