Chairside teaching and the perceptions of dental teachers in the UK

Abstract

VERIFIABLE CPD PAPERThis study outlines how dental tutors at the chairside view their teaching and describes what are considered important current issues, requirements and recommendations for good chairside teaching practice. A qualitative analysis was undertaken of stakeholder perceptions of chairside teaching from both a single dental school study and a UK wide evaluation workshop. The evaluation of good chairside teaching showed that training requirements might be quite different for different stakeholders in chairside teaching. Further, this evaluation process may serve as a process model for institutional change for improvements in chairside teaching. This article is the second of a series of three and evaluates chairside teaching on a UK wide scale. The fi rst, investigated the perceptions of stakeholders of chairside teaching at a single dental school. The third provides educational tools to encourage collaboration and sharing good chairside teaching practice. A further accompanying article reviews some of the educational methodology and innovations in teaching and learning that may be applied to dentistry.

Educational innovations for dentistry

“…1 Also, at an organisational level we show that dental tutors need to be appropriately matched to different clinical situations. 2 We were able to identify fi ve categories of dental tutor: part-time practitioners, senior academics, intuitive teacher practitioners, teacher-trained academics and dental educational developers. The range of different skills, such as having wide general practice experience, subject specialty knowledge, teaching ability and educational skills that such diversity brings to clinical teaching, will, if properly channelled, enhance students' learning experiences.…”

“…[1][2] Skills based theories currently prevalent in dental school thinking argue that refl ection is of little value to both beginners who have little to refl ect upon and experts who work intuitively anyway. 20 Fortunately there are alternative theories of educational development as discussed later in the section on the Social Approach to Education.…”

“…25 However, our study showed that a majority of dental tutors had not analysed their teaching in this way. [1][2] To maximise learning students need to know why and how they learn and that learning can be more effectively achieved by active engagement. Learning can be further enhanced by building elements of refl ective practice into the course.…”

“…In our study, a range of stakeholders involved in chairside teaching at one dental school were sampled using semi-structured interviews and focus groups; 1 the views expressed by representative dental tutors from around the UK were captured in a workshop. 2 This dialogue and hand written fi eld notes, taken at the time, were transcribed. The text was then analysed in two different ways:…”

“…61 We can see these kinds of spin-offs in the clinical dental setting reported in our work. [1][2] Part-timers at the 'coalface' see themselves supervising procedures, untrained and unappreciated. Managers avoid educational issues by keeping their distance concentrating on quality markers and their research profi le.…”