European developments and interprofessional education Walter Lorenz Free University of Bolzano, Italy

European identity Inter- professional education Professional identity

Europe Geographical features Cultural traditions Political structures

‘profession’ ‘The term is a reminder of the way in which each succeeding generation, and each new group of would-be professionals, used the examples of history in order to define, organize, and publicize their own particular expertise and cultural authority. In successive generations of would-be professionals, the language of predecessors became, through the ingenious use of metaphor, ready-made and usable tradition.’ (Joanne Brown; (1992), The Definition of a Profession: The Authority of Metaphor in the History of Intelligence Testing, , Princeton University Press

Professional reassurance Qualification Exclusive field of practice Ethical commitment Rules and regulations Mutual trust between professionals and general public

Uncertainties concerning professional reliability Misconduct episodes weaken the principle of self-regulation Influence over university curricula is weakening Proliferation of occupational fields claiming professional status Increasing complexity and differentiation of knowledge areas

Erosion of trust Demand for more accountability mistrusts professional self- control and power interests Growth of external controls introduces new centres of power whose accountability is dubious

profession Fixed entity – defined by members themselves (defensive position) - or Discursive entity, co-constructed in process of negotiation and communication (inter-professional position)

Interprofessional cooperation - negative notions Letting bordering professions in on ‘our’ terms Sharing office premises Becoming exchangeable

Interprofessional cooperation - positive notions Critical boundary exchanges – no field ‘belongs’ to only one profession, but each profession has particular skills Critical exchanges on methodology Critical exchanges with ‘lay people’ (users of services)

Interprofessional education Using positively the binary device of ‘them and us’ Interprofessional education needs to relate to intercultural skills: creation of non-defensive, non-discriminatory identities

Interprofessional education Responsibility for acquiring appropriate forms of knowledge and methodology is tied to communicating one’s specific forms of knowledge and their application

Paradigm: European exchanges Can be about harmonisation and standardisation Can be about learning to deal constructively with diversity (and uncertainty)

Challenge of neoliberalism Paradigm shift from input to output Dismantling of professional boundaries – or Tapping into new processes of accountability

Interprofessional education and European exchanges