Over 100 delegates from 15 countries including UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Russia, Australia, Norway, Canada, Austria, Israel, Finland, New Zealand, Japan, Belgium and Portugal attended the third international osteopathic education conference on Saturday 9 April 2011 at the Royal Society of Medicine, central London. Organised by the British School of Osteopathy (BSO) in conjunction with the Osteopathic European Academic Network (OsEAN), the conference was entitled Quality in Osteopathic Education, with a programme focused on quality, assessment and shared standards within the profession and its educational institutions.

The keynote presentations were given by:
•    Professor Mary Lovegrove, Head of the Department of Allied Health  
Professions at London South Bank University, who talked about clinical leadership within the NHS, and challenged the osteopathic profession to draw out and develop the same competencies in its managers and leaders.

•    Tim Walker, the new Chief Executive of the General Osteopathic  
Council (GOsC), who talked about the difficulties inherent in setting equivalent (voluntary or statutory) education and training standards in osteopathy in Europe. He outlined the current plans to work towards Comite Europeen de Normalisation (CEN) accreditation for osteopathy throughout Europe - which would operate as 'soft law' in the absence of specific legislation, and create a benchmark standard for the profession.

•    Professor Stephen Tyreman, BSO Dean of Osteopathic Education  
Development, who gave a provocative address about designing an osteopathic curriculum. He explored the potential conflict of values of learners, educators and professionals when deciding what the content of an osteopathic curriculum should be, and how it might be assessed, emphasising the importance of criticality in helping students prepare for uncertainty in practice.

Drawing on the conference's themes of assessment and quality, workshops in the morning focused on three areas of an osteopathic curriculum, and presenters and delegates shared practice from their institutions. They focused on clinical assessment, assessing practical skills/techniques and supervising dissertations.

Parallel sessions in the afternoon allowed presenters from 14 different institutions to share their experiences, best practice and research in three themes: undergraduate innovation, postgraduate challenges and teaching and technology.

Concluding the day, Raimund Engel, President of OsEAN talked about the importance of collaboration "beyond the handshake" and the way that the discussions from the conference could help institutions move forwards. A post-conference reception at the venue was hosted by the University of Bedfordshire and the BSO.

BSO Principal Charles Hunt, who chaired the conference, comments: "The BSO is delighted to have led this conference and to have provided - in association with OsEAN - the opportunity for so many international schools to collaborate and share good practice, which can only help push the profession forward."

Several of the conference presentations are available for download.