Navigating Without a Map: Unpacking Pedagogical Viewpoints of Health Sciences Educators Without Educational Training

TL;DR

This study explores how health sciences educators without formal training approach teaching and learning, revealing a reliance on traditional methods and external blame for challenges.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into the pedagogical perspectives of untrained health sciences educators, emphasizing gaps in reflective and student-centered practices.

Findings

Participants favored traditional lectures and passive student roles despite acknowledging modern teaching methods.

Educators attributed implementation challenges to external factors like senior faculty or students.

Formal educational development is suggested to improve reflective and pedagogical practices among HSEs.

Abstract

An essential attribute of competent health sciences educators (HSEs) is the integration of disciplinary and pedagogical knowledge. However, many HSEs receive little or no formal educational training, raising concerns about their teaching approaches. This study addresses this issue by examining the perceptions of HSEs without formal pedagogical training regarding two central aspects: teaching and learning methods and the roles they assign to themselves and their students.

The research employs a qualitative phenomenological case study involving nine HSEs from diverse fields—medical education, nursing, and podiatry—who collaborated in the observation and discussion of their own teaching practices. Discussions held around these observations were inductively analyzed to identify interpretive dimensions related to the participants’ conceptualizations of their own roles, their students’ roles, and their use of teaching and learning methods.

The findings indicate that, although participants valued methods beyond traditional lectures and acknowledged the importance of aligning teaching with assessment, they simultaneously upheld a lecture format where students primarily act as passive listeners and attributed to external factors—senior faculty or students—the difficulties in implementing more participatory strategies. Regarding their own role, participants emphasized sharing professional experience and serving as role models over content delivery. They perceived their responsibility for student motivation and success in the course as limited, approaching success through grades rather than learning. In terms of the student role, participants expected learners to assume responsibility for their own learning, demonstrated through independent study and in-class participation, distinguishing this from a focus on passing a course and grades.

The study reveals that while HSEs without educational training may express views aligned with educational literature, their interpretations often lack depth, remain teacher-centered, overlook pedagogical nuances, externalize difficulties, and exhibit unacknowledged inconsistencies. These findings highlight the importance of formal educational development programs to foster reflective practice and pedagogical growth among HSEs.

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