Health educators' professional agency in negotiating their problem‐based learning (PBL) facilitator roles: Q study

Abstract

Background: University educators are expected to cope with emerging situations and complex issues in teaching and learning, and this requires them to be agentic and proactive. While professional agency of health educators has not been investigated adequately, this study explores health educators' perception of their enactment of professional agency in the PBL facilitation process in a postpandemic context. Methods: Forty PBL facilitators from medical and dental programs in Qatar University participated in the study during the fall semester of 2021, after resuming inperson PBL sessions. To collect and analyse data both qualitatively and quantitatively, Q methodology was employed. A 33-statement Q-set was established based on a proposed theoretical framework of professional agency in PBL facilitation, which included three dimensions-intrapersonal, action, and environment. Results: Q factor analysis identified five significantly different viewpoints regarding how PBL facilitators perceive their professional agency sources, namely, (1) institutional resources, (2) policy guideline, (3) making efforts to improve support for students, (4) beliefs on PBL effectiveness, and (5) agentic actions. While four of the viewpoints were positive, participants with the second viewpoint reported negative perceptions and described lack of interest in facilitation work. All three dimensions of the framework were addressed and indicated complexity and interrelatedness of agency enactment. Consensus was observed regarding the need for more professional learning activities for faculty involved in PBL facilitation as source of professional agency. Discussion: The results revealed a high variation of participants' perceptions of professional agency enactment throughout the three dimensions, indicating the need for establishing a common understanding of PBL facilitation work in a given context. For practical implications, further institutional efforts are required to support professional learning for PBL facilitation in a postpandemic context. Alternate approaches highlighting enforcement of agentic actions in all dimensions of intrapersonal values, stance and action taking, and active interactions with students, colleagues, and

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“…Using ICT to work from home has been linked to increased stress, anxiety, fatigue, and a drop in job satisfaction in the prior research, yet teachers have little choice to use this technology in a pandemic [7]. According to UNESCO in 2020, as cited by Du et al [8], the school closures could cause confusion and stress among the instructors due to their abruptness, uncertainty about their duration, and a lack of experience with online education. Education professionals, policymakers, and academics have long been concerned about the negative work-related feelings connected with the depletion of psychological resources [9].…”

Teaching: The expression of freedom?

“…As a Freirean‐inspired scholar who has been educated in a previously colonised country, trained in implementation of medical education tools and practices in the global North, and has then utilised these approaches in the global South, Du et al's 1 article on health educators' professional agency in negotiating their Problem‐Based Learning (PBL) facilitator roles captured my attention. Paulo Freire viewed pedagogy as a practice of freedom that is also an eminently political practice.…”

“…It is with this epistemological lens 22 and context that I read Du et al's 1 article, which focuses on the professional agency of facilitators in negotiating their PBL facilitator roles in a health professions education programme in Qatar. Qatar is predominantly Muslim and has been ruled by a monarchy since 1868, gaining independence from British rule in 1971.…”

Good advice from authors working in under‐represented countries

“…1. XIANGYUN DU (QATAR) 4 For most of my career, I have worked as a pedagogical development facilitator and coordinator at multiple universities internationally, including 7 especially challenging and meaningful years at Qatar University that enabled the work I recently published in Medical Education. I am pleased here to have the opportunity to share what I learned about conducting education research, but to do so, I must establish some context.…”

“…There is no magic bullet, but we hope these perspectives help new authors from under‐represented areas increase their likelihood of being included in our pages. XIANGYUN DU (QATAR) 4 …”