World Physiotherapy education webinar
Register here to take part in the webinar
This free webinar is open to members of World Physiotherapy member organisations
This webinar offers one CPD unit/hour
Webinar title
Physiotherapist life-long learning: quality dialogues
Date and time
16 April 2025, 12:00-13:00 UTC Check your local time
Speakers
- Co-host: Joost Van Wijchen, member of Norsk Fysioterapeutforbund/Norwegian Physiotherapist Association
- Co-host: Djenana Jalovcic, World Physiotherapy education professional adviser
- Laura Blackburn, member of Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
- Naomi Wanjiru Kingau, member of Kenya Society of Physiotherapists
- Narasimman Swaminathan, member of Indian Association of Physiotherapists and الجمعية العمانية للعلاج الفيزيائي/Oman Physical Therapy Association
Joost Van Wijchen is a principal lecturer in physiotherapy and an educational designer with over 25 years of experience in higher education and more than 30 years in clinical practice. His work focuses on learning design, programmatic assessment, and professional development in physiotherapy education. Passionate about lifelong learning, Joost integrates critical pedagogy, the capability approach, and planetary health perspectives into curriculum development and CPD. He has led initiatives on co-organised learning, digitalisation, and sustainable agency, emphasising complexity, adaptability, and professional reasoning. Joost is actively engaged in international collaborations, including EU Erasmus projects and World Physiotherapy discussions on education quality. He believes in learning as a dynamic, emancipatory process, fostering reflection, curiosity, and equity in professional practice. He is a member of World Physiotherapy's education committee.
Djenana Jalovcic is an education professional adviser at World Physiotherapy and associate professor at the section for global health and rehabilitation at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL).
At World Physiotherapy, Djenana provides advice on education. She works on a portfolio of education projects ranging from physiotherapists' professional entry level education and continuing professional development (CPD) to education quality and networking among physiotherapy educators. Together with physiotherapist educators from World Physiotherapy's member organisations, Djenana facilitated co-creation of the World Physiotherapy Physiotherapist education framework, Guidance for developing a curriculum for physiotherapist entry level education programme and the launch of World Physiotherapy's CPD event recognition service.
Djenana has a doctorate in education - online education, from Athabasca University, Canada, and a master’s degrees in rehabilitation science - disability in the community and public administration - health policy and management from Queen’s University, Canada. In recognition of her contributions to advancing pedagogy and education quality at HVL, she received the distinguished educator award. Djenana volunteers with several non-governmental organisations, including the Canadian chapter of Women in Global Health.
Laura Blackburn is a business owner, physiotherapist, research fellow, and lecturer.
She completed the doctor of physiotherapy at Glasgow Caledonian University, was chair and Scotland officer in the Student Reference Group, and is now a Scottish Board member with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.
Her research interests include exploring how profession identity and philosophy relate to practice and EDB behaviours, as well as holding interests in learner and workplace agency, co-creation, and creative methods of engagement (eg narrative/storytelling). Laura is a research fellow for the Transforming Quality in Pre-registration Physiotherapy Education project.
Naomi Wanjiru Kingau, PhD PT, is a faculty member at the department of orthopedics and rehabilitation, Moi University School of Medicine. She is a graduate of the University of the Western Cape, faculty of health sciences, where she attained her undergraduate studies and post graduate training in neurorehabilitation.
She is a post-doctoral fellow at Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa. She is involved in training undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Health Sciences and offers care and consultancy services to patients. Naomi has been a member of clinical guideline development teams in Kenya and South Africa, during which a physiotherapy clinical practice guideline for stroke rehabilitation for Kenya was contextualized. She has several publications in peer-reviewed journals and has co-authored a number of publications. She serves as a Co-PI or Co-Investigator on several funded grants.
Narasimman Swaminathan is a physiotherapy educator and researcher, working as a professor in the school of rehabilitation and medical sciences, University of Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman. He completed a postgraduate in physiotherapy in 2003 and a Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) fellowship in 2012. He has also completed several funded educational research projects.
He is involved in training health professional educators in curriculum development, teaching learning, and assessment methods. He is a member of World Physiotherapy's education committee. Narasimman has served as an expert committee member of the national physiotherapy curriculum development committee, India. He is a consultant for PG curriculum development at Peradeniya University, Sri Lanka, a visiting professor to Bournemouth University, UK, and an adjunct researcher to University of South Australia, Adelaide. He was awarded the Indian Association of Physiotherapists CP Nair oration. He has published 57 peer reviewed articles in indexed journals and a member of Indian Association of Physiotherapists and الجمعية العمانية للعلاج الفيزيائي/Oman Physical Therapy Association.
Webinar description
During this webinar, panelists will discuss their perspectives on quality of life-long learning opportunities for physiotherapists, from entry-level education to continuing professional development. Webinar themes will focus on:
- Quality assurance processes such as the World Physiotherapy CPD event recognition service including requirements, procedures, and the importance of the service to advance the profession globally.
- Global perspectives on quality of physiotherapist education and CPD: From quality as a desirable state of programmes to quality as an ongoing process of program development and improvement
- Ensuring quality of life-long learning opportunities for physiotherapists to improve practice: quality requirements, processes, roles, services, and tools such as World Physiotherapy CPD event recognition service
