We have started a curriculum review of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery and the Bachelor of Science in Oral Health, at the Insitute of Dentistry. This review was sparked by the General Dental Council (GDC), our regulator, setting forth new guidelines in The Safe Practitioner: A framework of behaviours and outcomes for dental professional education, which come into effect from September 2025. Our current curriculum was written in 2012, so it is a suitable time to review it and it is crucial to acknowledge the changing landscape of education, student expectations and the role of digital learning, teaching and assessment. We aim to pilot some changes as early as September 2024.
The curriculum review is a collaborative, multifaceted effort. As a faculty member teaching in both undergraduate courses and as the Head of Centre for Teaching and Innovation, I am actively engaged in this process alongside colleagues John Buchanan, Paul Ryan, and Sinclair Butcher. In collaboration with multiple colleagues at the Institute of Dentistry, we recognise the need for a thorough examination of assessment and feedback mechanisms within our curriculum.
At the core of our approach is the principle of co-creation with students. We aim to involve students in the curriculum development process to gain insights into their experiences and perspectives. Dominic Hurst plays a pivotal role in facilitating this collaboration, by gathering feedback from current students and alumni. Through surveys, focus groups, and interviews, we are gathering diverse viewpoints that will inform our curriculum revisions. However, it is essential to acknowledge the challenges inherent in this process, including the varying expectations and experiences of our student body and what can be fed into the new curriculum.
In our quest to modernise assessment methods, we are exploring alternatives to traditional approaches. We are then trying to move away from single assessment approaches to ensure progress from one level to another. We already have experience with longitudinal assessment in practice and we are looking at data from LiftUpp [add link] and mapping it out to the new curriculum descriptors, both in clinical and non-clinical dealings with patients. The new domains of the curriculum cover interpersonal skills, and self-management. For this, our assessment needs to also focus on academic skill development, self-directed learning, reflective practice and being adaptable in circumstances, situations, or contexts that are out of your control, because that is what the real world of dentistry is. There are many things happening that are outside of your control: equipment, materials, how patients behave…. There is an expectation that learners can deal with uncertainty; this is the goal of the new curriculum. The students will need support and scaffolding to develop these skills throughout their learning journey.
The curriculum review is an opportunity for a rethinking of our educational approach. We are committed to co-creating our strategies with our students, particularly in blended learning and assessment, to prioritise the cultivation of self-directed learning, reflection, and essential skills such as goal setting, timekeeping, metacognition, and independence from the outset. The challenge ahead lies in effectively creating a framework of learning experiences which will integrate these critical elements with our summative assessments. This involves not only surfacing explicit skills traditionally overlooked, but also aligning them with the formal descriptors of clinician competency at various stages of development.
As we navigate these challenges, we recognise the importance of maintaining a balanced approach, one that fosters innovation while ensuring regulatory compliance and educational rigor. By addressing these goals collaboratively, we can create a curriculum that not only prepares students for the demands of clinical practice, but also instils in them the foundation for lifelong learning and professional growth.