Learning, teaching and assessment

How is learning, teaching and assessment structured in the new curriculum?

The learning, teaching and assessment structure defines the framework for delivery and trainee achievement of the curriculum standards in the Advanced Training program. Advanced Training is structured in 3 phases - Specialty foundation, Specialty consolidation and Transition to Fellowship. These phases will establish clear checkpoints for trainee progression and completion.

Advanced Training is a hybrid time- and competency-based training program. There is a minimum time requirement of full-time equivalent (FTE) experience, and progression and completion decisions are based on evidence of trainees’ competence.

What are learning goals?

The curriculum standards are summarised as 21 learning goals. The learning goals articulate what trainees need to be, do, and know, and are assessed throughout training on a 5-point scale. This scale determines the expected standard for each learning goal at the end of each training phase. Trainees must meet these standards to progress to the next phase or complete the program. Learning and assessment tools are linked to the learning goals which allows trainees to demonstrate competence across each learning goal.

How does progression work in the new curriculum?

To progress to the next phase or to complete the program, trainees must demonstrate:

• the ability to plan and manage their learning, and to complete their learning and assessment requirements in a timely manner
• achievement of the learning goals to the levels outlined in the learning goal progression criteria.

Training committees or delegated progress review panels will consider evidence supporting trainees’ achievement of the progression criteria and make progress decisions. If criteria have not been met, committees or panels may decide to place conditions on trainees’ progression to the next phase of training or not to progress trainees until all criteria have been achieved.

Learning themes  

Why have learning themes been added to the curriculum? 

New Learning Themes have been added to provide options and flexibility for trainees to meet learning goals in line with the General Paediatrics Advanced Training curriculum standards. Trainees must demonstrate competence in all curriculum learning goals, fulfill the options outlined in the learning themes, and complete all learning and assessment requirements, in order to successfully complete Advanced Training in General Paediatrics.  

How will trainees show that they have met the requirements of the new learning themes? 

What are the criteria for granting special consideration to complete option 2 (portfolio option) of the rural paediatrics learning theme?  

Rural Training is a valuable learning experience for Advanced Trainees, and the curriculum has specific learning goals which will need to be met by all General Paediatrics trainees. Option 2 (portfolio option) is available for trainees who can demonstrate exceptional circumstances affecting their ability to undertake a rural training rotation. We appreciate that it can be complex to balance work, family and training obligations in relation to rural training. However, this is not considered to be exceptional circumstances warranting an exemption to the requirement. Examples of requests which may warrant the approval of Option 2 include trainees who have long-term legal or medical reasons preventing them from relocating to a rural/regional/remote training setting. 

Requests for approval of Option 2 will be considered on a case-by-case basis once a trainee has entered the training program and commenced their first approved rotation. Trainees will be required to submit their request via a form that will be available online shortly.  

How much of the training position needs to be in a certain area for it to count towards the professional experience necessary to satisfy a learning theme? For example, how much of the trainee’s role needs to be in acute care to meet the acute and emergency care learning theme?  

The new curriculum is competency based, not purely based on rotations, and the learning goals will need to be adequately addressed through the trainees’ professional experiences and learning themes which set the minimum expected time and assessment requirements. The trainee, their supervisor(s) and progress review panel will determine whether learning outcomes are satisfied. There is no set percentage/proportion of a rotation/run that must be in a certain area to count for a learning theme. The design is more flexible than the current curriculum, allowing trainees to spend more time in areas that they may need to develop further or in which they have a career focus in; for example, a trainee may choose to spend 12 months completing Hospital Paediatrics (minimum requirement 6 months) in order to meet their learning needs in acute care, and they will still be able to complete their training in 36 months without using non-core time for acute care, as long as they are progressing satisfactorily.  

Professional experience

Why are the professional experience types changing compared to what is in the PREP training program?

The new general paediatrics curriculum specifies new types of professional experience that trainees need to obtain during training that are designed to:

• Focus training on ‘bread and butter’ general paediatrics training experiences
• Increase flexibility for trainees to gain equivalent learning experiences
• Remove bottlenecks for trainee access to particular training experiences, e.g. sites accredited for neonatal training
• Improve exposure to professional experiences to meet learning outcomes, e.g. outpatients and developmental
• Enable interested trainees to spend more time training at rural, regional and remote training sites

What are the new professional experience types?

