Life Long Learning

Chairs

The Life Long Learning Special Interest Group is chaired by Professor Jonathan Cowpe (UK) and Dr Argyro Kavadella (GR).

The Life Long Learning SIG completed its work in 2016 - please visit the DentCPD website for further updates.  

Aims and Objectives

Drawing on previous ADEE experiences in the area of continuing professional development and in particular the DentCPD project the Aims and Objectives of the SIG are:

• To promote the concept of continuing professional development, education and training, which underpins the philosophy of Life Long Learning throughout a career in dentistry
• To promote and advance the achievements of the DentCPD project
• To utilise the achievements of the DentCPD project, in particular through the ‘guidelines for dental CPD’ to develop quality assurance and accreditation processes for dental continuing education
• To utilise the ADEE network through the SIG to promote debate and discussion on all matters relating to the concept of a continuum of education through Life Long Learning

Meegtings and Activities: Szeged 2015

The SIG in Szeged was well attended and focused on the UK ‘QA Framework for Dental CPD’. At last year’s SIG meeting in Riga the draft ‘framework’ had been discussed and the feedback had contributed to the final version launched in the UK in November 2014. Since then the new ‘framework’ has been subjected a wide-ranging exercise of mapping a variety of CPD activities to the criteria within the domains of the ‘framework’. It is available at: https://www.copdend.org/data/files/Research/Dental_booklet_24pp.pdf

During the two hour session delegates engaged in in-depth discussions on how the Quality Assurance Framework for CPD could be used across other countries in the EU and beyond in Dentistry. The comments raised have been fed back into the mapping exercise pilot process.

The meeting concluded the following views:

1. Would be welcomed by the profession - CPD users and CPD providers
2. That successful implementation would hinge upon reduced complexity. Some may perceive some of the criteria as rather to rigid and in some cases not attainable for the variety of CPD activities
3. There was much debate about the pros and cons of third party externality input into CPD activities. Rigidity in this respect could limit creativity and freedom for CPD delivery
4. Should there just be one standard?
5. There should be a blended approach to implementing assessments of activities, both formative or summative
6. Find a way to identify and validate who are ‘experts’
7. This would help to promote the ‘reflective’ practitioner
8. The acceptance by regulatory bodies and professional organisations remains a key factor especially in support of CPD recognition across country boundaries in pursuit of increased mobility of the workforce
9. There is continuing need to continue consultation across the profession and related stakeholders and widely through the EU and other ADEE affiliated countries
10. There was enthusiasm to endeavour to construct a ‘QA Framework for Dental CPD in Europe’.  The aspiration is to do some groundwork in advance of ADEE 2016, in Barcelona with the aim of launching such a framework shortly after that meeting.

A summary presentation of the Life Long Learning SIG at the 2015 ADEE Annual meeting in Szeged is available below. 

Meeting and Activities: Riga 2014

The following is a summary of the special interest groups meetings and outcomes.

The SIG in Riga 2014 was well attended and focused on the discussion of two core topics of relevance. 

1. Development of a 'QA framework for Dental CPD'
2. CPD topic - 'Managing Medically Compromised Patients'

During the two hour session delegates engaged in indepth discussions on the optimal means of developing a quality assurance framework for Dental CPD and reviewed the consultation document of the UK Committee of Postgraduate Dental Deans and Directors COPDEND Quality Assurance Framework for CPD in Dentistry as a working example for review.

The meeting concluded that any such framework:

1. Would be welcomed by the profession
2. That successful implementation would hinge upon reduced complexity
3. The framework needs to be simple to use and user friendly for end users and providers
4. Would need to be developed in consultation across the profession and related stakeholders

The meeting also hosted a discussion on the 'Development of CPD/CDE in SCD - a continuum in Lifelong Learning' during which a focused discussion on addressing Continuing Professional Development within the speciality of Special Care Dentistry (SCD) considered:

1. The domains and modules most appropriate to CPD in the speciality
2. Potential gaps and barriers to CPD
3. Arising from the DentCPD discussing if there is a role for the Special Interest Group in SCD to be involved in the cpd topic of 'Managing Medically Compromised Patients'

A more detailed summary of the meeting can be viewed below as well as the discussion template for the CPD topic of Managing Medically Compromised Patients.

The focus of the 2015 Meeting for the SIG in Szeged will be discussing the development of a European Level Quality Assurance Framework for Dental CPD and its implementation.

Meeting and Activities: 2013 Birmingham

A summary presentation of the Life Long Learning SIG at the 2013 ADEE Annual meeting in Birmingham is available below. 

SIG Leader Announcements and Update

The aim of next year's SIG at Barcelona will be to build on the previous debate around the ‘QA Framework for Dental CPD’ with a view to exploring how the Framework might be extrapolated in a wider direction across educational organisations in the EU and how it may contribute to a future Accreditation mechanism to support mobility of dental professionals across the EU.

Contact details

To find out more about the work of the Life Long Learning Special Interest Group email administrator@adee.org

ADEE Members' Forum Pages

Please click here to join our online discussions at the ADEE Life Long Learning discussion forum.