Mission statement
Professionalisation of Medical Teachers

By the Med-net Reference Group
on professionalisation of teachers
Lisbon, 1997

Introduction

At the first conference of MED-NET in Rotterdam (May 1997) the reference group on professionalisation of medical teachers announced to make a mission statement concerning teaching in medicine. Basic concern is that medical teaching is not generally regarded as having a professional status, while on the other hand teaching plays a pivotal role in medical education. During the workshop on this topic it was reported that the awareness of this issue and its importance in medical education varies considerably between European countries and even between different medical schools and faculties within each country. The main questions arising include:

• What does professionalisation mean?
• What is the importance of professionalisation for a medical faculty to meet certain standards?
• What is a professional teacher?
• Which are critical indicators for a professional organisation of medical education?
• Which barriers exist against the implementation of the concept of professionalisating medical teachers?
• How can MED-NET contribute to the promotion of professionalisation on a European scale?

This mission statement is a document, trying to initiate a debate to find answers to the questions raised above. It also wants to explore the European dimension in this issue.

We are aware of the fact that the given indications for answers are preliminary and by far not complete. As medical education itself, also professionalisation is subjected to continuous development. This statement therefore can be seen as a first draft, aiming to put the professionalisation issue more permanently on the agenda of both medical faculties and teachers. It wants to give an impetus to collecting relevant information, to reflecting on the professional status of teachers and to concrete initiatives for improvement of the quality of teachers as well as teaching in medical education.

What is professionalisation?

It is increasingly acknowledged that having a medical qualification, medical/clinical skills and research experience, not directly implies a professional qualification to teach in medicine. However the professional status of medical teachers is not defined nor implemented to a high extent. Being a good medical teacher does seldom count in the career development, nor has it a prestige within the professional organisation of a medical (research) faculty.

We state that teachers play a crucial role in the quality of medical education. Therefore they should act and also be regarded as educational or didactic (and not merely medical) professionals.

Professionalisation of teachers has implications in two different dimensions:

1. education practice, i.e. qualification criteria, and training of education skills
2. status of education, i.e. the operational quality of the educational practice in terms of structure, organisation, evaluation, career development, and management.

Professionalisation means to define goals in these two dimensions, to define indicators with which the status with respect to these goals can be measured, to implement activities to improve the performance with respect to these goals, and to assess the degree in which these goals are met.

What are critical characteristics of professional teacher?

In order to answer this question the teacher is considered as the driving force, a facilitator, of the learning process of a student. The medical curriculum forms the basic scenario describing the goals, objectives and methods, assessment and evaluation of the teaching/learning process. Learning means the development of the student in terms of acquiring theoretical and practical knowledge, clinical and communicative skills, competencies, and attitudes.

The function of a professional teacher in addition to his medical, clinical and scientific competencies, includes:

• interacting with students, thus creating opportunities and supporting the learning process in order to allow them to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes according to the objectives set forth in the curriculum
• contributing to the development of a coherent curriculum as the basic scenario according to which students are optimally qualified to function as medical doctors
• evaluating and introducing new scientific developments, teaching methods, and social (health care) insights into the education
• structurally evaluating the quality of the teaching/learning process in conformity with the curriculum goals, the ethical code, and the teaching performance

Which are critical indicators for a professional organisation of medical education?

The acknowledgement of the medical teacher as a specialised profession has implications concerning:

• education qualifications and competencies
• education skills training and career development
• education management and process evaluation

Why is professionalisation important?

There is an increased need for rationalisation and improved efficiency of medical education. This development relates to the demands of:

• the society with respect to the quality of doctors and of health care,
• the students with respect to their learning process and their future professional functioning,
• the medical doctors with respect to professional qualifications in connection with he development of medical science.
• The teachers with respect to their task as medical educators

In the context of these demands, medical teaching has to meet higher quality standards in addition to medical, clinical and scientific criteria.

How can MED-NET contribute to the promotion of professionalisation in Europe?

Through the MED-NET thematic network we aim to promote professionalisation of medical teachers through:

• raising awareness of the importance of professionalisation at Institutional level (faculties, universities, and medical schools)
• raising awareness and self-consciousness at an individual level in terms of medical teaching as a profession
• disseminating information and facilitating exchange of experiences, and offering a platform for discussion

Specific objectives can be stated as:

• to investigate the barriers which exist against the concept of professionalisation of medical teachers
• to offer structured information, and guidelines concerning the typical aspects in professionalisation
• to offer new ideas, concepts and cases of good teaching practice and status implementation
• to provide access to new developments in medical education and innovative techniques
• to achieve consensus on the critical indicators describing good teaching practice in medicine as well as relevant criteria
• to present examples of innovative curricula, qualification criteria, incentives and career tracts, teacher training and education programmes, etc.

The activities of the reference group of MED-NET include:

1. a description of the present situation in European member states. The individual members of the committee, from different European countries give a description of the national situation in the various countries.
   
2. an inventory of the status of professionalisation on a faculty level. All faculties and a number of individual teachers are asked to complete a simple inquiry, measuring the attitude towards and the felt needs for professionalisation
   
3. a collection of cases of good educational practice and implementation of status. Medical faculties are invited to present their activities, programmes, or achievements concerning improvement of the functioning and the professional status and/or concerning the creating of better incentives for professionalisation