Abstract
Today’s professionals need to have the capacity for continuous learning in order to meet the demands of the dynamic settings in which they work, and the regulatory requirements related to professional practice. This report presents a new approach to professional formation designed to enable professionals to meet the challenges of both their initial entry to work and their continuing professional development as they progress through their careers. The ideas will have relevance across the professions and for the higher education institutions and professional bodies responsible for curriculum design and the development of new approaches to teaching and learning.
The trigger for this report was the publication of the White Paper, Pharmacy in England: building on strengths, delivering the future, in April 2008. The White Paper issued an ambitious challenge to the higher education sector and employers: how could pharmacy education and training be developed and reformed to produce pharmacist registrants with an enhanced range of capabilities, who were fully equipped from day one to deliver the high quality, safe and cost effective services to patients and the public?
In recognition of his expertise in professional education and training and the work he is leading within the LLAKES Strand 2 team on innovative pedagogy in city-regions, Dr David Guile was invited to contribute to the work of Modernising Pharmacy Careers (MPC), the body responsible for advising on the development of the pre- and post-registration education and training of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Following a number of presentations by Dr Guile at meetings organised by the MPC, as well as an invitation from the General Pharmaceutical Council to present the report to its members, the MPC accepted all the recommendations in the report. Professor Anthony Smith, (The School of Pharmacy, University of London) and Mr Rob Darracott (Company Chemists’ Association), Joint Chairs of the MPC, working collaboratively with other colleagues, then prepared a fully costed proposal to modernise the undergraduate pharmacy curriculum along the lines proposed in the report for Medical Education England (MEE). The MEE Board endorsed the MPC proposals for reform of pharmacist undergraduate and pre-registration education and training in March, 2011. The MEE Board is currently in the process of advising the Secretary of State (SofS) for Health of their decision, and requesting that he offers his full support to their costed proposal.