Development of a competency-based national model core curriculum in Japan: A case study.

Purpose: The 2022 revision of the Model Core Curriculum (MCC) for Japanese undergraduate medical education aimed to develop a stratified, national-level competency framework. This paper aims to explore what innovations emerge during the process of competency-based medical education (CBME) glocalisation, driven by the interplay between global and local language and the dynamics among multiple stakeholders.

Methods: This is an explanatory, retrospective, single-case study with a mixed-methods approach, combining document review and participant reflections. Meeting minutes, documents, email exchanges and data from the Delphi rounds (ratings, free-text comments and panellist demographics) were analysed to identify the influence of stakeholder interactions and external contexts when deliberating competency frameworks and their hierarchical structure.

Results: The development of a shared language of imported educational concepts required the critical reframing of terminology rather than direct translation. This process involved the interweaving of expressions rooted in the local educational context and highlighted the importance of developing a unique structure that embodies the CBME philosophy through the educational language generated.

Conclusions: The localisation of global educational trends into a country's own context may reveal the universality of imported educational concepts, provided that the process is underpinned by discussions with a robust, grounded rationale.