Leadership and career development curriculum in Australian dental and oral health programmes

There is very little evidence of dental schools offering leadership or career development training for students. Given that tertiary students come from diverse backgrounds with differing experiences, it is important that all students learn skills that improve their employability by preparing them for a range of career paths and equipping them with the confidence to lead their profession into the future. This study mapped current leadership and career development training in dental education programmes throughout Australia, focusing on the capacity, barriers and enablers.

In 2018, an electronic survey was sent to the Program Convenors of all nineteen dental programmes in Australia. Survey questions were sourced from existing literature and the current regulatory competencies.

Whilst the majority of respondents (n = 17, 89% response rate) indicated that their programmes included both leadership training (72%) and career development activities (88%), it is clear that the content focus, hours allocated and assessment items vary widely across the country. Further, curriculum appeared to focus almost exclusively on clinical work, which does not provide an avenue for students to explore alternative, non-clinical career options or pathways or develop their skills beyond treating individual patients. Time constraints and ideological differences were reported as the biggest barriers to implementing leadership and career development curricula.

Despite an inconsistent approach nationally, it appears there is an opportunity for faculty across institutions to collaborate, potentially to develop a set of leadership and career development competencies and best practice teaching and learning activities.