Trainees must complete at least 36 months FTE (full-time equivalent) of relevant professional experience in approved rotations.

Location of training

• Complete at least 24 months of training in accredited training settings in Australia and/or Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Recommended that trainees complete training in at least 2 different types of accredited training settings.
• Trainees should plan their training locations to meet the requirements set out in the learning themes and professional experience requirements.

Experiential training

Trainees must complete a minimum 30 months FTE of relevant core professional experience in approved rotations at accredited training sites. This must include:

• Essential General Paediatrics - minimum 12 months
• Hospital paediatrics - minimum 6 months
• Developmental and behavioural paediatrics - minimum 6 months
• Other core training - minimum 6 months

Non-core training - maximum 6 months

Trainees must ensure their training rotations cover all learning themes, e.g. the 6-month rural rotation required as part of learning theme 2.

Core training must be completed at accredited training sites.

How is essential general paediatrics professional experience defined?

• Must be at a site/setting accredited for Advanced Training in General Paediatrics
• Is a distinct advanced training (non-basic training) role
• Is a role that provides exposure to general paediatric patients across the age range in a breadth of settings: emergency department, paediatric and neonatal wards and outpatient clinics
• Includes a neonatal or perinatal component. For example: attending elective/emergency deliveries, completing baby checks, ward rounds on special care nursery babies, and neonatal procedures.
• Includes an average of one outpatient clinic per week per trainee
• Has a case-mix that includes patients with behavioural and/or developmental problems.

My site is located in Aotearoa New Zealand, where general paediatrics and neonates runs are not integrated. How can I provide the required 12 months of the essential general paediatrics professional experience type?

Sites in Aotearoa New Zealand may fulfil the essential general paediatrics requirement by completing 6-month general paediatrics runs and 6 month neonates runs.

How is hospital paediatrics professional experience defined?

• Must be at a site/setting accredited for Advanced Training in General Paediatrics
• A role that involves frequent care of acutely unwell general paediatric patients in hospital-based settings
• Role should include care for patients with acute and emergency presentations and include responding to acutely deteriorating patients. Examples may include attendance to review patients in a paediatric emergency department, paediatric/neonatal intensive care unit or as part of a weekly paediatric on-call roster where attendance is required
• Examples of suitable rotations include: paediatric emergency medicine, paediatric or neonatal intensive care unit, hospital medical lead, hospital in the home (HITH), general paediatrics at a regional/rural hospital that involves on-call and responding to deteriorating patients.
• Paediatric subspecialty rotations are not suitable.

Can a trainee’s professional experience be counted towards more than one experience type?

For example, if a trainee completes a 12-month rotation at a site that offers professional experiences for both Essential General Paediatrics and Developmental and Behavioural Paediatrics, would this count as meeting both the requirement for 12 months of Essential General Paediatrics AND for 6 months of Developmental and Behavioural Paediatrics?

Professional experience will be counted in the same way that core time requirements are currently counted in the PREP program. Trainees cannot have time simultaneously counted for 2 different types of professional experiences, but a longer run/rotation at a site that offers more than one type of professional experience may count for different experiences depending on the content of the run/rotation and what requirements the trainee has outstanding.

For example, a 12-month Senior Paediatric Fellow run/rotation at a site offering professional experiences for essential general paediatrics and developmental and behavioural paediatrics may be counted as 12 months’ Essential General Paediatrics or 6 months Essential General Paediatrics and 6 months’ Developmental and Behavioural Paediatrics. It will NOT count as fulfilling both the 12 months’ Essential General Paediatrics and 6 months Developmental and Behavioural requirements.

If a trainee does 12 months of hospital paediatrics as a paediatric Fellow at a tertiary children’s hospital, will it only count as 6 months hospital paediatrics?

The professional experience requirements state minimum time needed, not maximum. As at least 30 months full-time equivalent (FTE) of core professional experience is required, this means additional experience may count towards core time. For example, a 12-month Paediatric Fellow post at a tertiary hospital could count as 12 months of Hospital Paediatrics. Alternatively, dependent on the role, it may count for 6 months of Hospital Paediatrics and 6 months of Developmental and Behavioural Paediatrics. This is as long as a paediatric fellow position has appropriate learning experiences that fulfil the appropriate criteria for each professional experience and address the relevant learning goals.

