Interprofessional Collaboration in ECEC: a Comparison between Six European Countries

In the Europe is a growing interest in interprofessional collaboration (IPC) between childcare, school and family support to offer integrated services for children and their families. However, there is a significant variation in the level of early childhood education and care system integration. In a systematic review from six countries with varying levels of system integration (in descending order from integrated systems to split systems; Norway, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Flanders (Dutch speaking part of Belgium) and the Netherlands), we analyzed the literature related to barriers and facilitators in IPC between childcare, school, and family support services. The review showed some differences in IPC characteristics from the literature from countries with different levels of system integration. The literature from countries with an integrated system tended to focus more on the process of collaboration, whereas the literature from countries with a split system concentrated on the content of collaboration. Despite the differences in national context, the results demonstrated that the literature from all countries reported the challenges faced by professionals in connecting different worlds. Contrary to our expectations the literature of ‘somewhat’ integrated countries tends to be more critical about IPC than the Dutch literature (a country with a split system).