‘Not always so’: Embracing process in the development of curricula for contemporary person-centred healthcare professional education

Abstract

Contemporary person-centred healthcare and professional education operates within an interconnected and rapidly changing world of challenge and opportunity in the development of curricula that reflect practice. In times characterised by change and uncertainty, with increasing opportunities for networking and collaboration, educational curricula with an emphasis on ‘process’ rather than a more traditional, mechanistic emphasis on ‘product’, would seem appropriate in looking towards the future. Learning and emergent professional identity occurs through individuals' social definitions in turn influenced by knowledge and power relationships. The Dialogical Curriculum Framework seeks to promote a more even distribution of knowledge and power through participation and co-production in the pursuit of tolerance and coherence to support learning and identity. The parameters and dynamics of the Dialogical Curriculum Framework are represented through the interconnected relationship between learner attributes, curriculum themes, and curriculum constructs. The processes of space for reflection, open dialogue, participation and symbolic interactionism drive the curriculum, within the context of UK policy and Society. The emphasis on the pursuit of person-centred care makes it important for students to make connections with their own and other professions/disciplines to reflect the complexities of contemporary healthcare—an understanding of the ‘whole’, rather than fragmented parts. By way of example, a co-produced module of study within a preregistration MSc Physiotherapy programme is highlighted. Students identify, develop, and design small-group projects working with ‘Physiopedia’. Thus, projects hold the potential to contribute to a global educational forum as well as student dialogue for learning.