With the support of the Socrates Programme of the European Union
Rationale
European Clinical Specialization Course on Fluency Disorders
The aim of the Specialization Course on Fluency Disorders is to achieve an equal and high standard of competency in the specialist practice area of fluency disorders. SLTs primarily work in general practice initially but many wish to specialize in a particular area of clinical practice such as fluency disorders. Advances in research, knowledge base and practice support the need to train specialized fluency experts.
Such a specialization course has never previously been offered as a joint project in Europe. By bringing together the expertise of numerous fluency specialists, the educational standards of the course and the professional competencies of the graduates is guaranteed. Moreover this course provides an extra European dimension by creating a sphere of exchange and integration among the participating students and lecturers, affecting both students and lecturers. It stimulates them to look across the borders and helps them realise the impact of an increasingly international EU environment.
Development Process
The ECSF-consortium has been working on the development of the specialization course and joint Ba/Ma course for approximately two years. The group received substantial EU funding after approval of the project as a Socrates Curriculum Development Project. This enabled the group to have several meetings across Europe to discuss and develop the programs. The ECSF-specialization course officially started during the academic year '07-'08, while the harmonized Ba/Ma course will be implemented at the participating institutes commencing in the academic year '08-'09.
The ECSF-consortium submitted an application for an additional EU dissemination project in March '08. The goals of this dissemination project include, among others, the enlargement of the ECSF-consortium with new partners, outreach to new EU member states, and quality assurance of the specialization course & ECSF-graduates. If this application would be selected (notification July '08) the further development will be in cooperation with The Standing Liaison Committee of Speech and Language Therapists in the European Union (CPLOL) and The European League of Stuttering Associations (ELSA).