96 Chapter 3 could help them to gain more insight into the variety of aspects important to being a good teacher. Third, the model of the four profiles of medical academics that we propose might serve to understand academics’ individual contributions within medical education: the ‘Inspirers’ can play an important role in inspiring both students and peers. In the larger context of the medical school this type of academic might play a significant role in the development of an educational mission with a focus on the student. The ‘Role model’ academics can contribute by being examples in role modelling: this is relevant for both students as well as for their academic peers. At the institutional level these academics might contribute by emphasising the importance of being a living example as teacher and as patient-care giver. The importance of the ‘Practitioners’ is their practical emphasis; they can translate abstract concepts like inspiring ideas and role modelling into concrete behaviours. Within the medical school we suggest that the role of the ‘Critics’ might be to emphasise the importance of external factors such as sufficient time, priority, financial, and other resources being allocated to medical education. Medical schools that are innovating towards student-centred curricula can benefit by considering these recommendations and incorporate them into their faculty development programmes. These programmes should not only pay attention to the teaching beliefs of the academics involved which need to be congruent with this student-centred orientation27,32; they should also focus on all other aspects of teacher qualities, in particular on the academic’s identity and mission. CONCLUSIONS Academics hold a variety of beliefs about teacher qualities. This study fills a gap by exploring this variety within a medical context. The concentric onion model of Korthagen (categorising teacher qualities from mission to environment) proved to be a useful model in the exploration of these beliefs. The variety of beliefs can be elucidated by the extent to which academics reflect on the levels of this model. Four hierarchically ordered profiles are identified, the ‘Inspirer’ profile being the highest in hierarchy, because it is the most elaborate profile and includes all levels of the model. The two least elaborate profiles predominantly focus on cognitive aspects of teacher qualities: external constraining factors, and practical competencies, respectively. The academics in the second most inclusive profile, the ‘Role model’ profile, extend their scope by emphasising the importance of being an example as a teaching academic to the students. Both the ‘Identity’
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw