Date Presented 04/04/2025
From 2006 to 2023, there was a reduction in Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE®) standard requirements to teach and assess student learning of occupation. Diminished foundational knowledge of occupation may affect students’ ability to apply and creatively use occupation in practice.
Primary Author and Speaker: Thomas Mernar
Contributing Authors: Leighan Herzberger
PURPOSE: The purpose of this research paper is to explore and discuss accreditation standard trends from 2006 to 2023 that have focused on the required levels of learning complexity of occupation during occupational therapy assistant and occupational therapy students’ academic preparation.
DESIGN: In this descriptive research design, revised Bloom’s taxonomy was used as a framework examining hierarchical learning action verbs that underpin the degree of complexity of students’ learning of occupation within the 2006 to 2023 ACOTE B standards.
METHOD: Revised Bloom’s taxonomy action verbs were analyzed within the previous four versions of the ACOTE standards. Action verbs were tallied for the lower to higher order cognitive skills (remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, create, and other) for OTA, MOT, and entry-level OTD degree level programs.
RESULTS: A minimal number of ACOTE B standards covering occupation in both lower and higher order cognitive skill levels were found across all degree levels of education. Most of the standards that include occupation are higher order cognitive skill levels. For example, in the 2023 ACOTE standards, of the 51 B standards listed, only 6 standards include occupation. Of these 6 B standards, only 2 B standards are lower order cognitive skills.
CONCLUSION: Learning at higher levels of complexity is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower foundational levels of learning. It is important to analyze the history of ACOTE standards so that we can understand the educational preparation of our students knowledge of occupation prior to practice. Having increased curricular content centered on the foundations of occupation can enhance our students understanding of occupation so that they can increasingly apply, analyze, evaluate, and creatively use occupation in order to promote best occupation-based practices.
References
Krishnagiri, S., Hooper, B., Price, P., Taff, S. D.,& Bilics, A. (2017). Explicit or hidden? Exploring how occupation is taught in occupational therapy curricula in the United States. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71, 7102230020. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2017.024174
Mernar, T. J., & Herzberger, L. (2024). The Issue Is—Understanding accreditation requirement trends of teaching occupation in occupational therapy curricula. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 78, 7801347020. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2024.050342
Price, P., Hooper, B., Krishnagiri, S., Taff, S. D.,& Bilics, A. (2017). A way of seeing: How occupation is portrayed to students when taught as a concept beyond its use in therapy. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71, 7104230010. https://doi.org/ 10.5014/ajot.2017.024182
Stanny, C. J. (2016). Reevaluating Bloom’s taxonomy: What measurable verbs can and cannot say about student learning. Education Sciences, 6, 37. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci6040037
