Teaching conceptions and approaches to teaching of medical school faculty

Subtitle:the difference between how medical school teachers **think** about teaching and how they say that they **do** teach

Background  It is often assumed that the way teachers approach their teaching is determined by the way they think about learning. This study explores how teachers of an undergraduate medical programme (UMP) think about learning, how they approach teaching and whether their conceptions of learning relate to their teaching approaches. Methods  Quantitative data of academic teachers involved in the undergraduate programme in medicine were collected and analysed. We used a questionnaire designed to measure teachers'' conceptions of their own learning (COL) and of student learning as well as teachers'' approaches to teaching (AT). Results  Teachers of the medical undergraduate programme hold a variety of COL, of how students learn and their AT. No significant correlations were found between teachers'' conceptions of learning and their AT. Conclusions  Although UMP teachers'' ideas on learning and teaching are very diverse, some of their conceptions are interrelated. Teachers'' ideas on their own learning is sometimes -- but not always -- related to how they think about student learning. But most importantly, the way UMP teachers think about learning is not automatically converted into the way they approach teaching.

Publication year:2011

BOF-keylabel:yes

Authors:International

Authors from:Higher Education