Medical Student Perspectives on Substance Misuse Education in the Medical Undergraduate Programme: A Grounded Theory Approach

BackgroundA substance misuse epidemic has been appropriately responded to in medical education. Numerous curriculum reviews and most recently a UK department of Health (DOH) project have identified deficiencies in substance misuse education whilst also suggesting an alternative curriculum to be implemented into UK medical school. The student perspective has largely been muted during this process and this study aims to explore this using a constructivist grounded theory approach.Methods Eleven Final year and intercalating medical students across three separate focus groups participated in this study. Focus groups were initially less structured with subsequent focus groups session using more guided questions. Audio recordings of focus groups were transcribed into codes and categories until data saturation was obtained. Results Medical students had a common consensus that substance misuse education was an underperforming subject in their curriculum, from limited teaching hours to curriculum design and organisational problems. Students identified an alternative curriculum is required to not only prepare students for their future clinical duties but also their own personal lives. Students highlighted this proximity to a ‘dangerous world’ where exposure to substance misuse risks were faced daily. This exposure also provided a source of informal learning experiences which students deemed as being potentially unbalanced and even dangerous. Students also identified unique barriers to curriculum change with reference to a lack of openness due to the impacts of disclosure in substance misuse. Conclusion The student perspective identifies deficiencies in substance misuse education and provides alternative curriculum approaches like that discussed in current curriculum reviews and projects. The student perspective however provides a unique look at how substance misuse pervades into their own lives and how informal learning is a largely underestimated source of learning with more dangers than benefits. This together with the identification of unique barriers to curriculum change and substance misuse being a ubiquitous problem, medical faculties should work together with students themselves to drive curriculum change forward at a local level.

CURRICULUM ANALYSIS OF MASTER PROGRAM IN ISLAMIC HIGHER EDUCATION

The purpose of this research is to analyze the construction and content of the curriculum of Postgraduate, especially on Master Program in Islamic Religious Education at two Islamic Higher Education – private and public. The method used in this research is a descriptive qualitative method by focusing on curriculum construction and then analyzingit using content analysis.The results of this research show that the curriculum construction of the Master Program in Islamic Religious Education at UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim and UNISMA Malang is based on the grouping of subjects according to the demands of the Indonesian National Qualification Framework at the 8 level. The curriculum content is mainly dominant in strengthening Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). Second, Postgraduate does not provide alternative curriculum so there is no flexibility. Curriculum of the master program in Islamic Religious Education must be able to strengthen the content knowledge of Islamic education.

Refugee Girlhood and Visual Storied Curriculum

Decolonizing girlhood illuminates an attempt to refuse and recover the pathological representation of Indigenous refugee girls by going beyond the discourse of the Western construction of girlhood. It takes an anticolonial, critical race feminist approach to the understanding of girlhood that challenges the intersectional, racialized exclusion and the deficit representations of Indigenous refugee girls, which are often reinforced by humanitarian schemes of embodied vulnerability. The digital visual fiction stories created by Karen tribe refugee girls in a media arts summer workshop reposition their presence by creating spaces in which they can speak their own desires, share their imaginings, and portray their struggles. Through this experience, these girls challenge colonial social realities and the fantasies of democracy. Ultimately, their futuristic visual fiction acts as a form of counter-storytelling that illustrates an alternative curriculum space and flips the hegemonic script for empowerment.

Epilogue

The trouble started late on the evening of June 16, 1964, when members of the Ku Klux Klan set fire to a church outside of Philadelphia, Mississippi. Mount Zion Church was slated to host one of many new “freedom schools” across the state—grassroots institutions designed to empower and organize local black youth through an alternative curriculum focused on black history, civic education, and nonviolent resistance....

A Proposed Curriculum for 5-years BDS Programme in Pakistan and its Comparison with the Curricula Suggested by PMDC and HEC

In Pakistan, whether to enforce a 4-year BDS course versus a 5-year course, is a matter of debate that warrants multiple deliberations. In USA and Canada, dentistry is 4-year long course but students can apply for admission into dental school only when they have already done 16 years of schooling (i.e. a 4-years of graduate university education is the pre-requisite). On the other hand, In UK & Ireland, students can apply for admission into dental colleges with 12-years of high school education. However, they follow a 5-years BDS programme. Similarly, there is much difference on the emphasis on various subjects taught in the dental programmes. This paper critically appraises the PMDC and HEC advised BDS curricula in Pakistan and suggests an alternative curriculum that is more balanced in terms of subject distribution, assessment and above all contemporary to cater the evolving needs of the dynamic discipline of dentistry. KEYWORDS: Dental; education; curriculum; Pakistan HOW TO CITE: Khan FR. A Proposed curriculum for 5-years BDS Programme in Pakistan and its comparison with the curricula suggested by PMDC and HEC. J Pak Dent Assoc 2020;29(4):169-171.

