Educational CPD: An exploration of the attitudes of UK GP trainers using focus groups and an activity theory framework

Abstract

Background: There is a move to ''professionalize'' medical educators, but little has been published on the views of UK GP trainers to this change. Aims: To explore the attitudes of GP trainers to their own professional development as teachers. Methods: A focus group study was undertaken in a large UK Deanery. The emergent theory was developed using Activity Theory, which sees learning as a dynamic interaction between individuals and their cultural, social and historical setting.Results: There were a range of factors influencing GP trainer development. GP trainers were more motivated to develop themselves as teachers when their GP registrar was perceived to be of high quality. There was ambivalence amongst trainers regarding university qualifications in medical education. The biggest obstacles to professional development were the attitudes of the GP trainer's partners, and the challenge of finding protected time. Trainers looked to the Deanery for leadership and direction for their educational CPD, but expressed disappointment that this was not more regularly in evidence. Conclusions: Incongruity exists between the professionalization of GP training and the feeling that trainers themselves have about the way they are regarded. GP trainer development can be understood more fully when viewed as a product of discourses between the trainer and their environment.

Using activity theory to study cultural complexity in medical education

“…We did not include the visualized activity systems, which we had developed during data analysis, in the reports of our results, though this is not uncommon in activity theory research [14–16, 18]. In our case we felt the reader would benefit more from a model and structure based on the cultural themes that we found after interpreting and comparing the three cross-cultural activity systems.…”

“…In our case we felt the reader would benefit more from a model and structure based on the cultural themes that we found after interpreting and comparing the three cross-cultural activity systems. Cultural researchers could use to their advantage the rich variety in activity theory research of how results can be reported and structured, for example based on contradictions that were found [17, 33], or on themes that emerged from the data followed by a discussion of how these related with activity theory [15, 18, 19], or on transformations of rules , communities and division of labour [16], or on a narrative that reflected the dynamics of the activity system [12]. For each research question, creative ways have to be found to represent the cultural complexity that was captured in the collection and analysis of the data well on paper, which can be challenging considering the word limitations of (medical education) journals.…”

Becoming an accredited medical teacher in the UK

“…Nevertheless, some scepticism persists about this training. Medical postgraduate training already costs an estimated £17 114, this includes an average figure for self-funding of courses of £1875 (Association of Surgeons in Training, 2007; Jaques, 2011; Waters and Wall, 2008).…”