How do Australian regulations for dental graduates differ from those in the UK?Dental graduates must acquire extensive knowledge, and have to develop substantive clinical and practical skills during their undergraduate studies in order to practise successfully as dental practitioners. Contemporary dental education is based on a student-centred, competence-based learning approach that facilitates training for our next generation of practitioners, and emphasises their roles as clinician scientists, critical thinkers, oral health team leaders and lifelong learners. Lifelong learning for the providers of oral healthcare services is now recognised as a fundamental component of a dental school’s educational mission and is, of course, a continuum during which undergraduate education and subsequent graduation as a dental practitioner merely heralds the beginning of their professional journey.While accepting the autonomy of educational providers to design and deliver courses independently, curricula for dental education are based increasingly on the achievement of professional competences defined and articulated by the various regulators of the oral healthcare professions. For this reason, course learning outcomes and objectives shared between staff and students to facilitate the learning and assessment process are aligned to the required professional competences that students must demonstrate at graduation to facilitate registration, enabling them to then enter fully independent or partially supervised clinical practice.
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