Development of medical teacher: A prospective for challenges in India

In India, medical education is challenged with the shortage of teachers. The teachers are not adequately prepared to handle tasks in response to the emergent needs. In spite of more than five decades of research on the educational process and the accumulation of significant understanding of the nature of learning, curriculum design, and evaluation, there has been surprisingly little opportunity for interested faculty members in medical college to obtain teaching experience other than by self‑education, often by trial‑and‑error technique.[1] Studies addressing medical education have rarely used qualitative educational methods to contribute knowledge about the phenomenon under investigation. There are two possible reasons for this. First, in the past, the qualitative works were rejected due to the lack of objective evidence, considered to be “unscientific” and “anecdotal”[1] Second, medical educators have failed to communicate the methods, canons, and utilization of qualitative inquiry approaches to professional colleagues or undergraduate medical students.[1‑3] It seems that the latter point is most pertinent here. In India, there are few studies which are grounded in qualitative methods, and doctors tend to scrutinize quantitative research designs in order to glean empirical data, which is rooted in objective reality.[2,3] We wished to acquire knowledge about several aspects of education in general and their specific application to medical education.