Medical Teacher, Vol. 14, No. 4, 1992

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Teachers at a British medical school

P. FINUCANE*, L. A. ALLERY 81 T. M. HAYES, Department of Postgraduate Studies, University of Wales College of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardzff

Clinical teachers’ attributes, beliefs and attitudes to teaching were measured by mailing a questionnaire to a 50% sample of staff at a British medical school. This paper describes the attributes of the 80% who responded. The majority (83%) were male and females were particularly under-represented in the upper echelons of academia. Most (57%) taught at least once weekly, though 20% taught less often than once a month. The 41% who were primarily NHS employees were as active in teaching as those employed by the University. Small group teaching was most frequently undertaken by 73%, though 17% (who were more likely to be University employees) most often lectured. Only 19% of teachers had attended a course in medical education in the previous 5 years-these were more likely to have qualified relatively recently and to be University employees. Few (9%) teachers claimed membership of a medical education society. It is hoped that these findings will stimulate debate on how medical school teachers are selected, how they can be helped to improve their teaching performance and how their enthusiasm for teaching can be fostered. SUMMARY

Introduction

In medical schools the world over, the quality of education is governed by three variables-the students, their teachers and the curriculum. In recent times, attempts to improve educational standards have tended to focus on modification of the curriculum with less attention being paid to improving teacher selection and training teaching staff to function more effectively. This practice has been compared with treating the symptoms of a disease without attempting to strike at its cause (Sinclair, 1972). Many factors contribute to the current lack of emphasis on improving the quality of medical teaching. Of paramount importance is the lack of recognition for teaching *Current address: University Department of Geriatric Medicine, Rankin Park Hospital, New Lambton 2305, N.S.W., Australia.

P. Finucane, L. A. Allery & T. M . Hayes

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within medical schools’ rewards systems. This has been identified by authors from many countries, including Australia (Genn & Harden, 1985), Britain (Parry, 1987), Canada (McLeod, 1986), Scandinavia (Martenson & Nystrup, 1984) and the USA (Abrahamson, 1991). In addition, unprecedented demands are made on today’s medical teachers who usually have coexisting clinical, research and administrative duties (Bloom, 1989) while others have identified attitudes of complacency towards teaching on the part of teachers and on the institutions which employ them (Cross, 1977). We undertook a survey of clinical teachers at the University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, to identify some of their attributes and attitudes in relation to teaching. This paper describes only the attributes of clinical teachers while subsequent papers will deal with their attitudes to teaching and the relationship between these attributes and attitudes.

Methods The study population

A mailed questionnaire was sent to a random sample of clinical teachers at the University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff. The study population was drawn from the 1371 staff members listed in the annual handbook of the College (1990/91). Pre-clinical teachers, staff of the Schools of Nursing and of Dentistry and those identified in the handbook as having no clinical brief (e.g. administrative and research staff) were excluded from the study. This reduced the number eligible to 371 and from them a 50% sample was chosen by randomly selecting one name and subsequent alternate names from the College handbook. The handbook groups staff members according to the department in which they are working and lists them in order of seniority. The selection method thus ensured that different departments and grades of staff were equitably represented. In advance of distributing the questionnaire, departmental secretaries were contacted to ensure that all those selected were in post. Where selected staff were no longer in post, a questionnaire was instead mailed to the next person listed in the College Handbook. The study population therefore numbered 186. The questionnaire In all, 22 items of information were sought, seven of which addressed various attributes of the respondents. Using closed-ended questions and ordered answer choices, respondents were asked to categorize their sex, job title, number of years since qualification, frequency of teaching, most usual teaching activity, attendance at a course in medical education within the previous five years and membership of a medical education society.

Data analysis The data was analysed on an Apple Macintosh personal computer using a Statview statistical package. Statistical analyses were carried out using frequency distributions and tests.

x2

Teachers at a British medical school TABLE I. A profile of respondents (n= Characteristic

Category

Sex

male female not stated Professor Reader Senior Lecturer Lecturer NHS Consultant General Practitioner other not stated

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Job description

Number of years since qualification

Frequency of teaching

Most frequent teaching activity

Member of medical education society Attended a teacher training course in past 5 years

148)

(10 10-19 20-29 z30

not stated

Teachers at a British medical school.

Clinical teachers' attributes, beliefs and attitudes to teaching were measured by mailing a questionnaire to a 50% sample of staff at a British medica...
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