What professional experience type does nights/relief rotations count towards?

Nights and relief rotations can count towards the maximum 6 months FTE non-core training that is allowed within the minimum 36 months FTE of professional experience.

I am a trainee; how do I align my preferred types of General Paediatric jobs to the new curriculum?

Refer to the trainee journey samples for an example of what you could do. The new curriculum is designed to better articulate the qualities of a general paediatrician. Most jobs can fit into the new curriculum in a variety of ways.

This is a choose your own adventure journey. Trainees should think about types of jobs and experiences (including special interests) that would shape their general paediatric career.

Trainees should map the jobs and experiences against the learning goals and learning themes that will be expected to be competent in by the end of training (i.e the minimum standards to be competent general paediatrician).

Map the learning goals and themes against the professional experience to plan the sequence, timing and jobs you select.

Training settings

Can a training site provide both Essential General Paediatrics and Hospital Paediatrics?

Yes, training sites can provide more than one type of professional experience provided they meet the criteria for both professional experiences.

Who should I contact if I have questions about what professional experience types my setting can provide in the new curriculum?

Please contact the Training Services team at the College via GeneralPaediatrics@racp.edu.au or GeneralPaediatrics@racp.org.nz if you have any questions about what professional experience your setting can provide in the new curriculum.

Who should I contact if I have questions about my site’s current training accreditation status?

Please contact the Training Accreditation Services at the College via Accreditation@racp.edu.au or accreditation@racp.org.nz if you have any questions about your site’s current training accreditation status.

How will trainees know what professional experience their training site can provide?

A guide on what professional experience types each accredited setting can provide in the new curriculum will be available online by the end of May.

Supervision

What do I need to do as a supervisor?

The Trainee will have Rotation Plan that they will develop at the start of the rotation and send to you for approval (like happens now with PREP). This will include the Trainee's Learning plan that will map the learning opportunities within the rotation to the learning goals.

There are 21 "Learning goals" that have to be completed at a satisfactory level, by the end of Advanced training. In the rotation plan, the Trainee will nominate relevant Learning goals for the rotation with you. You will be asked to review these to confirm they could be achieved during the rotation.

Trainees have to complete 12 "Observation captures" (similar to PREP MiniCEX and DOPS) and 12 "Learning captures" (similar to PREP CBD and PQR) - per "phase of training" (minimum 12 months FTE). Note: Learning captures are opportunities for trainees to reflect on a learning experience and can be completed with or without an assessor or Supervisor. The work-based assessments including the observation captures can be completed by any assessor, not just the Rotation supervisor!

There are reviews undertaken via the Rotation Progress Reports, minimum every 3 months. At this point you will be requested to assess the "level of competency" against the learning goals and provide a recommendation on the trainee’s progress to the Progress Review Panel.

All the documentation is within the "Training Management Portal" (TMP) which you will have access to as the nominated Supervisor.

Note: a Trainee requires 2 Supervisors per rotation, regardless of the length of the rotation.

What is the College doing to support supervisors?

Advocating for protected time

The College is advocating for trainees and supervisors with government and health networks including development of guidance on the key benefits of protected time with case study, policy and workplace model examples to share in discussions with health departments from 2026.

Defining quality supervision in accreditation

The College has worked with the Australian Medical Council and other medical colleges to define quality outcomes for supervision in training programs and agree on a common way of measuring supervision. MCNZ have endorsed the AMC model standards to be used in NZ settings. Please see the following documents published online for more information:

• Measuring Supervision Guidance: Guidance on assessing supervision (PDF)
• AMC Model Standards: AMC User Guide (PDF)

Training program evaluation

We have enhanced our training program evaluation for the new curricula, including looking at the time and effort trainees and supervisors spend in completing new curriculum requirements. Our initial evaluation report is expected by the end of 2025, and we will continue to gather data and further evaluate the programs in 2026 and refine them in response to feedback.

Education governance enhancements

To better manage training program committee workload, we are expanding delegated functions to staff and designated roles on committees. We are also increasing the number of members on some committees to support the volume of trainees and the implementation of the new curriculum.

There will be a strengthened focus on improving supervisor training, support, engagement and recognition in the new committee structure, with the Curriculum Improvement and Supervision Advisory Committee to take a lead role in supervision matters, including directly advising the College Education Committee on improvements to supervisor support.