Multi-professional education in Europe: an overview : Rita Goble

Whether in Britain or within the broader boundaries of Europe, the term multi-professional education implies learning opportunities involving more than one profession. Over the years, the terms ‘shared learning’, ‘multi-professional learning’ and ‘inter-professional learning’ have all been referred to and are often used interchangeably. Although each term implies more than one profession participating in a learning opportunity, there are slight differences between them. Inter-professional learning suggests two or three professions learning together on an interactive basis, whereas multi-professional learning suggests any number of professions learning together. Both the terms ‘inter-professional learning’ and ‘multiprofessional learning’ indicate that learning between the professions will be agreed and may or may not be at the same level. ‘Shared learning’ may also be seen as less threatening to individual professions and acknowledges that the topics are more usually aimed at different levels, professions agreeing on an area of shared learning with limited collaboration as necessary (Ashton 1992).