Redefining scholarship for health professions education: AMEE Guide No. 142

Abstract

Scholarship is an integral aspect of academia. It shapes the practice of individuals and the field and is often used to inform career progression decisions and policies. This makes it high stakes. Yet it is complex, and ambiguous. Definitions vary and the term does not necessarily translate well across contexts. In this AMEE guide, our aim is to establish a contemporary definition of scholarship which is appropriate to health professions education (HPE). Our specific objectives are to provide guidance to support colleagues in their career development as professional educators and to challenge biases and assumptions about scholarship which may still exist in educational systems and structures. Ultimately, we hope that this work will advance the stature/standing of scholarship in the field. We provide a general definition of scholarship and how this relates to the scholarship of teaching (and learning) (SoT[L]) and scholarly teaching. Drawing on Boyer’s seminal work, we describe different types of scholarship and reflect on how these apply to HPE, before moving on to describe different types of engagement with scholarship in HPE, including scope of contribution and influence. Using cases and examples, we illustrate differences in scholarly engagement across stages of a career, contexts, and ways of engaging. We provide guidance on how to assess ‘quality’ of scholarship. We offer practical advice for health professions’ educators seeking academic advancement. We advocate that institutional leaders consider their systems and structures, so that these align with faculty work patterns, and judge teaching and professional practice appropriately. We conclude by offering a new definition of scholarship in HPE.

Keywords:

• Staff development
• teaching & learning
• medicine

Acknowledgements

This report was requested by AMEE Executive. The authors thank Richard Fuller, University of Leeds, and Janusz Janczukowicz, University of Lodz, for their helpful feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

At the time of writing this paper, J.C., T.W., S.R., and R.K. are members of the AMEE Executive. S.V.S. and J.C. are members of AMEE Research Group while S.R. is a member of AMEE Fellowship Committee. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Example 2 Scholarship as demonstrated from identifying a problem to publication and application.

At the University of Aberdeen, an issue was identified locally through assessment outcomes, tutor feedback and reflective discussions specifically that some students underperformed, but it was hard to identify and support this group other than when/if they failed formal assessments (Cleland et al. 2005; Sinclair and Cleland 2007). Drawing on these observations, a small team undertook a review of HPE and the wider education literature (scholarship of integration), discussed the issue further locally, then carried out some research looking at patterns of under-performance and tutor attitudes towards failing weaker students on placement (SoTL and wider discovery; e.g. Cleland, Knight, et al. 2008; Cleland, Milne, et al. 2008). The findings from this discovery work were used to change local systems to ensure early identification and support for students who were at risk of underperforming (scholarship of application [Shapiro and Coleman 2000; Denison et al. 2006; Cleland et al. 2010]). They also led to more questions and more scholarly work, including various cross-institutional collaborations, to review the literature on the topic and share the learning from this review via a series of conference presentations and scholarly publications (e.g. Cleland, Leggett, et al. 2013; Chou et al. 2019), which ultimately influenced knowledge and practices at a national and international level.

Example 3 Problem to publication to application – to new ideas.

At the Faculty of Medicine, Vrije Universiteit in the Netherlands, an educator of professional behaviour for medical students was responsible for setting up a theme on teaching professional behaviour in the medical curriculum (Mak-van der Vossen et al. 2013). In doing so, she identified that teachers and clinical supervisors found it difficult to fail students for unprofessional behaviour (Mak-van der Vossen et al. 2014). She looked at the literature on this topic and discussed this problem with fellow teachers and researchers (scholarly teaching). She investigated this through collecting data and analysing it to confirm her suspicions. She presented her work at local and national conferences (SoTL). She then decided to conduct thorough research on this topic. It took her one literature review and four empirical studies to find the answers to her problems. She proposed and published new models for identifying, classifying and remediating unprofessional behaviour (scholarship of discovery; Mak-van der Vossen et al. 2016, 2017; Mak-van der Vossen, Teherani, et al. 2019; Mak-van der Vossen, de la Croix, et al. 2019). Her models were used to refine the practices in the curriculum. She also designed faculty development workshops using all the findings of her research (scholarship of application). She is currently working on a new topic – applying gaming theory to the behaviour of students in HPE (scholarship of integration).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer A. Cleland

Jennifer A. Cleland, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, D Clinical Psychology, FRCP (Edin), FAoME, FAMEE, is Professor of Medical Education Research, Vice-Dean (Education) and Director of the Medical Education Research and Scholarship Unit, LKC Medicine, Nanyang Technological University Singapore. She publishes extensively in the field of medical education, particularly in the areas of selection and increasing diversity, influences on medical careers decision making and methodology matters.

Susan Jamieson

Susan Jamieson, BSc (Hons), PhD, PGCert (HE), EdD, SFHEA, is a Professor of Health Professions Education at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK; and also the Scholarship Champion for the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences at her institution. Her scholarly interests include critical thinking, (socio-)constructivism, curriculum design, and curriculum management and leadership.

Rashmi A. Kusurkar

Rashmi A. Kusurkar, MD, PhD, FAMEE, is an Associate Professor and Research Programme Leader at the Faculty of Medicine, Research in Education, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She is an international scholar in Self-determination Theory of motivation and her research programme is built on the theme of developing ‘students for life.’

Subha Ramani

Subha Ramani, MBBS, MPH, PhD, FAMEE, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Associate Physician and Director of the Program for Research, Innovations and Scholarship in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Her scholarly interests include clinical teaching, intersection of psychosocial theories and feedback conversations and mentoring.

Tim J. Wilkinson

Tim J. Wilkinson, MBChB (Otago), MClinEd (UNSW), PhD (Otago), MD (Otago), FRACP, FRCP, FANZAHPE, FAMEE, is a professor of medicine and consultant physician. His scholarly interests are in assessment of clinical competence and performance, career choice, workplace learning, selection into medical school, and professionalism.

Susan van Schalkwyk

Susan van Schalkwyk, BA (Hons), MPhil (Higher Education), PhD, FAMEE, is a professor in Health Professions Education and director of the Centre for Health Professions Education, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University. Scholarly interests include doctoral education, faculty development, and strengthening scholarship in the field of health professions education.