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26 October 2018
Dr Annamarie van Jaarsveld believes occupational therapy is important
Dr Annamarie van Jaarsveld believes occupational therapy is important for personal well-being.
On 27 October the profession of occupational therapy is promoted and celebrated internationally. The theme for this year is “Celebrating our global community.” Due to the theme of this year occupational therapists form all over the globe will be able to join in the World Federation for Occupational Therapy Virtual Exchange webinars.
 
Occupational therapy promotes health and well-being through occupation. The overarching goal of occupational therapy is to enable people to participate in the activities of everyday life that is meaningful to them. Occupational therapists work with people and communities in an effort to enable people of all ages to live life to its fullest by helping them maintain and/or promote health, and prevent (or live better with) injury, illness, or disability. 

Common occupational therapy interventions include helping children with disabilities to participate fully in school and social situations, helping people recovering from injury to regain skills, and providing supports for older adults experiencing physical and cognitive changes. Occupational and social justice along with occupational deprivation are core within the profession as it relates to oppression or restrictions to participation in occupation impacting on well-being and quality of life. 

Taking the lead in Sensory Integration research

Dr Annamarie van Jaarsveld is a lecturer in the Department of Occupational Therapy, and she is at the forefront of research in sensory integration, a specialist field within occupational therapy. Apart from completing her PhD on the curriculum design of a South African professional master’s degree qualification in sensory integration, she is also heading the South African leg of a large international study in collaboration with sensory integration experts all over the world.

Dr Van Jaarsveld explains: “The Evaluation of Ayres Sensory Integration (EASI) is a new test which aims to be a first of its kind in the field of sensory integration and occupational therapy. It will be inexpensive, electronically accessible and practical, and standardised on an international population which includes a South African sample. This will make the test accessible and useful for therapists in South Africa to be able to assess sensory integration related function of all South African children in a valid and reliable manner.” 

In addition to being the South African lead on the international EASI standardisation study, Annamarie was selected as the chairperson of the Board of Council Meetings of the International Council for Education in Ayres Sensory Integration (ICEASI). She is also the International Liaison on the board of the South African Institute for Sensory Integration. 

Annamarie’s passion for sensory integration and the application of a highly researched and specialised subfield where the expertise and guidance are provided by a first-world country is not only evident in her research, but also in various community projects that she is involved in. One such a project, Back to Urth Playgrounds, aims to make sensory integration relevant to the needs of South African children and their families struggling with sensory integration issues within the realities of diverse contexts. Through the designing of sustainable playgrounds based on sensory integration theory, building the playgrounds in collaboration with the community and other stakeholders, and equipping educators and caregivers with knowledge on how to encourage children to use the playgrounds, Annamarie has contributed to making the potential of sensory integration-based intervention accessible to the most under-resourced of areas. 

With the 27th of October being International Occupational Therapy Day, Annamarie says: “Sensory integration is not only the best researched field within occupational therapy, providing more and more best practice evidence through rigorous research, it is also becoming more available to children and families from all walks of life – indeed exciting times ahead for this field of practice and it remains a privilege to be involved in it”.  

News Archive

MBA Programme - Question And Answer Sheet - 27 May 2004
2004-05-27

1. WHAT MUST THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE (UFS) DO TO GET FULL ACCREDITATION FOR THE MBA PROGRAMMES?

According to the Council on Higher Education’s (CHE) evaluation, the three MBA programmes of the UFS clearly and significantly contribute to students’ knowledge and skills, are relevant for the workplace, are appropriately resourced and have an appropriate internal and external programme environment. These programmes are the MBA General, the MBA in Health Care Management and the MBA in Entrepreneurship.

What the Council on Higher Education did find, was a few technical and administrative issues that need to be addressed.

This is why the three MBA programmes of the UFS received conditional accreditation – which in itself is a major achievement for the UFS’s School of Management, which was only four years old at the time of the evaluation.

The following breakdown gives one a sense of the mostly administrative nature of the conditions that have to be met before full accreditation is granted by the CHE:

a. A formal forum of stakeholders: The UFS is required to establish a more structured, inclusive process of review of its MBA programmes. This is an administrative formality already in process.

b. A work allocation model: According to the CHE this is required to regulate the workload of the teaching staff, particularly as student numbers grow, rather than via standard management processes as currently done.

c. Contractual agreements with part-time staff: The UFS is required to enter into formal agreements with part-time and contractual staff as all agreements are currently done on an informal and claim-basis. This is an administrative formality already in process.

d. A formal curriculum committee: According to the CHE, the School of Management had realised the need for a structure – other than the current Faculty Board - where all MBA lecturers can deliberate on the MBA programmes, and serve as a channel for faculty input, consultation and decision-making.

e. A system of external moderators: This need was already identified by the UFS and the system is to be implemented as early as July 2004.

f. A compulsory research component: The UFS is required to introduce a research component which will include the development of research skills for the business environment. The UFS management identified this need and has approved such a component - it is to take effect from January 2005. This is an insufficient element lacking in virtually all MBA programmes in South Africa.

g. Support programmes for learners having problems with numeracy: The UFS identified this as a need for academic support among some learners and has already developed such a programme which will be implemented from January 2005.

The majority of these conditions have been satisfied already and few remaining steps will take effect soon. It is for this reason that the UFS is confident that its three MBA programmes will soon receive full accreditation.

2. WHAT ACCREDITATION DOES THE UFS HAVE FOR ITS MBA PROGRAMME?

The UFS’s School of Management received conditional accreditation for its three MBA programmes.

Two levels of accreditation are awarded to tertiary institutions for their MBA programmes, namely full accreditation and conditional accreditation. When a programme does not comply with the minimum requirements regarding a small number of criteria, conditional accreditation is given. This can be rectified during the short or medium term.

3. IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE ACADEMIC CORE OF THE UFS’s MBA PROGRAMMES?

No. The UFS is proud of its three MBA programmes’ reputation in the market and the positive feedback it receives from graduandi and their employers.

The MBA programmes of the UFS meet most of the minimum requirements of the evaluation process.

In particular, the key element of ‘teaching and learning’, which relates to the curriculum and content of the MBA programmes, is beyond question. In other words, the core of what is being taught in our MBA programmes is sound.

4. IS THE UFS’s MBA A WORTHWHILE QUALIFICATION?

Yes. Earlier this year, the School of Management – young as it is - was rated by employers as the best smaller business school in South Africa. This was based on a survey conducted by the Professional Management Review and reported in the Sunday Times Business Times, of 25 January 2004.

The UFS is committed to maintaining these high standards of quality, not only through compliance with the requirements of the CHE, but also through implementing its own quality assurance measures.

Another way in which we benchmark the quality of our MBA programmes is through the partnerships we have formed with institutions such as the DePaul University in Chicago and Kansas State University, both in the US, as well as the Robert Schuman University in France.

For this reason the UFS appreciates and supports the work of the CHE and welcomes its specific findings regarding the three MBA programmes.

It is understandable that the MBA review has caused some nervousness – not least among current MBA students throughout the country.

However, one principle that the UFS management is committed to is this: preparing all our students for a world of challenge and change. Without any doubt the MBA programme of the UFS is a solid preparation.

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