Curriculum development in dental education through the lens of environmental sustainability

Dental education must evolve to remain fit for purpose in a changing society. A curriculum development cycle must be in place to enable dental schools to respond to key drivers of change. The dental curriculum must fit the vision of multiple stakeholders, including educators, students, universities, regulators and the local population. Previous models of curriculum development principally refer to extensive changes and fundamental shifts in curriculum philosophy. A model to demonstrate how the existing curriculum can be refined and updated is necessary. This study sought to systematically develop a new model of curriculum development through an educational research approach by using environmental sustainability (ES) as an example of an emerging topic that must be included in dental education. Multiple methodological approaches, including scoping reviews and surveys, were utilised to establish a comprehensive situational analysis of dental education across Europe and the current teaching practice of ES. Specific learning outcomes of ES and aligned teaching and assessment methods were developed through a consensus-based approach with stakeholders from across Europe. In a local context, focus groups with educators and students identified key opportunities to embed ES in the local curriculum and established the need to teach ES across all disciplines with practical reinforcement. Evidence-based subject-specific content was developed to facilitate the delivery of scientifically grounded ES teaching by educators of all disciplines. This research informed a plan to embed ES within the local dental curriculum and a survey was developed to assess the impact of ES teaching interventions. This demonstrated significant positive changes in students’ awareness, attitudes and knowledge of ES in dentistry. Conclusions derived from this research demonstrate that it is feasible to incorporate new topics into the dental curriculum with minimal disruption. A new model of curriculum development has been validated through a research approach grounded in stakeholder collaboration.