The objectives in health professional curriculum have been expressed in different terms to communicate expectations of the programme. Curriculum designers sometimes encounter difficulties in selecting suitable terms from many identical terms when developing the curriculum. This review helps to clarify the use of different forms of objectives in a traditional or competency-based curriculum in health professional education. In a traditional curriculum, the terms general and specific objectives are used to indicate the purpose of the programme or course; whereas in competency-based education, the terms competencies, outcomes and milestones are often used. Some authors tend to think of objective as an alternative name for outcome and use the words interchangeably. However, the emphasis in the traditional model is on the teaching and learning process whereas the competency-based education model focuses on the outcomes i.e. what the learners achieve at the end of the programme. This review suggests that, whilst developing the curriculum, educators in health professions need to have a clear understanding of the distinction between the objectives of a traditional curriculum and the outcomes of a competency-based curriculum to satisfy the requirements of different stakeholders including accrediting bodies.
A recent study REF examined the difference between the objectives in traditional models and CBE models.
HIERARCHY OF OBJECTIVES IN HEALTH PROFESSIONAL CURRICULUM: FROM TRADITIONAL TO COMPETENCY BASED EDUCATION MODEL
Bulletin of Pharmaceutical Research
Bulletin of Pharmaceutical Research
Sociology