Sir, I was pleased to read the Committee of Postgraduate Deans & Directors' report on dental education1 and the need for UK dental schools to adopt the principles of 'competencies' and 'proficiencies' rather than the outdated 'aims & objectives' of the past. This has already been established elsewhere in the world for over ten years. It is time we caught up!
Could I also plead, as I have done for 20 years now, that we stop referring to dental education as 'training'. One trains dogs – universities EDUCATE their very capable and carefully selected students, surely.
References
Committee of Postgraduate Dental Deans and Directors. A curriculum for UK Dental Foundation programme training. Available at: www.rcseng.ac.uk/fds/courses/documents/GPT%20Curriculum.pdf (accessed 3 February 2014).
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Matthews, R. Dental education: Dentists not dogs. Br Dent J 216, 146 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2014.105
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2014.105
