In this blog, one of our BMERG committee members David Hettle, an honorary senior teaching fellow and specialist registrar (SpR) in infectious diseases and medical microbiology, talks about the winding journey to becoming an educator and how the Academy of Medical Educators Early Career Educator group ‘DMEG’ can support you on this journey.
The route to becoming a medical educator, it is fair to say, is not clear, linear, or uniform. Indeed, medical educators may come from medicine, education, other healthcare professions, basic science or other backgrounds.1 This diversity brings with it wide variation in perceptions of what being a medical educator is.
The most recent definition available from the Academy of Medical Educators (AoME) is:
“Medical educators and clinical teachers develop, deliver, and manage teaching programmes and engage in scholarship and research into all aspects of teaching, learning and assessment. Within this definition, the daily work of medical education (MedEd) relates to the teaching of students, doctors, physician associates, vets and dentists about all aspects of patient care, the management of health services, the promotion of health and the prevention of disease.” 2
Clearly, this definition covers a vast spectrum. Individually identifying as a medical educator can range from being central to one individual’s professional identity,3 or may be a secondary identity, potentially at odds with another part of training such as clinical or academic progression. Education may also be merely an activity that professionals undertake rather than being a true part of their owned identity.4-5
The process of ‘becoming a medical educator’ has increasingly become a topic of interest as the profession learns how to support the development of educators. However, much research focusses on educators towards the end of their careers, who often view their involvement and roles as having occurred serendipitously, and have taken much of their career to finally identify as an ‘educator’.3,6
But…why does this matter?
Of course, we are all developing as educators day-by-day, but for those who see themselves at the beginning of their medical educator journey, looking forwards trying to see what the career looks like can be a huge challenge. The fear can be that it is an uncertain, meandering path, with opportunities by chance, rather than planning or good intentions.
Despite this, each year large numbers of junior doctors take time out of training and choose to undertake teaching fellowships,7,8 with numbers increasing all the time. Currently between 70-90 teaching fellows are employed across the NHS trust academies paired with the University of Bristol medical school each year. With an ever-increasing pool of potential career educators completing entry-level posts in MedEd, such as clinical teaching fellowships, there is a need for the world of MedEd to promote, drive and enhance the development of these healthcare professional educators.
Several recent publications suggest routes through which supporting the development of educators should happen including: 5,9-10
- making teaching visible through events and activities which celebrate the significance of educators’ roles
- creating transparent and replicable MedEd reward and development structures (such as career pathways – both stand-alone and potentially integrated with clinical training)
- building communities within MedEd offering role-modelling, a sense of connectedness, and a forum for sharing stories, experiences and frustrations
In 2020, AoME launched the Developing Medical Educators’ Group. This is specifically aimed at those junior and early-career educators shaping their futures in the world of medical education – whether they have held formal posts in MedEd or not.
It recognises that early-career educators are often trying to balance their educator identity with their clinical identity, and that their development can be challenging to integrate in clinical settings where teaching is not always valued as highly as clinical service or research. Communities such as DMEG are therefore crucial to this group of educators, as the “future of medical education” across the UK.
Through AoME, early career educators can apply to be recognised as educators through gaining associate or membership status of the Academy.2 Such accreditation can be hugely important to progression in clinical training and in promoting the value in MedEd as a specialty.
DMEG offers a community for early-career educators, encouraging engagement from anyone interested in MedEd, guided by peers and near-peers in the same boat (or very recently in the same boat!), as those navigating the dual world of medical, dental or veterinary training with educational development. Events are offered both through AoME and directly by DMEG including:
- DMEG debates: a monthly, live online forum debating hot topics in MedEd (most recently ‘What does the rise of AI mean for MedEd?’).
- Medical EducaTALKS: regular podcasts exploring aspects of MedEd with senior educators.
- DMEG conference: A yearly event, this year on 4th October – Communities of Practice in Practise – an online conference discovering the work of early-career educators + hosting workshops and keynotes exploring the world of MedEd.
DMEG seeks to raise the profile of developing medical educators, validate and recognise their critical and important role and ensure that facilities and resources exist for training and development of early-stage educators.
From a personal point of view, having recently been a teaching fellow, DMEG offers me a friendly community to support and continue my development. I can share challenges and new ideas and explore what the MedEd world looks like across the UK and beyond, regardless of where I am currently working, or if/when locally there are no networks or collaboratives available.
I would encourage anyone interested in MedEd, and especially those in teaching fellow posts to have a look at DMEG and see what they can offer you as an educator. By being a group for developing healthcare educators, run by developing healthcare educators, they are always open to suggestions!
Whatever your interest and however long you have been involved in MedEd, DMEG invites you to come and explore the DMEG Conference 2023: Communities of practice in practise, on 4th October 2023.
References
- Huwendiek S, Mennin S, Dern P, Ben-David MF, van der Vleuten C, Tonshoff B, Nikendei C. Expertise, needs and challenges of medical educators: Results of an international web survey. Med Teach 2010; 32(11): 912-8.
- Academy of Medical Educators. Professional Standards for medical, dental and veterinary educators, 4th edition. Cardiff: Academy of Medical Educators.
- Hu WCY, Thistlethwaite JE, Weller J, Gallego G, Monteith J, McColl GJ. ‘It was serendipity’: A qualitative study of academic careers in medical education. Med Educ 2015; 49(11): 1124-36.
- Sabel E, Archer J; Early Careers Working Group at the Academy of Medical Educators. “Medical education is the ugly duckling of the medical world” and other challenges to medical educators’ identity construction: A qualitative study. Acad Med 2014; 89(11): 1474-80.
- Bartle E, Thistlethwaite J. Becoming a medical educator: motivation, socialisation and navigation. BMC Med Educ 2014; 14: 110.
- Browne J, Webb K, Bullock A. Making the leap to medical education: A qualitative study of medical educators’ experiences. Med Educ 2018; 52(2): 216-26.
- Wilson S, Denison AR, McKenzie H. A survey of clinical teaching fellowships in UK medical schools. Med Educ 2008; 42(2): 170-5.
- Edwards LJ, Hettle D, Stocker C. (2023, July 12-14). A review of Entry-Level Medical Education Roles (ELMERs) in the United Kingdom (conference workshop). Association for the Study of Medical Education Annual Societal Meeting 2023, Birmingham, UK.
- Van Lankveld T, Schoonenboom J, Kusurkar RA, Volman M, Beishuizen J, Croiset G. Integrating the teaching role into one’s identity: A qualitative study of beginning undergraduate medical teachers. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract 2017; 22(3): 601-22.
- Rees E, Guckian J, Fleming S. Fostering excellence in medical education career pathways. Educ Prim Care 2021; 32(2): 66-9.
Read more about other MedEd associations in our BMERG blog Building Community: Networking Opportunities through joining a MedEd association