Faculty development for teaching improvement

Abstract

In the mid to late 1950s, the idea of preparing university faculty members as teachers emerged in medical education and since then has become the most common type of faculty development in health professions education. Several competency frameworks for health professions teachers have been described in the literature, each of which includes skills in curriculum design, teaching and support of learning, and assessment and feedback. Several best practice examples demonstrate how these competencies might be addressed in faculty development programming. The literature is limited in the quality of evidence available about what works for teachers, their students, and the systems in which both education and patient care occur. Understanding the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of teaching improvement in health professions education will require more rigorous outcome measures and attention to the individual and shared needs of teachers and learners and the communities of practice in which they work.