Chapter 2.1 CURRICULUM STRUCTURE: PRINCIPLES AND STRATEGY

A living thing is distinguished from a dead thing by the multiplicity of the changes at any moment taking place in it Herbert Spencer This report provides general guidelines for the structure of a curriculum, followed by specific advice on the principles of learning and teaching, the process of restructuring and change leadership and management. It provides examples of several educational philosophies, including vertical and horizontal integration. It discusses the use of competence, learning outcomes, level of degree and assessment and provides a number of recommendations. It does not seek to be prescriptive of time allocation to disciplines within a curriculum. Although this report has been written primarily for those who will develop an undergraduate curriculum, the information may be sufficiently generic to apply to the recent development in graduate entry (‘shortened dental ’ or ‘accelerated’) courses and to postgraduate degree planning and higher education certificate or diploma courses for other dental car