BACKGROUND

In 2017, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research began work on a project to develop national curriculum guidelines for all health and social care education programmes at Bachelor level and above. The guidelines will consist of a statement of purpose, learning outcomes and guidance on the structure of the programme. Whilst curriculum guidance exists for many professions and disciplines, there is little written about its development.

AIM

To develop national guidelines for prosthetics and orthotics education using an appropriateness-based approach.

METHOD

A modified RAND/UCLA method was used to gather information and rank appropriateness of developed learning outcomes. Collaboration with stakeholders was important and information was gathered from various professional and user organisations. Programme outlines (if available in English) from ISPO category 1 accredited programmes, together with those from northern European countries were also gathered.

RESULTS

A total of 23 programmes were invited to provide their programme documents or were accessible online. 11 programme documents were obtained and - without programme level outcomes - were excluded (n=4). Information was obtained via email, online discussion and focus groups from various organisations. The data were collated and organised into different competency areas. From this data 126 learning outcomes were developed and organised into an online questionnaire. All participants who had attended the focus groups and development group members rated the appropriateness of the learning outcome and its competence area. A further focus group and development meeting was held where results were discussed, and the learning outcomes reduced to 51. After drafting of the remaining sections, the document was sent out for consultation. Feedback from the consultation was collated and the guidelines adjusted as necessary.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

In comparison to existing programme learning outcomes from the documents obtained, there is a considerable difference in the number of learning outcomes. There are country specific differences that need to be accounted for when developing national guidelines. However, the development of national curriculum guidelines using an appropriateness-based approach ensured both a national and international focus.