Leadership: a central tenet for postgraduate dementia services curricula development in Australia.
BACKGROUND
In the next decades of the twenty-first century, the global aging of populations will challenge every nation's ability to provide leadership by qualified health professionals to reshape and improve health care delivery systems. The challenge for educators is to design and deliver courses that will give students the knowledge and skills they need to fill that leadership role confidently in dementia care services. This paper explores the ways in which a curriculum can develop graduates who are ready to become leaders in shaping their industry.


METHODS
The Master of Health Science-Aged Services (MHSAS) program at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia is applied as a case study to describe the process by which the concept of leadership is applied as the key driver in curriculum development, teaching practices and learning outcomes.


RESULTS
Evaluation instruments employed in a variety of purposes including teaching, curriculum planning and unit appraisal are discussed. Challenges for the future are proposed including the need for postgraduate programs in dementia to seek stronger national and international benchmarks and associations with other educational institutions to promote leadership and a vision of what is possible and desirable in dementia care provision.


CONCLUSIONS
In the twenty-first century, effective service provision in the aged health care sector will require postgraduate curricula that equip students for dementia care leadership. The MHSAS program provides an established template for such curricula.
Angus
Jocelyn
J
Aged Services Management Unit, Faculty of Arts Education & Human Development, Victoria University, Melbourne, Victoria 8001, Australia. jocelyn.angus@vu.edu.au
D001315:Australia; D003479:Curriculum; D003704:Dementia / Q000628:therapy*; D004493:Education; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*