We are developing structured career pathways for dentists and the whole dental team. It’s a keystone of our vision for the future of Primary Care dentistry.
We are grateful for the support of Colgate in enabling the development of our Career Pathways programme.
We plan an approach which is:
- Patient- and profession-centred: recognising the mutual interest in a trusting and supportive relationship
- Structured and evidence-based: drawing on the experience of other professions;
- Consultative: involving practitioners who appreciate the different facets of practice;
- Authoritative: engaging with the agencies and institutions whose recognition will enhance credibility of the professional standing we represent;
- Accessible: meaningful and relevant to the dental team and the range of roles that individuals perform;
- Embracing diversity within our professional constituencies.
The College plans a membership structure that will underpin and foster career-long professionalism, for all members of the dental team, building on these Career Pathways. Our qualifications will be built to support a holistic approach to development and progression.
Method
- We plan to map Career Pathways for each of the professional constituencies in the dental team, and to do so in a coordinated way that recognises the importance of a team-based approach to patient care.
- We plan to underpin our Career Pathways with a “Professional Framework“, which will describe the breadth of capabilities of the practitioner at each stage of their career.
- The Career Pathways will define a simple sequence of “career inflection points” – clear steps in a progression- to which specific capabilities will be mapped.
- We have developed an initial framework, built on experience elsewhere, and from consultation within the College and with the FGDP(UK). The framework will be tested and populated through a sequence of consultative processes in the coming weeks.
Programme leadership
The Career Pathways programme is led by Janet Clarke MBE, Trustee of the College, and co-sponsored by Abhi Pal, Vice Dean of FGDP(UK). Janet and Abhi have convened a Programme Board together with Simon Thornton-Wood, lead executive for the College.
Kirstie McCulloch has been engaged as Programme Manager. Kirstie brings a wealth of experience in career development and education programme construction.
The Programme Board has appointed a Reference Group, which will advise and guide the programme in the coming months.
Four work packages are planned, reflecting different constituencies in the dental team, for which we are now appointing Chairs:
- General dental practitioners and other dentists working in a primary care setting
- Dental Therapists and Dental Hygienists
- Dental Nurses and Orthodontic Therapists
- Clinical Dental Technicians and Dental Technicians
Reference Group
The members of the Career Pathways Reference Group are:
- Paul Banerjee
- Andrew Dickinson
- Sharon Hill
- Andrea Johnson
- Kirstie Moons
- Fiona Sandom
- Bill Sharpling
Dental Nursing & Orthodontic Therapy Group
- Debbie Reed (Chair)
- Ken Binnah
- Jane Dalgarno
- Amanda Knight
- Sharon Morrow
- Marie Parker
- Tracey Rodgers
- Tracey Taylor
- Tracey Young
Dental Hygiene & Dental Therapy Group
- Emma Pacey (Chair)
- Leon Bassi
- Liam Ferguson
- Shaun Howe
- Kath Reynolds
- Kirstie Thwaites
Dental Technology & Clinical Dental Technology Group
- Michael Brindle (Co-Chair)
- Darren Ware (Co-Chair)
- Stephan Avetoom
- Mark Gilbert
- Mark Maley
- Steven Martin
- James Neilson
- Caroline Persaud
- Stephen Wears
Dental Practitioners Group
- Phil Dawson (Chair)
- Sefa Ahiaku
- Bilal Arshad
- Ian Dunn
- James Hamilton
- Nyree Whitely
The Professional Framework
The Professional Framework describes the knowledge, skills and other attributes that primary care dentists and other dental professionals may aspire to at different stages of their career.
A Professional Statement describes the typical level of performance by a practitioner in each of those attributes, at one of those career stages
Our initial Framework identifies five “domains” to describe knowledge, skills and other attributes:
| Clinical | The capability to diagnose, to advise and to treat |
| Professionalism | The conduct and behaviour to engage patient trust and confidence |
| Reflection | Awareness of personal impact, abilities and limitations |
| Development | Commitment and capability to improve the service to patients |
| Agency | The ability to resolve solutions independently and through others |
Each career stage will be accompanied by a description of the capability (identified in the Professional Framework) that is expected of the practitioner at that level.
Membership standing
College membership will provide clear evidence of career standing for every member of the dental team, and we are working on the development of a Certified Membership scheme to underpin recognition of progression.
We are planning to convene Faculties of the College for the various dental team roles, each of which will have a membership structure that reflects that same progression from “safe beginner” to “accomplished practitioner” – from Associate Member to Fellow. Membership of a Faculty will go hand-in-hand with College membership, for no additional membership contribution.
Watch this space for news of the development of our Faculties.
