61 A beliefs framework 2 CONCLUSIONS Our study was undertaken to describe and classify the beliefs of medical educators about teaching, learning, and knowledge. Insight into these beliefs is important for medical schools to improve the quality of education and can provide input for faculty development. Although our findings confirm the relevance of the structure of the original Samuelowicz & Bain beliefs framework, developed within higher education research,14 to the field of medical education, we find that significant adaptations and refinements were necessary to align the framework to a medical context. A new dimension ‘Creating a conducive learning environment’ was found, likely uncovered by our explicit questions about small group teaching which aims to encourage a student’s active participation. This emphasis on small group learning likely also explains the new addition of the constituent beliefs in the dimension ‘Students’ motivation.’ In addition, the extensions of the beliefs in the dimensions ‘Nature of knowledge’ and ‘Students’ professional development’ are related to the specific medical education context, with its focus on clinical knowledge and professional development. These four new or extended dimensions represent relevant new areas for faculty development. The newly identified and refined beliefs enable a more comprehensive description of the belief orientations of medical educators. As in the original framework, the belief orientations can be arranged on a continuum from teaching-centredness to learning-centredness. Our new framework sharpens the boundary between teaching-centred and learning-centred orientations. With the adaptations proposed herein, the new framework is a more contemporary instrument for faculty development to enable medical faculty to reflect on and revisit their beliefs about teaching, learning, and knowledge. Acknowledgements The authors wish to thank the medical educators who took part in this study, Prof. dr. Jelle Goeman and Dr. Bart Mertens for their advice on statistics, and Prof.dr. Yvonne Steinert for her worthwhile feedback on the manuscript.
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