A study of clinical teachers’ attitude to teaching and perceived learning needs in a medical college in Nigeria

Figures & data

Table 1 Respondents’ profile (N=61)

Characteristic	Category	Frequency	%
Sex	Male	56	92
	Female	4	7
	Not stated	1	1
Academic rank	Professor	12	20
	Associate Professor	10	16
	Senior Lecturer	16	26
	Lecturer I	8	13
	Lecturer II	15	25
Age	26–35 years	4	7
	35–45 years	28	46
	46–55 years	19	32
	56–65 years	8	13
	>65 years	1	1
	Not stated	1	1
Years since appointment	1–5 years	17	28
	6–10 years	15	25
	11–15 years	11	18
	16–20 years	4	6
	21–25 years	9	15
	>25 years	3	5
	Not stated	2	3
Frequency of teaching	<1 time/ week	15	25
	1–2 times/week	8	13
	>2 times/week	34	56
	Not stated	4	6
Personal rating of teaching	Below average	2	3
	Average	34	56
	Above average	25	41
Frequent teaching activity	Bed-side teaching	39	64
	Tutorial seminar	4	7
	Lecturing	13	21
	Theater session	2	3
	Not stated	3	5
Had previous training in teaching	Yes	10	17
	No	49	80
	Not stated	2	3
Attended teacher training course in past 5 years	Yes	9	15
	No	50	82
	Not stated	2	3
Member of any medical education society	Yes	8	13
	No	51	84
	Not stated	2	3
Heard about the department of medical education prior to survey	Yes	35	57
	No	23	38
	Not stated	3	5

Table 2 Attributes of teacher training course attendees and non-attendees

Characteristics	Categories	Have had a training in teaching before				X^2	p-value
		Yes		No
		N	%	N	%
Years since first appointment	1–5 years	2	20	14	30	4.239	0.516
	6–10 years	3	30	11	23
	11–15 years	2	20	9	19
	16–20 years	2	20	2	4
	21–25 years	1	1	8	17
	>25 years	0	0	3	7
Academic rank	Professor	0	0	12	25	11.52	0.021*
	Associate Professor	2	20	8	16
	Senior Lecturer	6	60	10	20
	Lecturer 1	2	20	4	8
	Lecturer II	0	0	15	31
Personal rating of teaching	Below average	2	20	0	0	11.77	0.003**
	Average	3	30	31	63
	Above average	5	50	18	37

Notes: *Significant at 0.05; **Significant at 0.01.

Table 3 Types of teacher training program attended

Type of training	Number of respondents
Teacher training workshop as part of PHD or Msc Nephrology program	1
College teaching ways workshop	1
Doctors as educators workshop	2
Post graduate diploma in education (PGDE)	2
Teaching by case based method seminar	1
Train the trainers workshop	1
University methods workshop	1
Certificate program in education	1
Total	10

Table 4 Distribution of responses to attitudinal statements

No	Statement	Strongly disagree		Disagree		Neutral		Agree		Strongly agree
		n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
1	I find teaching as satisfying as other activities (clinical work, research, administration)	0	0	7	12	3	5	24	39	27	44
2	A training in medicine allows most people to develop what teaching skills they need for teaching	1	2	16	26	5	8	25	41	14	23
3	Those who are primarily employed as hospital consultants should be allowed to opt out of teaching	16	26	13	22	8	13	16	26	8	13
4	I would undertake more teaching if I had the opportunity	1	2	4	7	10	16	29	48	17	30
5	I feel that my teaching skill is adequate for my teaching role	0	0	12	20	5	8	17	28	25	4 1
6	Medical lecturers should be obliged to go on teaching courses	2	3	12	20	5	8	17	28	25	41
7	In this medical college teaching is not given sufficient priority (for promotion, appreciation letter	0	0	4	7	5	8	29	47	23	38
8	Our medical schools graduates are well trained	0	0	9	15	19	31	27	44	6	10
9	As an academic pursuit, I consider teaching to be as important as research	1	2	7	12	1	2	30	49	22	36
10	I think teaching is a natural skill that does not have to be learnt	19	31	23	38	4	7	13	21	2	3
11	Being recognized as a good lecturer helps to advance one’s career	1	2	14	23	7	12	27	44	12	20
12	I would not be interested in going on a teaching training course	23	38	27	43	3	5	6	10	2	3
13	Teaching in this medical college would improve if lecturers were formerly trained in the act of teaching	3	5	7	12	6	10	20	33	25	41
14	Academicians should be competent clinicians and researchers and lecturers	0	0	9	15	4	7	26	43	22	36
15	I think I would find courses in teaching methods and skills to be of use	0	0.0	9	15	4	7	26	43	22	36
16	Good lecturers are born and not made	17	28	23	38	6	10	8	13	7	12

Table 5 Distribution of responses to statements measuring enthusiasm for teaching

No	Statement	Disagree		Neutral		Agree
		N	%	N	%	N	%
1	I find teaching as satisfying as other activities (clinical work, research, administration)	7	11	3	5	51	84
4	I would undertake more teaching if I had the opportunity	5	8	10	17	46	75

Table 6 Distribution of responses to statements measuring attitude of complacency toward teaching

No	Statement	Disagree		Neutral		Agree
		N	%	N	%	N	%
2	A training in medicine allows most people to develop what teaching skills they need for teaching	17	28	5	8	39	64
8	Our medical schools graduates are well trained	9	15	19	31	33	54
16	Good lecturers are born and not made	40	66	6	10	15	24

Table 7 Distribution of responses to statements measuring status of teaching

No	Statement	Disagree		Neutral		Agree
		N	%	N	%	N	%
3	Those who are primarily employed as hospital consultants should be allowed to opt out of teaching	29	48	8	13	24	39
7	In this medical college teaching is not given sufficient priority (for promotion, appreciation letter	4	7	5	8	52	85
9	As an academic pursuit, I consider teaching to be as important as research	8	13	1	2	52	85
11	Being recognized as a good lecturer helps to advance one’s career	39	64	7	11	15	25
14	Academicians should be competent clinicians and researchers and lecturers	10	17	2	3	49	80

Table 8 Distribution of responses to statements measuring perceived learning needs

No	Statement	Disagree		Neutral		Agree
		N	%	N	%	N	%
5	I feel that my teaching skill is adequate for my teaching role	12	20	11	18	38	62
6	Medical lecturers should be obliged to go on teaching courses	14	23	5	8	42	69
10	I think teaching is a natural skill that does not have to be learnt	42	69	4	6	15	25
12	I would not be interested in going on a teaching training course	50	82	2	5	8	13
13	Teaching in this medical college would improve if lecturers were formerly trained in the act of teaching	10	16	6	10	45	74
15	I think I would find courses in teaching methods and skills to be of use	9	15	4	6	48	79

Table 9 Correlation of responses to statements 12, 13 and 15 (Kendall’s Tau-b correlation)

Statements	Statements
	13: Teaching in this medical college would improve if lecturers were formerly trained in the act of teaching		15: I think I would find courses in teaching methods and skills to be of use
	r	p	r	p
15: I think I would find courses in teaching methods and skills to be of use	0.585	0.001**
12: I would not be interested in going on a teaching training course (rc)	0.370	0.001**	0.355	0.002**

Note: **Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).