Curriculum or syllabus: which are we reforming?

Although the concept of 'curriculum' is complex, a common understanding of the term by those involved in medical education is essential, given the cur rent climate of medical curriculum development and reform. It has not previ ously been established that such a common frame of reference exists, We pol led a sample of medical educators with a range of teaching experience and r esponsibility in an attempt to discover what they understood by 'curriculum ' (and whether or not the concept could be articulated). A sample of medica l students was similarly polled. In total, 85% of staff and 34.9% of the st udents responded. The responses obtained were subjected to a content analys is. The answers received were polythematic in 87.5% of cases, dominant them es including 'curriculum as a syllabus', 'curriculum as a meta-syllabus', a nd 'curriculum as a means to an end'. Our data show that the nature of curr iculum is complex and does not lend itself to dictionary-style definitions. Moreover, the majority of those polled view 'curriculum' in two-dimensiona l terms, tending to equate it to 'syllabus'. This may have significant impl ications for curriculum reform.