93 From Critic to Inspirer 3 academic’s mission has received little attention in the literature. Our study shows that medical academics within the most inclusive profile not only emphasise the academic’s identity but also the importance of developing a clear mission as a teaching academic. Spending time reflecting on why one teaches, on the deeper aims which one wants to achieve, can not only promote the development of an academic teacher’s identity but also can contribute to a deep personal involvement of the academic in student learning and ultimately in delivering the next generation of physicians. Thus, in the discourse on the academics’ teaching beliefs we recommend paying attention to awareness of identity, and in particular to educational mission. In our findings the affective aspects of beliefs about teacher qualities, which are so prominently expressed within the ‘Role model’ and ‘Inspirer’ profiles, are articulated generically, transcending the context of pre-clinical teaching. Participants, for instance, emphasise their mission as the desire to bring out the best in the student, the willingness to make learning exciting, or the drive to improve one’s teaching. These teacher qualities will most likely not be limited to one particular context. The findings of another study, executed in a non-medical context within higher education underscore the relevance of affective aspects, concluding that an important aspect of the academic’s beliefs about teacher qualities are teacher satisfaction and enjoyment.12 This indicates that our conclusion that affective aspects are important also applies in contexts beyond those in which our study was executed. Unlike other studies we found no significant relationship between the profiles and the academic’s discipline, gender, teaching experience, educational role or type of educational task. For the latter two factors this is related to the way the participants were selected, namely by perceived expertise: all our participants had multiple educational roles; and all participants were involved in both lecturing and small group teaching. For the other three factors discipline, gender, and teaching experience this is possibly because of the limited number of participants in this qualitative study. However, as with the findings of Jacobs,22 we did find a relationship with the medical school in which the academics were working: the ‘Inspirer’ profile consisted of exclusively SUSM teachers. This may be due to a difference in the medical school’s mission, or in the admissions policy for new staff. Another explanation could be a culture difference: in Dutch culture it may be less common to talk about one’s mission than in the American culture. Finally, it could also be related to professional
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