Educational strategies in curriculum development: the SPICES model

TLDR

Curriculum issues are framed as spectra ranging from student‑centred to teacher‑centred, problem‑based to information‑gathering, integrated to discipline‑based, community‑based to hospital‑based, elective to uniform, and systematic to apprenticeship‑based, and each school must decide its position on these dimensions. The SPICES model is intended to aid curriculum planning, review, problem‑solving, and guidance on teaching methods and assessment. The model presents the factors that support movement toward either end of each continuum for each strategy. Six curriculum‑related education strategies were identified, with newer schools positioned more to the left of the spectra and established schools more to the right.

Abstract

Six education strategies have been identified relating to the curriculum in a medical school. Each issue can be represented as a spectrum or continuum: student-centred/teacher-centred, problem-based/information-gathering, integrated/discipline-based, community-based/hospital-based, elective/uniform and systematic/apprenticeship-based. The factors supporting a move towards each end of the continuum are presented for each strategy. Newer schools tend to be more to the left on the continuum, established schools more to the right. Each school, however, has to decide where it stands on each issue and to establish its own profile. This SPICES model of curriculum strategy analysis can be used in curriculum planning or review, in tackling problems relating to the curriculum and in providing guidance relating to teaching methods and assessment.