Faculty development in medical school: how can it be improved?

Abstract

Introduction: Faculty development in medical education has shown an increasing focus on universities. Changes in the learning style, the broad access to digital knowledge and new society demands in terms of medical competences have induced the need for updates in teaching practices, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Objective: To evaluate the needs of faculty development, reported educational practices and the view on teaching and learning from medical teachers’ perspectives. Methods: this study has a cross-sectional design with a convenience sample of undergraduate medical teachers from a medical school in São Paulo, who coordinate educational units in the curricula. Data collection took place between August and September 2020, by completing an electronic questionnaire. The data were analyzed using proportions, the chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test, with p <0.05 being considered significant. Results: There were 68 medical teachers coordinating curricula units and 47 (69.1%) accepted to participate. Of the total of 47 participants, 26 (55.3%) are female and 21 (44.7%) are male, 17 (36.2%) teachers taught disciplines from first biennium, 20 (42.6%) from the second biennium and 10 (21.1%) from the third biennium. Most of medical teachers reported being motivated to participate in faculty development courses (93.6%), with focus on the inclusion of innovations in their educational practice (85.1%). They reported the need to update teaching and assessment methods. The women reported more frequently the need for training in assessment methods (p = 0.04). In the reported educational practices, women incorporate more attitudes (p = 0.02) and skills in educational planning (p = 0.007), as well as the use of formative assessment (p = 0.03) and more previous training in the use of active methodologies (p = 0.02). Although the recognition of the importance of the dialogue with students being reported by most teachers, student-centered practices were described in a lower percentage of responses. Conclusion: Teachers are motivated to engage in faculty development actions, with several needs regarding educational practices being identified, with differences being observed between genders. Although they reported a dialogic view of the teaching-learning process, this concept is not yet implemented in the reported practice in their disciplines.