ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION IN PHYSIOTHERAPY

Abstract

Assessment and evaluation play a vital role in physiotherapy education and also practice as it determines the basic competency, clinical reasoning, psychomotor skills, professional behaviour of the physiotherapy student/practitioner. Today, physiotherapy education has moved from conventional examination of knowledge toward competency-based and learner-centred assessments. Evidence-based clinical decision making and reflective practice are supported by effective assessment methods that help educators assess cognitive, psychomotor, and affective learning domains. Recent supporting evidence includes those for OSCE, simulation-based learning, workplace-based assessment, portfolios and formative feedback to enhance clinical competence and professional confidence amongst physiotherapy students (O’Connor et al., 2018; Tappan et al., 2026). It also helps to ensure safe, ethical, and patient-centred care through assessments in the clinical settings. As stated by Pagels et al., in the era of modern digital technologies e-learning platforms, virtual simulations as well as artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted evaluation systems a new approach to physiotherapy assessment practices has emerged supporting objectivity and accessibility (Pagelset al., 2025). Implementation is, however hindrance by challenges including training of faculty, limitations of resources, variability among examiners and stress produced due to assessment. The importance of assessment and evaluation in developing competent, reflective physiotherapy professionals is emphasised- principles, methods, challenges and future directions are critically discussed.