The Foundation Programme Steering Group met on 26 June 2009 to agree their recommended options. Subject to legal opinion and further consultation, the proposed options are:

1) Educational Performance: Fine grain education performance scores are provided by the medical schools and are derived using  an agreed common framework based primarily on assessments of applied knowledge and clinical skills.

2) Situation Judgement Test (SJT): Every applicant would undergo an invigilated test, which is designed to assess their professional judgement and likely behaviours in scenarios based on complex situations encountered in Foundation training, mapped against the person specification. The scored achieved from these tests could be combined with the educational performance score to provide a single rank for the purpose of selection.

In addition to these options, the Steering Group are keen to explore common content of assessment within Medical School examinations. It is proposed that a minimum percentage of questions be drawn from a common bank of questions agreed by all Schools to be of the required standard. Whilst these would be from a common bank the questions would vary between Medical Schools. There would not be a separate mark for questions from the common bank of questions. It is anticipated that this would improve comparability of scores between Schools.

The other options that were carefully considered, but have since been rejected included: national examination, interviews (including structured and multiple mini interviews), structured achievement report and assessment centres.

The recommended options were informed by feedback from stakeholders - including a consultation event in June, an online survey, three commissioned literature reviews, International Expert advice and an independent Cost Benefit Analysis. There will be a further period of consultation, with more details on the proposed options, from mid-July until September.

It is anticipated that the final report, with recommendations, will be submitted to the Department of Health in autumn. The recommended option(s) will be piloted and evaluated.

You can still create a discussion on the topic on our survey website.

For more information visit the Foundation Programme Option Appraisal page.