Evaluating a curriculum map for undergraduate medical education: a critical analysis through different stakeholder lenses

Abstract In 2018, UCL Medical School commissioned a programme ‘Curriculum Map’ (CM). As the project’s lead, I theorised, designed and co-constructed the CM. My adopted theoretical position equated curriculum with syllabus, acknowledging that whilst this reflected the ‘formal’ curriculum, it did not capture the ‘informal’ or ‘hidden’ curricular elements. This doctoral research is a retrospective critical examination of the CM exercise. The professional practice problem addressed was whether the CM was judged by users as being ‘fit for purpose’. To address three research questions, the attitudes of key stakeholders (students and self) were analysed, examining the CM’s perceived purpose and drivers and asking whether it had accurately reflected the whole syllabus, including the professional ‘soft skills’. The role of institutional and national educational metrics in curriculum mapping was examined. An interpretivist paradigm using a novel ‘bricolage’ methodological framework of self-study and hermeneutic phenomenology was used. This blended approach drew on meaning and interpretation of data. Multi-method data collection was used to generate three discrete datasets (autoethnographic data; pan-student primary survey; student focus groups), which were synthesised using reflective thematic analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse limited quantitative data. The findings were triangulated, looking for congruence in overall arguments. Data from stakeholders were synthesised into five themes; power in medical education (metrics drive practice, assessment drives learning); troubling trustworthiness, fairness and social justice; the hidden curriculum of ‘hard over soft’; navigating uncertainty and finding compromise; and building legacy. Different stakeholder lenses brought convergence and divergence to the data. My multiple positionality brought personal (reflexive), professional and political lenses to this ‘insider research’. As other UK medical schools are undertaking CM projects, it is anticipated that this work will have impact for the undergraduate community of practice. It may also have broader relevance in postgraduate medical education and other healthcare disciplines.