Abstract
BackgroundAbout 70% of teachers who instruct healthcare students are considered sessional (adjunct/temporary part-time) faculty and receive limited instruction in pedagogy. Sessional faculty may feel isolated and struggle with their teacher identity, and are often assumed to vary in their commitment, motivation, and ability to teach. However, research on teaching identity, motivations, and needs of sessional faculty is lacking. The aim of this study was to compare similarities and differences between sessional and tenure-track faculty across a health science school to guide faculty development for sessional faculty.MethodsWe developed an online needs assessment survey, based on informal interviews and literature reviews. Seventy-eight tenure-track faculty and 160 sessional faculty completed the survey (37, 25% response rate, respectively). We used validated scales to assess intrinsic motivation, identified regulated motivation, and identification with teaching, as well as developed scales (perceived connectedness, motivated by appreciation to try new teaching method) and single items. All scales demonstrated good internal consistency. We compared sessional and tenure-track faculty using t-tests/chi-square values.ResultsWe found similarities between sessional and tenure-track faculty in intrinsic motivation, identified regulated motivation, and identification with teaching. However, sessional faculty perceived less department connectedness and were more motivated to improve instruction if shown appreciation for trying new teaching methods. Sessional faculty agreed more that they desired pedagogy instruction before starting to teach and that teachers should invest energy in improving their teaching. Admitting to less participation in activities to enhance teaching in the last year, sessional faculty were more interested in digital formats of faculty development.ConclusionOur comparison suggested that sessional faculty value being a teacher as part of their self, similar to tenured faculty, but desired more appreciation for efforts to improve and perceived less connectedness to their university department than tenured faculty. They also preferred digital formats for pedagogy to improve accessibility, prior to and throughout their teaching career to support their development as teachers. Using this information as a guide, we provide suggestions for faculty development for sessional faculty. Supporting sessional faculty in the health sciences should improve the quality of teaching and positively affect student learning.
Highlights
IntroductionAbout 70% of teachers who instruct healthcare students are considered sessional (adjunct/temporary part-time) faculty and receive limited instruction in pedagogy
About 70% of teachers who instruct healthcare students are considered sessional faculty and receive limited instruction in pedagogy
We set out to answer the question: Do sessional faculty (SF) differ from track faculty (TF) with respect to their identification with teaching, motivation, connectedness with their department and faculty development needs across a health sciences school? We propose that a comparison of these two groups could suggest ways in which Faculty development (FD) for SF should be different from FD for TF
Summary
About 70% of teachers who instruct healthcare students are considered sessional (adjunct/temporary part-time) faculty and receive limited instruction in pedagogy. Authors of the Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) Guide on faculty development initiatives in the health sciences state that “the majority of (FD) interventions emphasized skill acquisition, often ignoring faculty members’ motivations for teaching, values, and professional identities” [6]. Healthcare professionals may struggle with their identity as a teacher [8] as they find themselves teaching students as temporary part-time or, as they are referred to in Iceland and other parts of the world, sessional faculty (SF). We defined SF as healthcare professionals who taught health science students directly in the classroom and/or clinic and were considered temporary, whereas tenure-track faculty (TF) were defined as all faculty hired for a permanent position
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