ABSTRACT
Mager (1984) sets out the classic mode of organizing teaching in terms of general aims and in addition more specific objectives, which clearly describe the new behaviours the students are expected to learn, to what degree and in what context this can occur. More recently, educational programmes have been organized along ‘learning outcomes’. These are items that are predetermined by the teacher, which indicate what the students will have learnt by the time they finish the course or module of learning. Quite a number of learning tasks undertaken in MDV clinical work appear at first sight to be merely procedural, and are skills that can and must be learnt, such as taking a blood sample or giving a local analgesic.
