Comparative Analysis of Professional Training of Future Specialists in Physical Therapy in Higher Educational Establishments of Ukraine and Europe

The article presents comparative analysis of the structure and content of future specialists in physical therapy training in higher educational establishments of Ukraine and leading European countries. Having analyzed official websites and educational documentation of the leading European colleges of higher education regarding professional training of future specialists in physical therapy, we have defined common and distinctive features of structural and content components of the process. Within the framework of the research, it has been found that in educational systems of Italy, Spain, Norway, Greece, Finland, Sweden, and Norway training of future specialists in physical therapy is primarily focused on the concept of continuous education and is variant, practice-oriented, related to the profession of a physical therapeutist at most. The research has revealed certain components in the structure and content of professional training of future specialists in physical therapy in higher educational establishments of Ukraine and leading European countries. These components can be used in structure-oriented content of educational process in Ukrainian higher educational establishments. Namely, these include: shift of the vector of educational process to practice-oriented education via increasing academic hours for improvement of professional competence of future specialists in physical therapy under conditions of actual professional activity, acquiring knowledge and skills necessary for professional activity. Relying on the results of the comparative analysis we have made a conclusion that positive experience in training of future specialists in physical therapy in higher educational establishments of Ukraine and leading European countries will allow to define the trend of developing professional training in domestic higher educational establishments.