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Objectives: The present study assessed recent dental graduates' educational experiences with regard to competency development in different learning contexts and preparedness for independent professional performance. Methods: The present study employed a questionnaire examining University of Manitoba graduating dental students' confidence and perceived importance of 47 competencies expected by the ACFD/CDA by requiring students to rate each competency on a five-point Likert scale. In addition, contribution of each of the three learning environments (classroom, clinic, and externship) towards competency development was assessed. Results: Recent graduates reported most confidence in areas of basic clinical procedures involving radiographic, pharmacologic and caries management, with least confidence in implantology, orofacial pain, trauma and surgical management. Most importance was attributed to interpersonal-communication and basic clinical skills, with least importance in scientific research, implantology and prosthetic laboratory aspects. Overall, graduates felt that clinical setting contributed the most to competency development, followed by classroom and then externship contexts. Conclusion: Graduating students' professional preparedness can reflect the quality of dental programme. However, the amount of importance that graduates place on each competency might impact their confidence in the associated competencies and vice versa. In addition, learning settings must be effectively utilised for particular competencies' development. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

This paper presents an updated statement on behalf of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) in relation to proposals for undergraduate Curriculum Structure, Content, Learning, Assessment and Student / Staff Exchange for dental education in Europe. A task force was constituted to consider these issues and the two previous, related publications produced by the Association (Plasschaert et al 2006 and 2007) were revised. The broad European dental community was circulated and contributed to the revisions. The paper was approved at the General Assembly of ADEE, held in Amsterdam in August 2010 and will be updated again in 2015. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

The current research sought to identify the types of informal learning behaviours speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working in healthcare settings engage in as well as SLPs' motivations for engaging in informal learning. Twenty-four American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)-certified SLPs participated in this qualitative study. Data collection consisted of computer-mediated interviews, online journaling, and a virtual focus group. These textual data were coded and collapsed into themes. All participant SLPs reported that they learned through collaboration (inter-and intra-disciplinary), worked with patients to learn through trial-and-error, and consulted non-peer-reviewed material on the internet as well as peer-reviewed research in order to learn informally in the workplace. Eighteen of the 24 participants reported being motivated to learn at work to meet a patient's need to meet therapy goals. Five of the 24 participants reported meeting their own personal learning needs was a motivating factor and 10 of the 24 participants reported learning informally to meet the needs of the healthcare organization/SLP profession. Results were compared to past research on SLPs' information retrieval behaviours. It was concluded that SLPs acknowledge their personal work-related gaps in knowledge and skills and actively seek to develop their knowledge and skill base through informal means. © 2011 The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited.

Background: Most smokers start smoking during adolescence and become dependent before 20 years old. In France, vocational trainees are a population not much explored. The objective of our study is to present tobacco use characteristics among apprentices in Vocational Centers (VC). Methods: This cross-sectional exhaustive study covered 1814 students (among whose 943 smokers) entering in a 1st year of the eight participating Vocational Centers in the Lorraine region (Eastern France, 2.3 million inhabitants, 16,500 vocational trainees), during the school years 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. Data collection concerned the sociocultural environment, tobacco use habits, degree of dependency to tobacco and co-addictions. Results: Among the study population, 52.0% declared they were smokers among whom 89.4% daily smokers, and 5.7% were ex-smokers. The average age of tobacco use initiation was 12.1 years (standard deviation [SD] = 2.1) and the average age at inception of regular cigarette smoking was 13.8 years (SD = 1.6). Current consumption of the smokers was 12.8 cigarettes per day (SD = 7.8). The average score of smoking addiction was 6.1 (SD = 2.8), according to the Hooked On Nicotine checklist test (score from 0 to 10 = strongly dependent). Finally, 37.1% of students (58.9% among smokers) smoked or have smoked cannabis. Conclusion: The high prevalence of smoking in Vocational Centers, the early start of tobacco use and the high tobacco consumption among apprentices show that they are overexposed compared to the general population of adolescents. In addition, these young people are already dependant to tobacco use. This underlines the need of specific measures dedicated to this population that amounts to 361,500 individuals in France. © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS.

Self-assessment is an integral component of learning and developing decision making and critical thinking skills in the practice of dental hygiene. Dental hygienists must think critically and develop problem-solving strategies during their formal education to ensure lifelong quality and ongoing development of their personal knowledge and skill as related to providing comprehensive, evidence-based patient care. The primary focus of this qualitative investigation was to obtain undergraduate dental hygiene students' perceptions of and experiences with self-assessment. The sample consisted of an intact undergraduate dental hygiene class of seventeen students in their final semester of a two-year, entry-level dental hygiene program at a community college in the southeast United States. Data for this research were obtained from three sources: 1) a program-designed self-assessment survey assignment, 2) in-depth interviews with four second-year dental hygiene students, and 3) program-designed clinical competence evaluation forms. Inductive data analysis revealed that the majority of students perceived that they had no prior experience with self-assessment in any prerequisite coursework and thus felt unprepared for its use in the dental hygiene program. As they matriculated in the program, students began to see the advantages of self-assessment in clinical practice. Programmatic orientation to self-assessment may therefore be beneficial due to the varying backgrounds of students entering dental hygiene programs.

