Power and resistance: leading change in medical education

Abstract

A key role for educational leaders within undergraduate medical education is to continually improve the quality of education; global quality health care is the goal. This paper reports the findings from a study employing a power model to highlight how educational leaders influence the development of undergraduate medical curricula and the resistance they encounter related to this activity. Sixteen educational leaders at a medical university in Northern Europe were purposefully sampled and interviewed through semi-structured interviews. The results indicate that the educational leaders are feeling powerless when it comes to engaging their colleagues in the process of developing medical education. As a result, these leaders appear having to create a ‘vicarious legitimacy’; legitimacy connected to other areas than education, such as research or clinic. Research results from this study can be used to develop faculty development programs for health education leaders on national and international levels.

Keywords:

• medical education
• educational leadership
• professional identity
• adult education
• leadership

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.