Twelve tips for developing and sustaining a programme of student selected components

Background: Student selected components (SSCs) represent a significant component of medical curricula in the UK and a new approach in medical education. Despite the prominence given to SSCs by the General Medical Council in each of its seminal papers regarding undergraduate medical education, there remains a diverse view of the purpose, outcomes, structure and assessment of SSCs. Many Schools have adopted their own perspective of SSCs and created different but often innovative courses.Aims: This article brings together the Scottish Medical Schools and their experience in organising SSCs, highlights some of the challenges and offers possible solutions to some of the difficulties encountered.Method: The SSC Director from each of the Scottish medical schools each contributed their own ‘12 Tips’. From these a consensus was achieved.Results: Even though the Scottish medical schools have a wide range of curriculum and timetable formats, there was a great deal of agreement in the challenges and problems encounte...