A pedagogy of the particular – towards training capable GPs

ABSTRACT

The General Medical Council (GMC) has called upon the Royal Postgraduate Medical Colleges to redesign their curricula using principles of capability. This offers an opportunity to better align the General Practice training curriculum with the role of the general practitioner, and we argue that approaches have already been developed that may be adapted to support the teaching and assessment of capability. We set out our understanding of how capability differs from competency, in particular how the former emphasises the ongoing creation of everyday knowledge within clinical practice. We offer an expanded version of capability comprising a prospective disposition towards noticing and responding to novelty. We offer some suggestions around how capability can be developed: through heightened sensitivity to context, development of divergent thinking and assessment of zones of professional practice. We emphasise the role of the supervisor in helping to support these dispositions through an appreciative, and collaborative, approach that acknowledges the full range of reasonable decisions applicable to each particular context.

KEYWORDS:

• Competency-based training
• capability
• assessment
• entrustable professional activities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.