3-12
MAKING A ROUGH PLAN OF COURSE CONTENT
Before the training course begins, it helps
to make a rough plan of what the course
might cover—even though this may later be
changed with help from the student group.
As much as possible, the plan should be
based on the needs of both the communities
and the students. But the strengths, talents,
and resources of the students and their
communities also need to be taken into
account.
CONSIDER PEOPLE’S STRENGTHS AS
WELL AS THEIR NEEDS.
SUGGESTED STEPS FOR PLANNING THE COURSE CONTENT
1. List the main problems that affect the local people’s health and well-being.
2. Try to determine which problems are most important to the people
(priorities in the community).
3. Decide which problems should be included and which should be
emphasized in the course (priorities for the course). To do this, consider
local factors as well as the probable strengths and limitations of the health
workers.
4. List the areas of knowledge and the skills health workers will need
in order to help people solve their more important problems. Arrange
these into groups or subjects for active, problem-solving study.
5. Given the length of the course, consider how much time may be
needed for each subject or study area.
6. For each subject, try to balance discussion-type learning (classes)
with learning by doing (practice). Also seek a balance between
curative, preventive, and teaching skills, physical work, and play.
7. Make up a rough course plan, including timetables for each week (but
not in great detail, as these will probably be changed with the students’
help).
8. Prepare detailed plans for at least the first few days.
In the rest of this chapter, we discuss these steps in greater detail. You may find
these planning suggestions useful at 3 stages:
• before the course, to help instructors draw up a general course plan,
• during the course, to help the instructors and students adapt the course
according to needs in their communities, and
• after the course, to help health workers and people in their communities plan
activities according to their needs.