A curriculum is a statement of the intended aims and objectives, experiences, outcomes and processes of an educational programme (Grant, 2006).

A curriculum describes all the ways in which a training or teaching organisation plans and guides learning. This learning can take place in groups or with individual learners. It can take place inside or outside a classroom. It can take place in an institutional setting like a school, college or training centre, or in a village or a field. It is central to the teaching and learning process (Rogers and Taylor 1998).

Scope

For the purposes of this application, by “curriculum” we are referring to that which leads to the award of a primary medical, dental or veterinary qualification. An applicant institution or organization may have a single curriculum (e.g. one programme in medicine or dentistry or veterinary medicine) or more than one curriculum (e.g. one programme in medicine and one in dentistry or one in veterinary medicine; or two entirely separate programmes in medicine e.g. one for school-leavers and one for graduates). A separate submission must be made for each application.

Cultural, geographic, social, fiscal and other issues may influence how healthcare education is developed and delivered at an institution and will vary among institutions. Excellence may be identified and recognized in institutions with limited resources just as much as in “resource-rich” institutions. The way in which institutions demonstrate context appropriateness will be taken into account by the panel when reviewing each submission.

The focus of this ASPIRE award is on curriculum development, not primarily on the curriculum itself (although inevitably that has to be considered as part of the evaluation of its development).

Conceptual Frameworks

Excellence in healthcare curriculum development may be seen as the product of six components:

• Organisational Structure and Curriculum Management
• Underlying Educational Strategy
• Content Specification and Pedagogy
• Teaching and Learning Methods and Environment
• Assessment, Monitoring and Evaluation
• Scholarship

This framework will be used to map the criteria of excellence in healthcare curriculum development to continue to facilitate institutions to “aspire” and achieve excellence.