Health policy, student selection and curriculum reform

Student selection is a major component of the training process. This paper argues that the traditional approach taken to selection--using the criterion-prediction model--has limited utility in the training of health care professionals. Not only are there additional educational purposes which selection can fulfil (such as increasing the heterogeneity of students, encouraging realistic self-selection and providing the first exposure to the "ethos" of a profession), but selection can also be used as a direct strategy to assist in the implementation of health service policies--for example, by contributing to social equalization, community participation in health services and community responsibility for health.