Tværfaglighed som ideal og praksis – folkesundhedsvidenskabelige erfaringer i at uddanne på tværs af faggrænser

Resumé

Uddannelsespolitisk fokuseres der i stigende grad på tværfaglighed. Nye uddannelser, som kombinerer flere discipliner, etableres, og tværfaglighed er ofte et kriterium for finansiering af forskningsprojekter. Tværfaglighed associeres af mange med attraktive egenskaber og muligheder som skræddersyede studieforløb, flerstrengede kompetenceprofiler, det bedste fra forskellige discipliner, ny innovativ viden m. m. Men kan tværfaglighed virkelig høste det bedste fra alle verdner? Og hvad indebærer tværfaglighed egentlig? Den første del af artiklen diskuterer tværfaglighed ved at se nærmere på eksisterende definitioner af begrebet. Den anden del af artiklen ser nærmere på et konkret eksempel på hvordan tværfaglighed praktiseres på kandidatuddannelsen i Folkesundhedsvidenskab ved Københavns Universitet. Vi argumenterer for, at forskellige former for tværfaglighed skal ses som en ressource fremfor som et problem. Det springende punkt i dette argument er, at tværfagligheden bør gøres eksplicit fremfor at være implicit, da den ellers let bliver noget, vi overlader til de studerende at håndtere og praktisere. Det kan fx gøres ved at gøre tværfaglighed til et læringsmål i relevante kurser og opgaver og ved, at underviserne overvejer og formidler, hvilken form for tværfaglighed de efterstræber.

Interdisciplinarity is gaining ground within universities. The number of interdisciplinary programmes on offer is rising and funding bodies are increasingly showing a preference for research that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. Interdisciplinarity is attributed with a variety of positive qualities from the perspective of contemporary work and research practice: tailored study programmes, the possibility to combine the most important knowledge from different disciplines, the potential for new innovative knowledge to emerge, etc. But, is it really possible to have the best of all worlds? And what does interdisciplinarity actually entail? The first part of the paper takes a closer look at existing definitions and typologies of the concept. The second part focuses on a concrete example of interdisciplinarity – the programme in Public Health Science at the University of Copenhagen. We argue that the different types of interdisciplinarity identified in the first part of the paper are to be regarded as a resource rather than an obstacle. Interdisciplinary programmes like the programme in Public Health Science benefit from using different forms of interdisciplinarity at different times and to different extents. However, the dividing point in this argument is that this should be done explicitly and not implicitly, as interdisciplinarity otherwise easily is left for the students alone to handle or practice.  This might be achieved by making interdisciplinarity an explicit learning objective in relevant courses and assignments and by having teachers engage in reflecting and discussing the types of interdisciplinarity they practice in specific courses and when supervising student papers.