Background: Throughout the United States, over 70% of public schools with 12th grade offer school-sponsored work (SSW) programs for credit; 60% offer job-shadowing programs for students. Wisconsin offers a variety of work-based learning programs for students, including, but not limited to, job shadowing, internships, co-op education, and youth apprenticeship programs. No research has compared workplace injury and school-based behaviors in students enrolled in SSW programs who work only 1 job compared with those who work multiple jobs. Methods: A total of 6810 students in the 5 public health regions in Wisconsin responded to an anonymous questionnaire that was administered in 2003. The questionnaire asked about employment, injury, characteristics of injury, and school-based behaviors and performance. Results: A total of 3411 high school students aged 14 to 18 reported they were employed during the school year. Among the working students, 13.5% were enrolled in a SSW program. Of the SSW students, 44% worked multiple jobs. SSW students who worked multiple jobs were more likely to do hazardous job tasks, to work after 11 pm, to work over 40 hours per week, to have a near-miss incident, to have a coworker injured, and to be injured at work. Conclusions: SSW students who are working multiple jobs are violating labor laws that put their safety and their school performance at risk. The responsibilities of employers and schools have to be addressed to ensure that SSW students are abiding by labor laws when working multiple jobs.

The relationship between learning environment characteristics and academic engagement of 777 Grade 6 children located in 41 learning environments was explored. Questionnaires were used to tap learning environment perceptions of children, their academic engagement, and their ethnic-cultural background. The basis of the learning environment questionnaire was the International System for Teacher Observation and Feedback (ISTOF). Factor analysis indicated three factors: the teacher as a helpful and good instructor (having good instructional skills, clear instruction), the teacher as promoter of active learning and differentiation, and the teacher as manager and organizer of classroom activities. Multilevel analysis indicated that about 12% of the differences in engagement between children was related to the learning environment. All the mentioned learning environment characteristics mattered, but the teacher as a helpful, good instructor was most important followed by the teacher as promoter of active learning and differentiation. © Psychological Reports 2011.

Objective The aims of this survey were to evaluate the effectiveness of workplace based assessments (WPAs) in dental foundation training (formerly vocational training [VT]).Methods Two online questionnaire surveys were sent to 53 foundation dental practitioners (FDPs) and their 51 trainers in the Mersey Deanery at month four and month nine of the one year of dental foundation training. The questionnaires investigated the effectiveness of and trainers' and trainees' satisfaction with the WPAs used in foundation training, namely dental evaluation of performance (D-EPs), case-based discussions (DcBD) and patients' assessment questionnaires (PAQs). The questionnaires also investigated the perceived impact of reflection and feedback associated with WPAs on clinical practise and improving patient care.Results A total of 41 (7.4%) FDPs and 44 (86.3%) trainers responded. Of the 41 FDPs, the majority found that feedback from WPAs had a positive effect on their training, giving them insight into their development needs. Overall 84.1% of the FDPs felt the WPAs helped them improve patient care and 82.5% of trainers agreed with that outcome.Conclusions The findings from this study demonstrate the value of WPAs in dental foundation training by the use of feedback and reflection in directing the learning of foundation dental practitioners and that this can lead to improved clinical practise and patient care. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

Objective: This paper describes and compares exemplary work-based education (WBE) programs in Ontario Canada designed to meet the needs of two groups of vulnerable youth - at-risk youth and youth with severe disabilities. Participants: Two focus group interviews were held, one with professionals from exemplary programs designed to meet the needs of at-risk youth and one with professionals from exemplary programs for youth with severe disabilities. Method: Standard qualitative analyses were conducted on each focus group transcript to generate themes which were subsequently grouped into larger patterns. Then cross-case analyses identified consistencies and unique features within the two types of WBE programs. Results: Two major patterns that characterize the WBE programs emerged from the analyses: the first pattern described the programmatic approaches to WBE appropriate for each type of type of student (which included themes such as the need for an alternative learning environment for at-risk youth), and the second pattern highlighted the rationale for each kind of program (which included themes like ensuring equity for youth with severe disabilities). Conclusions: The findings suggest that schools should continue to provide distinct WBE programs for each of these groups of vulnerable youth - at-risk youth and youth with severe disabilities. © 2011 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.

Background: Dentistry in the UK has a number of new graduate-entry programmes. The aim of the study was to explore the motivation, career expectations and experiences of final year students who chose to pursue a dental career through the graduate entry programme route in one institution; and to explore if, and how, their intended career expectations and aspirations were informed by this choice.Method: In-depth interviews of 14 graduate entry students in their final year of study. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using framework analysis.Results: There were three categories of factors influencing students' choice to study dentistry through graduate entry: 'push', 'pull' and 'mediating'. Mediating factors related to students' personal concerns and circumstances, whereas push and pull factors related to features of their previous and future careers and wider social factors. Routes to Graduate Entry study comprised: 'early career changers', 'established career changers' and those pursuing 'routes to specialisation'. These routes also influenced the students' practice of dentistry, as students integrated skills in their dental studies, and encountered new challenges.Factors which students believed would influence their future careers included: vocational training; opportunities for specialisation or developing special interests and policy-related issues, together with wider professional and social concerns.The graduate entry programme was considered 'hard work' but a quick route to a professional career which had much to offer. Students' felt more could have been made of their pre-dental studies and/or experience during the programme. Factors perceived as influencing students' future contribution to dentistry included personal and social influences. Overall there was strong support for the values of the NHS and 'giving back' to the system in their future career.Conclusion: Graduate entry students appear to be motivated to enter dentistry by a range of factors which suit their preferences and circumstances. They generally embrace the programme enthusiastically and seek to serve within healthcare, largely in the public sector. These students, who carry wider responsibilities, bring knowledge, skills and experience to dentistry which could be harnessed further during the programme. The findings suggest that graduate entry students, facilitated by varied career options, will contribute to an engaged workforce. © 2011 Newton et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.