Keeping stakeholders happy in curriculum design

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Through my reading it's very clear that there's a number of stakeholders in curriculum design that you want 'keep happy.' 

In a unit that I teach there's a particular module that I find difficult to combine everyone's interest.
So who's do I focus on...primarily the students.

Here's everyone's needs...

Professional Body: All students must sit a medication calculation test.  They must acheive 100% pass mark.  They cannot be registered otherwise.

Institution: Gives very limited time to teach.  Expectation as far as curriculum design given to me is at the end of a 3 hour lab, I call out a student name and they come and show their working out for questions they 'should have' prepared prior to the lab.  Week 6 they sit a 1 hour calculations test.  They are required to get 100% pass.  They can resit...and resit...and resit.

Students: Want to get 100% to pass.  But also want to learn how to do it and seek advice.

Me:  I want them to pass of course.  But I want them to realise why 100% pass mark is essential...get the calculation wrong, give the wrong dose...potentially fatal.  I want them to learn to be safe and efficient practioners.

My issue with the design of the unit is, not enough time is given to something that not only causes students a great deal of stress, but also if it's so desperately important by our governing body...should we not show that by placing more emphasis on it's importance in class?

So the tactics I've used in my class are:

• highlight in the first class of the year the assessment is 100% pass, and why it is so.  
• I give each  week, with each new calculation type that they work through, real life examples of how errors have been harmful to patients and careers.
• I review my lesson plan each week to ensure time is given to my review of   the questions and techniques for answering.
• we do them in groups, and I make it clear that assisting each other is fine, asking for help is encouraged.  I do not call names and put people on the spot.
• highlight were typical errors are usually made and why, so they can avoid it.
• This semester, a practice exam was given to students too to take aware any confusion on the format.  
• All questions delivered to students were in exam format.
• Make sure students are aware each week that if they are struggling with new calculations that they can see me or email me and we can see if there's another approach we can use to make it clearer.

This semester, we had our best ever results, which when benchmarked nationally had dramatically improved.

I think this highlights that if you want students to pass difficult assessment, you can't give minimumal time and effort and then expect maximum effort from them.  And also have a professional body saying that it's so important only 100% pass mark is acceptable yet, the minimal time is given by the institution.

But also, then allow an endless number of resits.  If students are at their 4th resit...that's saying that they have a significant learning deficit in this area, and endless resits doesn't teach them anything!  They actually need to learn how to calculate the drugs.