BARBOSA, Fernanda Tenório Lopes; TEIXEIRA, Sarah Rozette; NUNES, Maria de Fátima    FREIRE, Maria do Carmo Matias. Implantation of the National Curriculum Guidelines in Dental Courses: opinions of final year students in a public university. Rev. ABENO []. 2016, 16, 4, pp. 61-71. ISSN 1679-5954.

This study investigated opinions of final year dental students in a public university regarding the National Curriculum Guidelines (NCG) set out in the beginning of the 2000s. A cross sectional quantitative and qualitative study was conducted using a questionnaire applied to the first graduates under the new curriculum (in 2010, 2011 and 2012) of a public university in Midwest Brazil from 2006. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were carried out. Of the 158 respondents (response rate=98.8%), 60.8% reported they were aware of the NCG and 36.7% had read the reference document totally or in part. 63.9% of them had a negative opinion and this was associated to the lack of reading the reference document. In the qualitative analysis of the reasons for the answers, three categories emerged: curriculum structure, teaching-learning processes and graduate profile. Opinions were mostly conflicting and revealed points needing a deeper understanding. Part of the problems or equivocal aspects pointed out by the students refer to the operationalization of the course and require measures of adjustments. It was concluded that there was low awareness of the NCG reference document and predominantly negative opinions regarding the curriculum among the students.

: Curriculum.; Dentistry.; Dental Education..