Curriculum to scaffold the students' cultural competence journey: Whole of program assessment in allied health

The metaphor of a journey is useful for understanding the concept and development of cultural competence as it suggests a continuum of learning. In allied health curricula, development of a students’ cultural competence knowledge and understanding, attitudes and skills is facilitated through the integration of relevant learning outcomes in discrete subjects. The constructive alignment of assessment tasks with subject outcomes ensures that each student can demonstrate their learning but there is a risk that subjects are viewed by the student as discrete information packages, rather than as stages on the journey. This is problematic because a student may consider that Indigenous Australian content is not immediately relevant to their disciplinary study. In order to move students along the continuum of cultural competence, it is relevant to consider the integration of Indigenous content in multiple subjects and to view assessment tasks across the entirety of an undergraduate allied health course. A whole of program approach to assessment offers the opportunity to design a curriculum which frames the students’ experience of their developing cultural competence, enhances the quality of learning, and facilitates the education of holistic allied health professionals.
To illustrate this approach, our presentation focuses on the work of staff and students in the School of Community Health (SCH) - in collaboration with Indigenous and non-Indigenous academics in the School of Indigenous Australian Studies (SIAS) - in the development of authentic assessment tasks to
ensure constructive alignment with relevant learning outcomes. This develops capabilities for students and staff and illustrates the value of a community of practice in enabling a shared journey towards cultural competence.