Aspiring to Leadership: Learning from the Perceptions of Dental Students

Current trainee healthcare professionals will be the workforce of the future delivering all aspects of clinical care for a wide variety of patients. However, little is known about what influences trainees’ decision-making about their future career direction, whether they aspire to a leadership role and when this decision is made. A changing workforce demographic, developments in post graduate education and training pathways as well as a recognized need to develop leadership programmes for trainees makes this an opportune time to explore this topic.

This chapter uses the views of a five-year cohort of undergraduate dental students to explore perceptions of future career choices and aspirations for leadership. The study compares the views by year group and gender and examines changing patterns. The study also considers the influence of family background, the drive for financial reward, the desire for flexible working hours and the impact of the university education experience on students’ views. Finally, arguments are presented about how aspirations for leadership can be encouraged, nurtured and utilised in future healthcare workforce planning.