Latest Review of Education reports published

Today (22.03.22) we published our latest Review of Education reports covering the last three academic years.

As the UK-wide regulator of dental professionals, the GDC quality-assures dental education and training programmes in all four nations of the UK so that newly qualified dental professionals are fit to register with the GDC and practise independently as safe beginners. The Review of Education reports provide an overview of GDC’s education quality-assurance (QA) activity, including a review and findings of inspections, details of engagement activities undertaken, learnings and good practice from education providers, and policy developments.

Over recent years, and particularly since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been working ever more closely with education providers and other key stakeholders to ensure the quality of education for those working to become a member of the dental team.

In the 2018/19 academic year, we commenced our risk-based QA process to focus resources on areas of greatest concern. Under this new approach, the scope, length, and depth of an inspection is determined by the evidence we receive and risk-assessment we make in advance.  This ensures our inspections are evidence-led, efficient, and targeted.

As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we further enhanced our QA process to give assurance to patients, the public and the GDC that despite the challenges of the pandemic, the quality of students becoming newly registered dental professionals remains the same as any other year.

Despite the unprecedent challenges education providers faced, nearly all education programmes inspected in the two review periods reported on, 2018/19 and 2019/20 to 2020/21, were found to be satisfactory to enable the qualifying cohort of dental professionals to apply to join the GDC register and practice safely. Those who did not, have a clear action plan of our expectations before they are able to do so.  

We will continue to work closely with education providers and other key stakeholders to understand and respond to the ongoing and ever-changing challenges presented by the pandemic. Where necessary, we will make changes to ensure our QA process remains agile and fit for purpose.

You can find both reports on our dedicated Review of Education section of our website.