The General Dental Council (GDC) has today published its revised Standards for
Education, the first comprehensive update since 2015,
following a successful 12-week public consultation.
The Standards for Education set out the requirements expected of
all programmes that lead to registration with the GDC and form
the framework of the regulator's quality assurance processes for
dental education across the UK.
The new Standards will come into effect for the 2026/27 academic
year, with the GDC providing support to education providers to
implement them.
The GDC will offer guidance, engagement sessions and resources to
ensure all providers can confidently adapt their
processes and transition to the revised Standards by August
2026.
The revised Standards are designed to be used alongside the Safe
Practitioner Framework, published in 2023, which sets out the
learning outcomes and behaviours. The updated
Standards reflect the developments in dentistry, the GDC's
strategic priorities, demographic changes, and the changes in the
healthcare ecosystem over the past decade.
After extensive stakeholder engagement, including consultation
with education providers, professional bodies, students, new
registrants, diversity groups and Chief Dental Officers, the GDC
has made key structural improvements while adding five important
new areas:
-
Student and staff wellbeing – recognising
the importance of mental health and pastoral support
-
Admissions – ensuring fair, inclusive and
transparent admission processes
-
Monitoring of behaviours – strengthening
professional development and standards
-
Technological advances – keeping pace
with rapid developments in dental technology and
education
-
Differential attainment – addressing
inequalities and supporting diverse learners
The consultation conducted from November 2024 to February 2025,
received 42 responses with stakeholders broadly welcoming the
proposed changes. Respondents praised the clearer structure and
the addition of topics relevant to modern dental education.
Manjula Das, Head of Education Quality Assurance at the
GDC, said: "We're delighted with the positive
response to our revised Standards for Education. These updates
ensure our regulatory framework keeps pace with the evolving
needs of dental education whilst maintaining our primary focus on
protecting patients.
“The new requirements around wellbeing, inclusive admissions, and
differential attainment demonstrate our commitment to supporting
students and trainees. We look forward to working closely with
education providers over the coming year to ensure a smooth
transition to these revised Standards."
The revised Standards maintain the existing structure of four key
areas – patient protection and safety, student development and
support, quality assurance of programmes, and examination and
assessment – whilst breaking down complex requirements into
clearer components and clarifying which requirements are relevant
to different stakeholders.
The GDC has a statutory role under the Dentists Act to promote
high standards of education in dentistry and to quality assure
pre-registration education and training. Under the Professional
Standards Authority's Standard 8, the GDC must maintain
up-to-date Standards for Education which prioritise patient and
service user care and safety.
The consultation outcome
report and the revised Standards for
Education are available on the GDC website.
