Dear EBTA colleagues and friends,
It is a great honour and responsibility for me to serve as President of the Executive Board of the European Bobath Tutors Association (EBTA) for the 2026–2028 term.
EBTA represents a long-standing history, a strong professional community and, above all, a shared commitment to children and their families. Over the years, across different countries, professions and generations, we have learned a great deal from one another. I believe that this diversity, combined with our willingness to keep questioning, reflecting and learning, is one of the greatest strengths of our association.
As we begin this new term, I would like us to look to the future together while staying connected to the experience and knowledge that have shaped EBTA. Our clinical practice and our teaching must continue to evolve in line with current scientific knowledge, our contemporary understanding of cerebral palsy and related neurodevelopmental conditions, and the changing needs and priorities of children and their families. As we continually review and develop our clinical reasoning processes and teaching practices, we must remain open to new scientific evidence, different perspectives and constructive discussion.
For me, clinical reasoning remains at the heart of both what we teach and what we do. Our task is to support therapists in learning to observe, think, question, understand, adapt and make meaningful clinical decisions together with children and their families. At the same time, we must continue to reflect critically on our own teaching practices and on how we educate the next generation of Bobath therapists and tutors.
I would like EBTA to continue not only as an organisation that supports common educational standards, but also as a community that learns together, questions together and grows together. We are stronger when we work together, share our knowledge and experience, and keep communicating across countries and professions.
Communication will therefore be one of our main priorities in the coming years. The National Tutor Organisations of our member countries and the EBTA Communication Officers play a key role in maintaining the links between countries and in the mutual exchange of ideas, experiences and knowledge across our community. The EBTA Newsletter also offers an important platform for sharing developments, educational experiences, scientific perspectives and news from our member countries.
In the years ahead, I hope to see communication and collaboration grow even stronger among our member countries, our tutors and our different professional disciplines. Openly sharing our experiences, our questions and the challenges we face will help us learn from one another and develop EBTA as a strong professional community, both in Europe and internationally.
There is important work ahead of us, but we also have a strong foundation to build on. I sincerely thank my colleagues on the Executive Board and all members of the EBTA community for their commitment, experience and support.
Over the next two years, I very much look forward to working together with openness and curiosity towards a shared purpose, to continuing this journey together, and to meeting again at the EBTA Congress in Zagreb, Croatia, in 2028.
And in the end, the reason behind all our work is very simple: everything we do is for children and their families.
With best wishes,
On behalf of the Executive Board of the European Bobath Tutors Association (EBTA),
Prof. Dr. Mintaze Kerem Günel
President, EBTA
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