A Personal Critical Analysis of the Foundation Programme Curriculum

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. The Foundation Programme (FP) is a two-year period where medical graduates are able to learn in the workplace in the United Kingdom. The Foundation Programme Curriculum (FPC) is designed to imbue trainees with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to be able to enter into speciality training. The reasons for the introduction of the FP and its curriculum will be discussed. Additionally, curricular aims and models pertaining to the curriculum of the FP will be discussed as will the relevance of the hidden curriculum to the FPC. The assessment strategies and quality assurance methods relating to the FPC will be also be discussed. The author has been a recent FP trainee and uses education theory in his assessment of its curriculum. In this personal critical analysis, I aim to review the curriculum of the FP in order to determine if it is an appropriate vehicle to transmit the necessary knowledge, skills and attributes for trainees to enter the next stage of their training.