Self-assessment of physiotherapy students' competence during the COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia

Competency-based higher education aims to equip students with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes necessary for professional practice and lifelong learning. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant adjustments in teaching, assessment and clinical education. This study compares the self-assessed professional competences of graduates of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ljubljana who graduated during the COVID-19 pandemic with those who graduated before the pandemic. Using a structured survey, the graduates assessed 13 core competences that they had acquired during their academic education and clinical practice. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to compare the cohorts. Although no statistically significant differences in overall competency scores were found between groups, pandemic-era graduates reported slightly lower confidence in competencies acquired through academic training and slightly higher confidence in competencies acquired through clinical practice. Our findings suggest that the blended learning approaches introduced during the pandemic are as effective as traditional face-to-face teaching in promoting skills development. However, the generalisability of the results to the studied group of physiotherapy graduates is limited. The results support further research into virtual and hybrid learning models in physiotherapy education.