Quality assurance, benchmarking, assessment and mutual international recognition of qualifications

Abstract

The aim of this report is to provide guidance to assist in the international convergence of quality assurance, benchmarking and assessment systems to improve dental education. Proposals are developed for mutual recognition of qualifications, to aid international movement and exchange of staff and students including and supporting developing countries. Quality assurance is the responsibility of all staff involved in dental education and involves three levels: internal, institutional and external. Benchmarking information provides a subject framework. Benchmarks are useful for a variety of purposes including design and validation of programmes, examination and review; they can also strengthen the accreditation process undertaken by professional and statutory bodies. Benchmark information can be used by institutions as part of their programme approval process, to set degree standards. The standards should be developed by the dental academic community through formal groups of experts. Assessment outcomes of student learning are a measure of the quality of the learning programme. The goal of an effective assessment strategy should be that it provides the starting point for students to adopt a positive approach to effective and competent practice, reflective and lifelong learning. All assessment methods should be evidence based or based upon research. Mutual recognition of professional qualifications means that qualifications gained in one country (the home country) are recognized in another country (the host country). It empowers movement of skilled workers, which can help resolve skills shortages within participating countries. These proposals are not intended to be either exhaustive or prescriptive; they are purely for guidance and derived from the identification of what is perceived to be ‘best practice’.

Use of Competency-Based Metrics to Determine Effectiveness of a Postgraduate Thoracoscopy Course

“…A ! g 1 value 1 30% is an accepted marker of a robust educational intervention for students participating in 'heads-on and hands-on activities which yield immediate feedback through discussion with peers and/or instructors' [19,20] .…”

Assessment of knowledge and competencies related to implant dentistry in undergraduate and postgraduate university education

“…The assessment of the knowledge base, as an integral and crucial part of the learning process, must follow the same principle of comprehensive approach. Furthermore, assessment strategies must match the learning outcomes and teaching formats being used (2). For example MCQ tests are more valid test of core knowledge rather than communication skills which would require an interactive method of assessment.…”

“…Therefore, the outcome‐based education focuses on the end‐product and clearly defines what the learner is accountable for. Thus the learning outcomes lead to curriculum design which in turn specifies what the end‐product (reflective–competent practitioners) should be and guides the assessment process (1, 2).…”

“…At the side of the classical knowledge and competencies, a modern curriculum needs also to focus student learning to the development of cognitive and reflective skills such as critical thinking, self‐assessment ability and attitudes such as lifelong learning. In this respect, competency‐based learning and assessment holds a strategic role (2). Evaluation, which takes different formats, could also provide feedback and motivation for continued improvement and lifelong learning.…”

“…Despite the obvious relation between learning and mode of assessment, examinations in healthcare educations are often carried through as a simple control of the facts the students have accumulated during a given phase of the education. The modern expanded learning objectives can only be achieved when matched with innovative and multifaceted assessment strategies and methodologies, a process known as blueprinting (2, 6).…”