Students as facilitators in a teacher training program: motivation for leadership roles

Figures & data

Table 1 Students’ motivation in relation to autonomy

Themes relating to autonomy	Student comments
Student liked being approached directly to facilitate	“I liked that the email asking me to facilitate was personalized, in a targeted approach. The personalized aspect inspired me to respond. Having been asked directly, I thought I should get involved. There is also a sense of obligation. I did the program last year and I really enjoyed it, so I wanted to help out”. “I got the impression it was a limited email that was sent around, and that we were approached directly, I appreciated that personally. I immediately replied”.
Students enjoyed the autonomy of having their own small groups to facilitate	“I enjoyed the small groups the best. I felt responsible and a sense of achievement. I don’t think we’ve ever really run small groups before, so it was a good opportunity to practice leadership skills, to also practice engaging people you’re trying to teach, like how to make something interesting, not boring”.
Students indicated that they would have liked greater responsibility and autonomy throughout the large-group sessions	“I would like more opportunities to present in the future during the large group sessions, and even in organizing the training. But it is good to start with a small role and develop that”. “It provided a sense of autonomy when the professor came up to us and said, ‘So are you doing these slides too?’ It’s nice that we are seen as confident enough to do that”.

Table 2 Students’ motivation in relation to competence

Theme relating to competence	Student comments
Through facilitation, students were able to revise teaching concepts they had previously learnt	“I thought being a facilitator would help revise all the concepts that I learnt last year. I revised all these concepts, and practiced on presentation skills”. “Being a facilitator means I can use all the skills about feedback and teaching a skill, all the different steps”.
Facilitation was a way for students to reinforce their own teaching knowledge and skills	“When we were teaching in the small groups, we had to keep reminding the students about, for example, the steps in feedback, and reminding the students what the rules were, and you were actually reminding yourself as well”. “Facilitating gives a reason for us to actually dig deeper into topics that we should know about, it reminds me about what I don’t know. You have to understand the concepts of teaching a lot more in order to teach it”.
Facilitation helped to develop students’ communication skills	“When you are teaching younger peers you have to consolidate information that you’ve learnt and it also improves your communication skills because you’re trying to convey succinctly a concept, so I would have thought that would be very useful in terms of developing my skills as a doctor”.
Students felt facilitation would help them prepare for their roles as medical practitioners and also provide evidence of their experience	“I thought it would help in that I’m hoping to do some teaching next year as an intern, so that would be good preparation, and something good to add to my CV”. “I think it is of benefit on your CV if you’re an intern or a resident. Maybe they would have faith that you’d be teaching students properly”.
Students found a sense of satisfaction and mastery in running their own small groups	“There is always a sense of satisfaction when you’ve done something properly and I think just from the small-group sessions that we did, I felt pretty satisfied that they went well and accomplished what we were trying to get out of the whole session”.
Students gained a sense of achievement and recognition	“I felt a sense of achievement being a facilitator. The certificate of being a facilitator is important”.
Students wanted to improve the quality of teaching	“Because you feel like you’ve judged other people as teachers in the past, you want to not fall into their mistakes. So I think mastering the art of teaching is important to us”.
Students learnt there are many skills involved in teaching that require practical experience to master	“How to deal with people not following instructions, it can be frustrating. When they are teaching a skill, and doing it in the wrong order, you have to figure out how to correct people. That is just as important as being able to explain something in the first place, because we can all explain how to do something, but then to actually correct someone who thinks they’re doing it right is hard. And you need to understand why they are doing it wrong as well. You need to be a good observer in this type of thing. And you need to see where their thought process is going wrong”.
Students were able to gain confidence from facilitating	“I think having been a facilitator, I’d feel more confident in explaining something to others, which is a pretty important part of being a doctor in general; you’re going to have to explain every day different things to patients”. “I think teaching is less difficult if you’ve facilitated in this course”.

Abbreviation: CV, curriculum vitae.

Table 3 Students’ motivation in relation to relatedness

Themes relating to relatedness	Student comments
Students felt a sense of community within the school	“I think taking part developed a sense of being connected with the clinical school and the other student facilitators as well”.
Facilitation allowed students to meet and engage their junior peers in a formal capacity	“I had some students in my group that I didn’t know, and now they know that I was a facilitator, so it’s nice to have that relationship that now we will say good morning when we see each other”. “I liked getting to know the younger years because I don’t have that many opportunities to meet them in other circumstances, and I enjoy seeing what kind of creative ideas they come up with in terms of teaching skills and presenting the two exercises that they did”.
Students found facilitation gave them a platform of recognition to recruit participants for their own peer tutoring	“It was easier for us to launch our own peer tutoring program with the year 3 students knowing that we were the facilitators in the TT program. We made a good impression”.
Students felt that by facilitating, they became better known to staff	“I think it’s good to make yourself known to people who are in charge of the school or the department. It was nice that the head of school became known to all of us on a more intimate level”.
Students were inspired by senior academic staff who have an interest in teaching	“It was good to get to know the head of school, he’s always around, doing important stuff, and this was just nice, to get to see him working with us. I was looking at him and I thought there’s someone who does a lot of other things with his life, but obviously still likes it and is still involved in teaching and wants to make the clinical school a better learning environment and that’s wonderful”.
Students saw facilitation as a way to engage with clinical school staff	‘It was nice to have recognition from the head of the clinical school and other staff, and to develop a relationship with them so you can keep working within the clinical school, helping out”. “In terms of staff, I think it’s really nice that we’ve started to get to know each other, and I think that builds a nice environment in which to work”.
Students felt that by facilitating, they would be provided with future opportunities within the school and hospital	“I think on a logistical level, now that we’re known to the administrators and academics, as students who have facilitated the course, you’re more likely to be called on to teach. Being a facilitator has provided us with pathways for more opportunities. We’d be more than happy to help with student teaching”. “This provides more opportunities for teaching, it builds up the connection a bit more. I’d be more likely to be involved in teaching opportunities as a result of facilitating”.
Students found facilitation a way to stay engaged in teaching with the school beyond medical school	“And if I end up getting an internship at RPA, I think it will be nice to still be in contact with the clinical school. Most people want to come back here to work”. “Being a facilitator definitely makes you want to do more teaching, because then I can improve on and I enjoy teaching”.
By taking part as a facilitator, students felt inspired to help the school in the future	“I’ve been inspired to take part more in activities the clinical school organizes because of the rapport we’ve already established”. “I think being a facilitator inspired me more to want to teach because I hadn’t done much teaching before, so doing those small groups sort of sparked the desire to teach”.

Abbreviations: RPA, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital; TT, teacher training.