The Role of Vocational Training in Graduate Education

Abstract

New dental graduates are required to undertake vocational training (VT) in many European countries. Arrangements for this training vary and to some extent there are different perceptions of its purpose. In some countries without VT there are established practices for taking the new graduate into an independent working environment. In these countries would VT be a better (perhaps more expensive) system for the new dentist and for patients?The presentation touched on the different systems of VT and how they complement the knowledge and experience gained earlier at dental school. As the 5‐year undergraduate curriculum develops the content and delivery of VT should be reviewed.Vocational training provides a stepping‐stone from the supported environment of a dental school to the commercial realities of running a business with high patient expectation. On the completion of the undergraduate dental degree and VT a dentist should be expected to have progressed from theory through competence to proficiency. It is important to look at how this achievement is tested at the end of VT.Vocational training places a responsibility on trainers to ensure the trainees develop good clinical technique, communicate well with patients and colleagues, and generally become more assured in practising routine dentistry. Ideally VT should prepare the dentists for the rest of their careers, leading naturally to postgraduate education and a commitment to continuing professional development. VT should give new dentists the opportunity to make informed decisions on the future direction of their career.In certain parts of the UK there are programmes extending the 1 year of VT to a 2‐year structure, which includes periods of hospital and community dentistry. Proposals are now being made to formalise the 2 years into a system, which provides a postgraduate qualification. This may then lead to further pathways of training and qualification.