Postgraduate training for general practice: an assessment of aptitudes and abilities of traineee entrants.

Logical priority suggests that the first stage of a research project into postgraduate training for general practice should be devoted to the assessment and selection of trainees. Miller (1968), for instance, in his outstanding ‘Teaching and learning in medical school’, devotes his first chapter to the problem of student selection and assessment. Charvat, McGuire, and Parsons (1968), in their succinct review of examinations in medical education, also address an opening chapter to the selection of students. The central importance of student assessment in medical education can be readily ascertained by even the most cursory scrutiny of the literature. The work of Gottheil and Michael (1957) and Farnsworth, Funkenstein, and Wedge (1955) are good examples of research work concentrated exclusively on student assessment. McGuire (1967) and Charvat et a1 (1968) have shown, however, that assessment methods in research and practice show great variety. A good example of a major American approach to the general problem of student assessment is provided by the publications of the Centre for Research and Development in Higher Education, Berkeley University of California. Examples of contemporary approaches in Great Britain are those of Furneaux (1961), Petch (1961), Oliver (1962), Barnett and Lewis (1963), Drever (1967), and Butcher (1968). Some writers have approached the problem by examining the relationship between GCE and degree results (Barnett and Lewis, 1963), and others between degree results and career success (Gross and Hudson, 1958). Another approach is based upon the use of aptitude tests (Oliver, 1962;