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Towards a Competency‐Based Curriculum in Turkey: Students' Reflection
Author(s) -
Ozer F.,
Karakaya S.,
Altinoz C.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
european journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.583
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1600-0579
pISSN - 1396-5883
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0579.2004.t01-5-338ab.x
Subject(s) - curriculum , medical education , dental education , class (philosophy) , medicine , psychology , dentistry , pedagogy , artificial intelligence , computer science
Dental education has undergone major change over the years in Turkey. Only lately has emphasis been placed on development of a competency‐based program in the curriculum. Educational methods are still traditional with mainly lecture‐based teaching. A curriculum revision is a continuous process with ongoing evaluation. As an influence of DentEd visit to the Faculty, greater emphasis was given on staff–student interaction in learning activities. The purpose of the present study was to obtain student views of some component of the current curriculum of the faculty in Konya/Turkey. A questionnaire was handed out to the final‐year students. The questionnaire was completed by 91.8% of the students and had five sections: (i) Personal information (age, sex); (ii) Information about parents education; (iii) Information about the decision to study dentistry; (iv) Information about the dental curriculum; and (v) Information about the teachers and clinical instructors. Our results indicated that almost half of the students (51.1%) chose the dental education by their own desire. But 64.4% of students did not want to suggest dental education to others. The majority of students (88.7%) felt themselves well experienced or competent except oral surgery, orthodontics and endodontics. But their basic complain was about the education in dental emergencies and internal medicine. 42.2% of students were not satisfied by the educational methods of their teachers. The rating was even higher in clinical instructors (51.1%). More than one‐half of the class (55.6%) informed that they had big difficulties in practical trainings. Most of the students (94.6%) complained about not having any spare time for their hobbies. We can conclude that the school should have a major impact on quality assurance and development, which is based on internal processes of evaluation and review.