Background/Objectives: The dental profession is undergoing significant transformation driven by societal changes, technological advancements, evolving patient expectations, and increased attention to sustainability. These developments challenge traditional notions of dental competence and highlight the need for educational frameworks that support adaptability and longitudinal professional development. The aim of this study was to develop a contextually grounded competence framework for undergraduate dental education through an iterative, multi-method process informed by key educational stakeholders. Methods: A multi-method approach was used, combining a preparatory phase (literature review, interviews) with a development phase (drafting and workshops) that was revisited in response to feedback, followed by iterative voting rounds that prompted further minor revisions. A deductive exploratory mapping analysis aligned the emerging framework with existing intended learning outcomes across the curriculum. Results: The multi-method process produced descriptions of a framework that deliberately integrates roles, skills, and attributes to capture key dimensions of professional competence in dentistry. The framework includes six domains: ‘Evidence-informed’, ‘Decision-maker’, ‘Communicator’, ‘Acting with professional conduct’, ‘Health ambassador’, and ‘Collaborator and leader’. Across voting rounds, the domains were generally rated between ‘neutral’ and ‘very important’, with each round prompting minor revisions. Mapping suggested alignment between the overarching framework and the detailed curriculum. Conclusions: This study presents the outcome of a structured, exploratory multi-method process to develop a locally relevant competence framework, integrated into a dental education. The participatory design supported clarity and relevance. While sharing similarities with existing frameworks, the new framework also includes differences. The term ‘professional conduct’ was preferred rather than ‘professionalism’, and the domains ‘collaborator and leader’ and ‘decision-maker’ were identified as relevant according to employer expectations. Although the work was based locally at one dental school, the approach may be transferable to similar contexts.

At the dental education at Malmö University, a need for improving the scaffolding strategies to support the dental students’ entry to higher education and to increase the sense of belonging to their education was identified. Therefore, a new course introduction was designed with learning activities following three core design principles. The principles were: an introduction to the small study groups that the student would be part of during the entire first semester, a series of challenges within meaningful and specific areas, and challenges relatively easy to solve as a group. The challenges were thematized and covered getting to know the building where most of their studies will take place, the websites that are intented to be used for the students at the university, Challenge-based learning, Malmö University facilities, and finaly to reflect on what they had experienced during the week in relation to their upcoming studies. The new course introduction seemed beneficial for the students to get to know each other and their learning environment. The design was easy to implement, did not require much resources, and harmonized well with our expectations on student activities within the course. In our experience, CBL is a suitable approach for a course introduction.

We identified a need for a transparent and coherent approach to support frequent multisource feedforward and track student progress across clinical placements. Our aim was to develop and implement an evidence-informed portfolio approach through a participatory process. The development process comprised four steps: Exploration, Preparation, Initial Implementation, and Full Implementation. Evidence and stakeholder experiences were gathered through document analysis, literature review, and interviews with students and teachers. Student interview data were analysed thematically, and infrastructure feasibility was assessed using descriptive usage statistics. A portfolio approach CO-FF (Clinical Observation FeedForward) was developed and implemented. Recorded criteria increased substantially over time, and the autonomy scale showed progression patterns consistent with teacher expectations. The structured, iterative participatory process enhanced the feasibility and educational utility of the approach. Our findings offer a practical example of how portfolio-based feedback systems can be designed and implemented in health professions education and other practice-based disciplines.

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to explore the feedback and feedforward quality in the clinical setting and the usability of a followership model as a framework to analyze and map students' peer feedback.

METHOD: Feedback and feedforward from 59 fourth-year dental students' clinical portfolios were collected and analyzed using a combination of deductive coding and interpretative content analysis. The analysis was first organized into predefined code categories (specific and actionable, non-specific, confirmatory, description of what was done, and other comments). The comments provided to peers were clustered and analyzed in relation to Kelley's theoretical followership framework.

RESULTS: A total of 3,877 free-text comments were included in the analysis. Regardless of role, most comments were coded as specific and actionable (n = 3,012). Confirmatory comments were frequently directed at peers. Comments that were only confirmatory were defined as reflecting dependent, uncritical thinking and passive behavior; this was the most frequent category among peer comments (n = 656). Non-specific comments were defined as reflecting dependent, uncritical thinking and active behavior, and this category was rare (n = 79). Comments that were confirmatory, specific, and actionable were defined as expressions of independent, critical thinking and active behavior (n = 442).

CONCLUSION: The analysis of feedback and feedforward in relation to followership seems to be a valid conceptual model. We found that peer feedback was often confirmatory and could be improved by incorporating specific and actionable feedforward. The followership model was shown to be a useful tool for structuring and analyzing peer feedback and feedforward, and it will be used as a tool for learning and quality assessment in future longitudinal studies.

I detta kapitel beskrivs framtagandet av ett kompetensramverk för den nya tandläkarutbildningen i Malmö. Ramverket beskriver vad studenter behöver utveckla för att fungera självständigt som professionella vårdgivare. Genom att koppla kompetenser till utbildningsmål och kursmål säkerställs och synliggörs den förväntade progressionen genom utbildningen. Ett kompetensramverk kan även vara ett värdefullt redskap för lärarna när de utvecklar olika lärandeaktiviteter och ger studenterna en förståelse för komplexiteten i tandläkaryrket. För att kompetensramverket skall vara relevant måste det förankras i både professionella och lokala sammanhang. Det slutliga ramverket består av 6 domäner: evidensinformerad, professionellt omdömesfull, hälsoambassadör, beslutsfattare, kommunikatör, samt medarbetare och ledare. Ramverket illustreras med en figur där varje domän visualiseras med en ikon och förklarande text för att underlätta förståelsen av konceptet.

