From critic to inspirer: four profiles reveal the belief system and commitment to educational mission of medical academics

Abstract

Background The educational beliefs of medical academics influence how they act in class and thus influence student learning. One component of these are beliefs academics hold about the qualities of teachers themselves. These teacher qualities range from behaviours and competencies to more personal attributes such as the teacher’s identity and mission. However, it is unclear what medical academics believe to be key teacher qualities. Therefore, this study explored the variety of medical academics’ beliefs about ‘teacher qualities’, aiming to identify and characterise profiles of academics with similar beliefs. Methods We interviewed 26 expert academics from two medical schools to explore their beliefs about teacher qualities. A concentric onion-model focusing on teacher qualities was used to analyse and categorise the data deductively. Within each theme we developed subthemes inductively. To gain insight into the variety of beliefs we then clustered the participants into teacher profiles according to the themes. To better understand each of the profiles we carried out a quantitative study of the differences between profiles regarding subthemes, contextual and personal factors, and analysed statistical significance using Fisher’s exact- and Student’s t-tests for categorical and continuous data, respectively. Results Four profiles of medical academics were identified, corresponding to the most central theme that each participant had reflected on: the ‘Inspirer’, ‘Role-model’, ‘Practitioner’, and ‘Critic’. The focus of the profiles varied from external constraining factors within the ‘Critic’ profile to affective personal qualities within the ‘Role-model’ and ‘Inspirer’ profiles. The profiles could be regarded as hierarchically ordered by inclusiveness. Educational institute was the only significant factor related to the profiles. Conclusions Besides the relevance of affective teacher qualities, the ‘Inspirer’ profile demonstrates the importance of developing a clear mission as a teaching academic, centred around student learning and professional development. In our view, academics who inspire their students continue to be inspired themselves. The practical implications are described for faculty development programmes, and for the potential value of using these profiles within medical schools. In the discourse on educational beliefs, the authors argue that more attention should be paid to affective qualities, in particular to explicating the educational mission of academics.

Medical educators’ perspectives on the barriers and enablers of teaching public health in the undergraduate medical schools: a systematic review

“…Another important aspect highlighted was the need for students to see real-life examples on the best way to implement public health into practice via role models [ 19 , 23 , 36 , 46 , 51–53 ]. A range of competencies has been identified for medical educators to be good role models in public health: being able to critically reflect on one’s own values, beliefs, ethnicity, cultural backgrounds, and intersectionality; being competent with students when demonstrating how to show empathy and communicate in non-discriminatory and non-stereotyping ways; demonstrating a high knowledge of ethics and the social determinants of health; and assisting students to reflect on patients’ social determinants of health during a clinical encounter [ 36 , 51 , 52 ].…”

“…Medical educators acknowledged that students may have different learning needs and different views and interests about topics taught at medical school [ 27 , 51 ], which required teaching to be personally tailored to individual needs [ 54 ]. The way medical educators approach teaching public health is influenced partly by how they view the significance of students in the teaching and learning process and the significance of their own role for students’ learning [ 19 , 23 , 51 ].…”

“…Medical educators often have insufficient time devoted to public health teaching because they have multiple roles including as being a clinician, teacher, researcher, administrator, and mentor [ 10 , 37 , 38 , 46 ]: Too often I have the feeling that if I want to spend time and attention to teaching it has to be done in my own spare time, outside working. Medical educator, the Netherlands/ the UK [ 19 ] …”

“…Teaching any topic, including public health subjects, is closely related to medical educators’ beliefs on the impact of teaching [ 19 ]. These beliefs influence medical educators’ teaching practices, including what topics they will cover, instructional methods they will use, the extent to which they can support their students achieve the learning objectives, and how they will assess students’ knowledge and skills [ 20 ].…”

Medical educators’ beliefs about learning goals, teaching, and assessment in the context of curriculum changes: a qualitative study conducted at an Iranian medical school

“…Teachers' beliefs refer to an integrated system of judgments that relate to teachers' classroom work [27]. Their affect how teacher act in class and, thus, influence student learning [28].…”