The Future General Practitioner (1972)
The Educational Process
The Sequence in Educational Terms
Here is the sequence as it
might be applied in planning a vocational training programme:
(1) Job definition:
this states as an ideal the work to be done and the role to be played by the
trainee when he has completed the programme. From this definition
(2) the overall aims of
the training programme can be derived.
Since we are dealing with changes in behaviour, these aims should be stated in
terms of behaviour; what the learner should be able to do, rather than what he
should be taught. They differ only in this from the job definition. Stating them
in this way permits later assessment of the success of the programme in
achieving its aims.
From the goals there can be derived a statement of the detailed items which the
student should learn to enable him to perform his defined professional job.
These items also need to be stated in terms of behaviour: they are
(3) the educational
objectives of the programme.
Correctly stated, each objective indicates the manner in which it may be
assessed. For example: "The trainee should be able to list ten conditions which
depend for diagnosis on vaginal examination with hand or speculum." A complete
statement makes up the content of the programme. From this
(4) a syllabus can be
derived.
This states what should be learnt in the educational programme. It does not
necessarily cover the whole content since some objectives will have been
achieved upon entry and some will be achieved later.
(5) Learning experiences
are occasions when learning can take place,
for example, reading a book. They mayor may not be planned by the learner or by
the teacher. In this book we concentrate on those which the teacher plans and
over which he can exercise some degree of control and assess the effectiveness.
These are learning situations. The learning situations which are available to
the progran1me and which the teacher chooses can be listed. In this way
(6) a curriculum is
constructed.
This is an ordered list of learning situations selected for the achievement of
particular objectives. A syllabus is thus converted into the time-table of a
course of training.
(7) Teaching methods are
ways of using the learning situations selected
for example, giving a lecture or conducting a seminar. Those should be chosen
which are most suitable for achieving particular educational objectives within
particular learning experiences. (These, incidentally, indicate some of the
objectives for the training of teachers.)
(8) Methods of assessment
can be listed.
They should be applied to reviewing (a) the success of the programme in
achieving its aims and goals and (b) the validity of the original job
definition.
Thus the educational
process has a circular form from job definition to assessment and back to job
definition.
