Understanding, valuing and enhancing the role of clinicians who teach

Background.

As part of the Faculty Development for Scotland project, a draft list of 80 core teaching competencies was compiled from the literature, and after a successful pilot these were rated in importance by key stakeholders for all consultants and GPs involved in teaching in Scotland (Ross 2012, Ross et al. 2014). There were 1,026 responses to the survey, including a large number of free-text responses, and the findings have informed the development of the Scottish Trainers Framework (NES 2014). The free text responses strongly suggested that at least some clinical teachers in Scotland do not feel valued and supported. Whilst very different contextually and organisationally, related issues were also raised by clinical teachers in in Sweden when interviewed recently, and these data will be available to help the student and team understand the Swedish situation and inform the approach taken to the current research.


Methods.

The multi-centre study aims to explore experienced clinicians’ views on their role as educators, and how these roles are, and could be, supported, valued and enhanced by medical schools and those responsible for postgraduate training. Precise selection of research questions and methods will be negotiated early in the project between the student and supervising team, but are likely to include:

What educational role(s) do clinical teachers perceive for themselves?
How have these roles changed over time?
Do clinical teachers feel supported and valued in their educational roles?
What factors contribute towards them feeling supported and valued, or not?
Is there any relationship between how supported and valued they feel and academic discipline, institution, or the types of teaching they are involved in?
Is the value they themselves place on teaching influenced by how teaching is valued in their department?
Do student and trainee evaluations of teaching relate to how valued and supported clinical teachers feel?
Do departments with lower evaluations have lower opinions about their role as teachers, or feel less valued, than other departments?
What, if anything, could be done to make clinical teachers more likely to engage with faculty development activities?

We anticipate a relativist / constructivist methodology with predominantly qualitative methods. Semi-structured individual interviews with purposively selected clinical teachers in South-East and West Scotland, and in the Stockholm area of Sweden, will be suggested. Purposive sampling will ensure a broad range of different specialities, ages, contexts and types of teaching undertaken. The options of grounded-theory, phenomenographical (Stenfors-Hayes et al 2014) or institutional ethnography (including discourse analysis) approaches are possible, depending on the interests and experience of the student. Pilot studies will be undertaken prior to roll-out, and all data will be collected in English (Swedish doctors generally have excellent English, although translation will be available if required). It may also be helpful to undertake another wider survey as part of the current project once the interview findings are available.


Anticipated outcomes.

This research seeks to better-understand experienced clinicians’ views on their role as educators, and how they can be better supported and valued in these roles, whilst also exploring ways to help them meet and demonstrate the required teaching competencies. The great advantage of doing this over multiple sites, particularly one outside Scotland, is that we can explore national, cultural and disciplinary differences in clinical teachers’ perceptions, so we can begin to understand whether these predominantly reflect the local context or are more general / widespread issues.


Eligibility and application process.

Applicants must meet the entry requirements for the PhD in Clinical Education at The University of Edinburgh (see http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/degrees?id=861&cw_xml=details.php) - including having a primary qualification in a medical or related discipline; a Masters degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field (e.g. clinical, medical or health professions education); practical experience of medical, clinical or allied healthcare education; and, if English is not your first language, the equivalent of IELTS 6.5, with at least 6.0 in each module. Preference will be given to those with additional experience and expertise relating to the field of study.

Applications should be sent by e-mail to [Email Address Removed] by the deadline, 19th January 2015. The application should comprise a letter explaining your interest and experience relating to the project; a full CV including previous publications; and the names and contact details of two academic referees.

Any enquiries should also be directed by e-mail to [Email Address Removed].