An Alternative Australian Curriculum Model: Vertical Cubic Curriculum

This paper proposes an alternative curriculum model to the current Australian Curriculum, which is underpinned by a Systems Thinking methodology (Capra & Luisi 2014). Entitled a Vertical Cubic Curriculum (VCC), this design takes advantage of intelligent design tools whilst drawing on principles from the Australian Vertical Modular Curriculum (Education Department of Victoria, Australia 1980) and the three-dimensional structure proposed by Wragg’s Cubic Curriculum (Wragg, 1997). The VCC proposes an age mixed, multidimensional curriculum space (Carey, 2016) that promotes student voice and student self-efficacy; enabling teachers and students to co-construct a ‘learning curriculum.’ The VCC employs a cubic structure both as a proposed National Framework and as an implemented Cubic Vertical modular design at school level. The VCC is a highly flexible model that fosters metacognitive learning and formative (diagnostic) assessment as a continuum of development.

Gendering Social Studies: Teachers’ Intended and Enacted Curriculum and Student Diffraction

Due to intransigence of social studies curriculum-makers to broaden the scope of who and what is studied, women (especially non-white women) are lacking representation. However, some teachers go beyond the textbook to select alternative curriculum lenses. Utilizing curricular-instructional gatekeeping, complementary curriculum, and queer theory, this article examines how two secondary teachers who incorporate issues of gender and/or women’s experiences into their social studies curriculum describe their reasoning and intentions, how their expressed aims are manifested within their classrooms, and student reaction to the incorporation of gender and women’s experience in the social studies curriculum. Findings indicate participants value multiple perspectives and parity in social studies curriculum and map these ideas onto the explicit curriculum. However, student responses tend to resist teacher intentions and enactment of challenges to normative gender roles. This diffracted curriculum interferes with teacher aims, creating a curricular space where traditional assumptions of the gender binary play out in teacher-student and student-student interactions. These findings indicate a more relational approach to social studies curriculum may be needed to encourage students to engage constructively with nonnormative social ideas.

PENGEMBANGAN MODEL KURIKULUM SEKOLAH INKLUSI BERDASARKAN KEBUTUHAN PERSEORANGAN ANAK DIDIK

The purpose of this study is to establish the empirical validity of the curriculum model for children with special needs (ABK). The data collection is carried out using interviews, documentation, and observation, involving teachers, students, and school principals. The data analysis technique uses descriptive qualitative. The results show that in general teachers and principals considered the curriculum model developed to be relevant and applicable, containing basic competencies that were appropriate to the ability levels of students with special needs; for mild ABK who had minimal learning constraints, the number of basic competencies is less 21,1% than in the regular curriculum; whereas for ABK with a moderate level of difficulty, the number of basic competencies in the new curriculum is 37,3% less than the regular curriculum, and this group of students needs maximum support from others. The guidebook for the new curriculum in general is also considered easy to understand, well-written, and the appearance is sufficient. Thus it can be used as an alternative curriculum for use by a wider audience. Tujuan penelitian ini ialah untuk menetapkan validitas empiris model kurikulum untuk anak-anak dengan kebutuhan khusus (ABK). Pengumpulan data dilaksanakan melalui wawancara, dokumentasi serta observasi, melibatkan guru, murid dan kepala sekolah. Teknik analisis data menggunakan deskriptif kualitatif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pada umumnya guru dan kepala sekolah menilai model kurikulum yang dikembangkan sudah relevan dan dapat diterapakan, karena memuat kompetensi dasar yang sesuai dengan tingkat kemampuan siswa-siswa berkebutuhan khusus, bagi ABK ringan yang mempunyai kendala minimal dalam belajar, kompetensi dasar menyusut 21,1%. Sedangkan ABK dengan tingkat kesulitan sedang, kompetensi dasar dalam kurikuum menyusut 37,3%, dan kelompok siswa ini membutuhka ndukungan orang lain yang lebih maksimal. Adapun buku pedoman yang dikembangkan secara umum dinilai mudah dipahami, dan dari segi fomat penulisan dan wujud sudah memadai. Dengan demikian dapat dijadikan sebagai alternatif kurikulum untuk digunakan oleh kalangan yang lebih luas.