This chapter outlines the development of a competence-based framework for the new dental program in Malmö. The framework specifies the essential competencies students need to develop to practice independently as professional healthcare providers. By aligning these competencies with educational and course objectives, progression throughout the program is clarified. The framework also serves as a valuable tool for educators in designing effective learning activities and supports students in grasping the multifaceted nature of the dental profession. To ensure continued relevance, the framework is grounded in both professional standards and the local context. The finalized framework compromises six domains: Evidence informed, Decision-maker, Communicator, Acting with professional conduct, Health ambassador, and Collaborator. Each domain is visually represented in an accompanying figure, featuring an icon and explanatory text to enhance conceptual understanding.

Introduction: Present literature on professionalism usually focuses on individual parts of professional identity development and mostly, as these are seen and are evaluated by the dental educators. When looking at professionalism and in particular professional identity formation, It is extremely important to listen to the voice of the students regarding their thoughts, attitudes, beliefs and ideas about how to become ethical, compassionate, and culturally competent oral health professionals. The aim of this meta-ethnographic review was therefore to explore students' perspective on learning activities regarding professionalism.

Methods: A review of the literature was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines to identify qualitative studies on professionalism teaching, focusing on dental students, covering from 2010 up to May 2024. Critical appraisal of the articles was conducted by 2 researchers using the Joana Briggs Institute and the McGill Mixed Methods Appraisal Tools. We then applied the meta-ethnographic methodology defining our aim, and proceeding with in depth reading, relating and translating of first and second order point of views before drawing our own salient themes.

Results: From the initial 6, 995 studies, 11 were included in the analysis. The studies represented 6 different countries, 8 were of high and 3 of moderate quality. A conceptual preliminary matrix was developed based on the first reading and then used to compare quotations from the different studies. The overall themes in the conceptual model were phrased "Intentionality" and "Learning Context". The analysis of the quotations from the informants (first order) and the researchers (second order) yielded five sub-themes: changed self-awareness, perseverance, safe learning environment, authenticity, and shifting perspective.

Discussion: Dental educators should understand the students' perspective and needs for professional identity formation and understand their own position as role models towards this direction. Dental education should be a safe learning environment where multiple stimuli provided together with reflection and exchange of thoughts guided by educators, enhance development of students' professional behaviour.

Introduction: Portfolio with a collection of evidence has become popular in higher education, including dental education. It is valuable to study the experiences of the use and implementation processes. Meta-ethnography can be a suitable method to analyse, synthesize and construct interpretations of qualitative research. Our aim was to explore experiences from the use of a portfolio/e-portfolio in dental education, from the students' and teachers' perspectives.

Materials and methods: A systematic search in the databases PubMed, Scopus and ERC was performed, and the established seven steps of a meta-ethnographic review were used. 278 papers were initially identified, and seven were included in the final analysis.

Results: Two themes (Issues to Address and Consequences) and five subthemes (Purpose, Roles, Support and Structure, Challenges and Enablers, and Gains) were constructed.

Discussion: Our synthesis reflects various challenges, yet the learning gains are recognized and expressed to be important once the students and teachers have overcome early thresholds. Beyond the conclusions drawn in each paper, our synthesis provides new perspectives on the complexity of an implementation process and the balance of not seeing the woods for the trees being overwhelmed by technical and other practical aspects, reducing the opportunity for learning.

Conclusion: The portfolio implementation in undergraduate dental education should address clarification to all stakeholders of the purpose and role, presenting a purposeful portfolio structure and timely support.

Introduction: Widening participation in education by including students from underrepresented groups has been recognized as important for the last decade. During the recent pandemic, the interest in how to make students from different backgrounds feel part of the university, and connected to their studies and peers, has become an even more widespread concern and therefore important to explore further.

The aim of our study was to develop a conceptual model for educational design to support student engagement and participation, by exploring pedagogical aspects recognized as being valuable during widening participation initiatives.

Methods: We used meta-ethnography following the recommended seven steps: getting started, developing a search strategy, reading and assessing the quality of the papers, analyzing how the different studies related to each other based on the interpretation of quotations of the informants (first order) and the researchers of the articles (second order), translating the meaning of the studies, developing a line of argument, and finally developing a conceptual model to express the synthesis. Three databases we used: PubMed, ERIC, and Scopus; the PRISMA workflow was used.

Results: Six articles with a qualitative approach were included. A conceptual model was developed with the theme ‘Scaffolding Strategies’ and four sub-themes: Academic Support, Social Interaction, Processing Expectations and Clarifying Learning Progress.

Conclusion: We developed a conceptual model from previous studies that entailed aspects of particular importance to support widening participation. By using scaffolding strategies in course design, teachers and students may collectively improve the learning environment to promote widening participation, through clear instructions and frequent interaction, communication and calibration of expectations, clarification of learning processes and progress, and support for academic-skills development. Furthermore, the importance of using academic support and social interaction between students and teachers early on, to encourage students to explore how to become an independent learner, is highlighted.

The FDI World Dental Federation suggests that "dentistry, as a profession, should integrate Sustainable Development Goals into daily practice and support a shift to a green economy in the pursuit of healthy lives and wellbeing for all, through all stages of life." This article reports on the recent activity of the Association for Dental Education in Europe Special Interest Group for Sustainability in Dentistry. Following on from the group's previous activities, which explored current educational practice, this work aimed to reach a pan-European consensus on a number of learning outcomes for environmental sustainability, in order to (i) support institutions in designing and delivering their curriculum, and (ii) to further harmonise the delivery of oral health professional education across Europe. This article presents specific learning outcomes relating to environmental sustainability and recommendations relating to curriculum development, including methods of teaching and assessment.