ABSTRACT
Education and training for practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a major factor in ensuring the quality of service to users and for the status and credibility of the practitioners. The diversity of providers of CAM education and training and the range of qualifications on offer mean that potential students often have little knowledge of whether the training they have chosen is of a high standard and/or will provide the skills they need to become competent practitioners. CAM education raises important issues about how diverse notions of healing can be taught and examined within orthodox educational structures. Apprenticeship models are unlikely to find favour in countries committed to broadening tertiary education. Continuing professional development is slowly being introduced in homeopathy, herbalism and acupuncture, although, as with other areas of education and training, the type and the quality of the training vary significantly.
