Actionable companion · School leadership and instructional improvement

From leadership research to district action: Global education and training in geriatrics: mapping transnational initiatives and their complementarities

AI-assisted editorial implementation guide. Proposed district actions are separate from the original authors’ findings and recommendations. Independent peer review of this guide is not asserted.

Evidence and transfer

Education-related source: verify which participants, institutions and outcomes were actually studied before district adoption. Source publication type: research-article. License and identity checks do not establish study quality or causality.

Original authors’ abstract, reproduced under the source license:

Key summary points Aim To map and characterise major transnational initiatives in education and training in geriatrics, and to explore complementarities to support a more coherent and equitable global framework. Findings Multiple transnational programmes operate across a wide spectrum of structures, educational approaches, and content, reflecting diverse regional priorities and stages of development. Message Coordinated collaboration amongst initiatives is essential to build global capacity, promote equity, and ensure sustainability in geriatrics education and workforce development. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41999-026-01418-w. Keywords: Geriatrics education, Education, Medical, Continuing, Health workforce, International cooperation, Capacity building, Global health Abstract Purpose To map and characterise major transnational initiatives in geriatrics education and training, and explore complementarities as a basis for a more integrated and equitable global framework. Methods A mapping exercise and expert consultation were undertaken by the European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS) Special Interest Group on Education and Training between January and October 2025, including a meeting of international experts during the Twenty-First EuGMS Congress in Reykjavík. Eligible initiatives operated across national borders with an explicit mandate in education and training related to geriatrics and were not confined to a specific topic or subspecialty. Each initiative was profiled by scope, target audience, and contributions, and classified within a three-tier framework: (1) foundational capacity-building, (2) professional and interprofessional development, and (3) leadership and specialist advancement. Results Seventeen initiatives were identified. Tier 1 included the International Federation on Ageing (IFA), International Institute on Ageing, United Nations–Malta (INIA), PAHO’s ACAPEM (Basic), ASEAN’s Centre for Active Ageing and Innovation (ASEAN–ACAI), IAGG’s e-Training in Gerontology and Geriatrics (e-TRIGGER) programmes, WHO’s Integrated Care for Older People (WHO ICOPE approach), and AfriAGE. Tier 2 included the IAGG, EuGMS, EICA, PROGRAMMING CA2112, Victorian Geriatric Medicine Training Programme (VGMTP), and ACAPEM (Intermediate); and Tier 3 was represented by leadership academies (EAMA, ALMA, MEAMA/MENAAA, and AAMA), and UEMS–GMS. Conclusion Collectively, these programmes form a considerably disjointed but potentially complementary global ecosystem for geriatrics education. Greater mutual awareness and alignment, anchored in equity and interprofessional inclusion, could enhance efficiency and sustainability in developing the global geriatrics workforce. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41999-026-01418-w.

A 90-day district inquiry

1. Days 1–15 · Appraise. Read the source methods, recruitment, comparator, outcomes and limitations. Record how the study setting differs from your district and which claim the design can support.
2. Days 16–30 · Design. Choose one school improvement question with teachers. Protect a short shared planning cycle, agree an instructional change and use a common rubric for examining student work. Agree participation, privacy protections, baseline and stopping rules before starting.
3. Days 31–60 · Observe. Collect the pre-agreed measures, keep a log of implementation changes and invite confidential voluntary feedback. Preserve existing support for staff and learners.
4. Days 61–90 · Decide. Review implementation fidelity, teacher time and independently scored student work against a recorded baseline. Examine access differences and competing explanations before attributing changes to leadership. Make a dated decision to stop, revise or extend the inquiry.

Board decision brief

Present the local problem, source setting, evidence limits, intervention, responsible owner, total cost, measured changes and uncertainty. Separate staff perceptions, implementation measures and student learning outcomes.

Attribution and reuse

Román Romero-Ortuño; Hidenori Arai; Prasert Assantachai; José Alberto Avila Funes; Rosette Farrugia-Bonello; Siobhan Casey; Liang-Kung Chen; Gary Cheung; Jugdeep Dhesi; Fiona Ecarnot; Leon Flicker; Tamàs Fülöp; Ashish Goel; Adam L Gordon; Radhouane Gouiaa; Celia L Gregson; Luis Miguel Gutiérrez Robledo; José Ricardo Jauregui; Marina Kotsani; Jūratė Macijauskienė; Stefania Maggi; Finbarr C Martin; Tahir Masud; Reshma A Merchant; Jean-Pierre Michel; Manuel Montero-Odasso; Patricia Morsch; Thomas Münzer; Balakrishnan Kichu Nair; José F Parodi; Grace M E Pearson; Mirko Petrovic; Karolina Piotrowicz; Regina Roller-Wirnsberger; Cornel C Sieber; Gregor Sneddon; Maw Pin Tan; Nathalie van der Velde; Rohan Wee; Michael Vassallo; M Cristina Polidori. Global education and training in geriatrics: mapping transnational initiatives and their complementarities. European Geriatric Medicine (2026-02-03). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-026-01418-w

Prepared 2026-11-07. Source authorship and DOI are preserved. The abstract and source passages are attributed extracts; this editorial guide is offered under the same CC BY 4.0 license.