Common curricula in Norway: Differential implementation and differential outcomes in undergraduate health and social care education

Abstract

In 1972 Norwegian health and educational authorities emphasized the importance of interprofessional collaboration in health care and the need to prepare students to work across boundaries. In 1995 the Norwegian government recommended a common core in curricula for undergraduate health and social educational programmes in all university colleges throughout the country in the belief that this would improve collaborative practice and deliver more effective and efficient health care. It provided no additional resources and left the colleges to exercise their discretion regarding the form that implementation should take. All adopted the common core. Some introduced it as uniprofessional learning, others jointly for all or some of their relevant programmes. Findings to be presented in this paper will compare perceptions of interprofessionalism between four cohorts of health care students at Oslo University College before and after the introduction of the common core in 2003. A questionnaire designed to elicit perceptions of “interprofessionalism” was administered to these four groups. Responses were analysed using SPSS by means of cross-tabulations and one-way analysis. The results show, first, that students with a common core in the curricula valued interprofessionalism more highly than did those without and, second, that students with the common core taught together valued interprofessionalism more highly than those where it was taught separately.

Keywords:

• Curricula reforms
• common core
• interprofessional education
• health care

Notes

1. This study comprises students from nursing and allied health programmes.

2. In Norway the paramedic programmes are organized in university colleges, and medical programmes in universities. The common core refers only to the university colleges programmes.

3. In Norway, at that time, the paramedic programmes were organized in university colleges, and medical programmes in universities. The common core refers only to the university college programmes.

4. This was done to protect scientific science against social science. Medicine, dentistry and pharmacy, with a longer duration of education, for which programmes were provided in universities, were not imposed the political decision.

5. Oslo University College, Østfold University College, Bergen University College, Sør-Trøndelag University College, Nord-Trøndelag University College, Harstad University College and Tromsø University College introduced the common core as joint learning. A brief interprofessional education initiative was carried out at the University of Stavanger.

6. Education of social workers and nurse are not a part of the Faculty of Health Science and not involved in the interprofessional educational programme.

7. The Faculty of Business, Public Administration and Social Work at OUC refused to collaborate about a common organization of the general part in the educational programme (Bjørke & Haavie, [2004]).

8. The survey is approved by the Norwegian Social Science Data Service.