AMEE Medical Education Guide No. 5. The core curriculum with options or special study modules

A core curriculum with options, or special study modules, is a response to the major problem of content overload. Mastery of the core, which may cover knowledge, skills and attitudes, ensures the maintenance of standards: the options or SSMs (special study modules) allow in-depth work and the achievement of higher-level competences, such as critical thinking. Students, encouraged to take more responsibility for their own learning, can choose the subjects they study. The core curriculum can be specified in various ways. This is the responsibility of teachers, of subject specialists, the medical profession more generally, and of the public. An SSM may entail a more detailed study of part of the core, where the student has already acquired prerequisite basic knowledge or skills. An SSM may cover a medically or clinically related topic, such as sports medicine and the locomotor system. SSMs can be completely unrelated to the core and indeed to medicine, e.g. studying a foreign language. Options or special stu...