Qualities of a Teacher: A Trainee's Perspective.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the qualities of a good medical teacher from a trainee's perspective, to evaluate the best teaching method, and to explore the association of specialty and level of training with teaching methods and qualities of a medical teacher. METHODS: The questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in two tertiary care teaching hospitals in Lahore, Pakistan, from July 2019 to December 2020, and comprised all house officers and postgraduate residents. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire that had three sections: demographics, best method of teaching, and the characteristics of a good medical teacher. Data was analysed using SPSS 20. RESULTS: Of the 135 subjects, 56(41.5%) were males; 79(58.5%) were females; 76(56%) were junior trainees; and 77(57%) belonged to surgical specialties. The overall mean age was 27.6±2.4 years. Best teaching method identified by the trainees was 'asking of problem-based questions' 46(33.6%). Good communication skills 61(44.5%), and calm and non-humiliating demeanour 61(44.5%) were the most frequently identified qualities. More surgical trainees considered the generation of competition among learners as the best teaching method than the trainees from other specialties (p=0.001). House officers reported 'unbiased' (p=0.001) and 'moral and ethical' (p=0.001) significantly more frequently as a good trait in their teachers compared to the residents. CONCLUSIONS: The most important qualities in a medial teacher, as identified by the learners, were good communication skills and calm and polite attitude.

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

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.

Investigating the relationship between pharmacy students' achievement goal orientations and preferred teacher qualities.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationships between pharmacy students' preferred teacher qualities and their academic achievement goal orientations. METHODS: Participants completed an achievement goal questionnaire and a build-a-teacher task. For the latter, students were given a $20 hypothetical budget to purchase amounts of 9 widely valued teachers' qualities. RESULTS: Three hundred sixty-six students participated. Students spent most of their budget on the traits of enthusiasm, expertise, and clear presentation style, and the least amount of money on interactive teaching, reasonable workload, warm personality, and intellectually challenging. In relation to achievement goals, negative associations were found between avoidance goals and preferences for teachers who encourage rigorous thinking and self-direction. CONCLUSION: These novel findings provide a richer profile of the ways students respond to their learning environment. Understanding the relationships between teachers' characteristics and pharmacy students' achievement goal orientations will contribute to improving the quality of pharmacy learning and teaching environments.