The design of short teacher-training courses.

Abstract

Summary Most Medical Schools do not run their own teacher-preparation courses, but rely on those run in the Universities. Basic details have been studied from twenty-eight different ‘teacher-training’ courses. Of these, four were specifically for Medical School staff in the U.K., seven were for similar groups in Europe or America, two were for the Armed Services and thirteen for University staff in general. Most courses were short, and included a high proportion of time (50% or greater) in which the participants were passive members of an audience listening to someone lecturing or demonstrating (a ‘talk shop’). A minority rely mainly on small group discussions and a flexible timetable (a ‘genuine workshop’). Some important and interesting ideas are reported from the questionnaire answers and papers sent to us. Our own preferences are for a workshop design that is flexible, learner-orientated, and encourages each person to study themselves in a learning group as a prelude to an examination of teaching methods.