Creating a pedagogical development program for veterinary clinical teachers: A discipline-specific, context-relevant, bottom-up initiative

Abstract

At veterinary university hospitals, clinical teachers have two responsibilities: treating patients and teaching students.At the University of Copenhagen, many teachers are involved in the clinical teaching and assessment of veterinary students, but only some of these teachers-the academic faculty-have access to pedagogical training.We conceived an idea to develop a pedagogical program aimed specifically at clinical teachers. However, instead of implementing an existing program developed elsewhere, we decided to create a discipline-specific, context-relevant program. The creational process applied the principles of action learning consulting (ALC), which dictate that a pedagogical consultant and key involved employees cooperate closely in a dynamic, creational process. A program was developed with content focused on addressing the perceived needs expressed by the clinical teachers.The program consisted of three 2.5-hour seminars, each covering one of the main themes: teaching situations in clinical settings, pedagogical psychology in clinical teaching, and assessment and feedback.The seminars were conducted in the afternoon approximately 2 months apart and were facilitated by the two authors with a veterinary background (CBM, RL).Ten to 20 clinical teachers participated in each seminar, and feedback from participants was positive overall, acknowledging the creation of a forum for critical discussions on clinical teaching and learning and greater insight into pedagogical themes. As a result of the application of the ALC principle, the program is highly context relevant and has gained optimal anchorage within the organization; the seminars will therefore be repeated and allowed to continuously evolve.