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Just what and how eight experienced teachers in four coaching dyads learned during a 1-year reciprocal peer coaching trajectory was examined in the present study. The learning processes were mapped by providing a detailed description of reported learning activities, reported learning outcomes, and the relations between these two. The sequences of learning activities associated with a particular type of learning outcome were next selected, coded, and analyzed using a variety of quantitative methods. The different activity sequences undertaken by the teachers during a reciprocal peer coaching trajectory were found to trigger different aspects of their professional development.

A considerable amount of literature on peer coaching suggests that the professional development of teachers can be improved through experimentation, observation, reflection, the exchange of professional ideas, and shared problem-solving. Reciprocal peer coaching provides teachers with an opportunity to engage in such activities in an integrated form. Even though empirical evidence shows effects of peer coaching and teacher satisfaction about coaching, the actual individual professional development processes have not been studied extensively. This article offers a way to analyse and categorize the learning processes of teachers who take part in a reciprocal peer coaching trajectory by using the Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth as an analytical tool. Learning is understood as a change in the teacher's cognition and/or behaviour. The assumption underlying the Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth is that change occurs in four distinct domains that encompass the teacher's professional world: the personal domain, the domain of practice, the domain of consequence and the external domain. Change in one domain does not always lead to change in another, but when changes over domains do occur, different change patterns can be described. Repeated multiple data collection methods were used to obtain a rich description of patterns of change of four experienced secondary school teachers. The data sources were: audiotapes of coaching conferences, audiotapes of semi-structured learning interviews by telephone, and digital diaries with teacher reports of learning experiences. Qualitative analysis of the three data sources resulted in two different types of patterns: including the external domain and not including the external domain. Patterns of change within a context of reciprocal peer coaching do not necessarily have to include reciprocal peer coaching activities. When, however, patterns do include the external reciprocal peer coaching domain, this is often part of a change process in which reactive activities in the domains of practice and consequence are involved as well. These patterns often demonstrate more complex processes of change. (Contains 2 figures, 9 tables and 1 note.)

The principal aim of this study is to explore the relations between work domains and the work-related learning of workers. The article is intended to provide insight into the learning experiences of Dutch police officers during the course of their daily work. Interviews regarding actual learning events and subsequent changes in knowledge, skills or attitudes were conducted with police officers from different parts of the country and at different stages of their careers. Interpretative analyses grounded in the notion of intentionality and developmental relatedness revealed how and in what kinds of work domains police officers appear to learn. Homogeneity analysis use of Alternating Least Squares (HOMALS) analysis showed work-related learning activities to vary with different kinds of work domains. The implications for training and development involve the role of colleagues in different hierarchical positions for learning and they also concern the utility of the conceptualisation of work-related learning presented here.

Within the unique and complex settings of university hospitals, it is difficult to implement policy initiatives aimed at developing careers in and improving the quality of academic medical teaching because of the competing domains of medical research and patient care. Factors that influence faculty in making use of teaching policy incentives have remained underexplored. Knowledge of these factors is needed to develop theory on the successful implementation of medical teaching policy in university hospitals. To explore factors that influence faculty in making use of teaching policy incentives and to develop a conceptual model for implementation of medical teaching policy in university hospitals. We used the grounded theory methodology. We applied constant comparative analysis to qualitative data obtained from 12 semi-structured interviews conducted at the Radboud University Medical Center. We used a constructivist approach, in which data and theories are co-created through interaction between the researcher and the field and its participants. We constructed a model for the implementation of medical teaching policy in university hospitals, including five factors that were perceived to promote or inhibit faculty in a university hospital to make use of teaching policy incentives: Executive Board Strategy, Departmental Strategy, Departmental Structure, Departmental Culture, and Individual Strategy. Most factors we found to affect individual teachers' strategies and their use of medical teaching policy lie at the departmental level. If an individual teacher's strategy is focused on medical teaching and a medical teaching career, and the departmental context offers support and opportunity for his/her development, this promotes faculty's use of teaching policy incentives.

Policy initiatives that aim to elevate the position of medical teaching to that of medical research could influence the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs related to motivation for medical teaching. To explore relations between the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs towards medical teaching and two policy initiatives for medical teaching: (Junior) Principal Lecturer positions [(J)PL positions] and Subsidized Innovation and Research Projects in Medical Education (SIRPMEs). An online questionnaire was used to collect data about medical teaching in the setting of a university hospital. We adapted the Work-related Basic Need Satisfaction scale (Van den Broeck et al. in J Occup Organ Psychol, 83(4):981-1002, 2010), in order to measure feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in teaching. We examined the relations between (J)PL positions and SIRPMEs and the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs. A total of 767 medical teachers participated. The initiatives appear to be related to different beneficial outcomes in terms of feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in medical teaching. Either a (J)PL position is obtained by teachers who feel competent and related towards medical teaching, or obtaining a (J)PL position makes teachers feel more competent and related towards teaching, or these relations could be interacting. Also, either a SIRPME is obtained by teachers who feel competent and autonomous towards medical teaching, or obtaining a SIRPME makes teachers feel more competent and autonomous towards teaching, or these relations could be interacting. Additional research needs to scrutinize the causal or interacting relations further and to determine optimal conditions for these policy initiatives more specifically. Implications for future research are discussed.

Providing clinical teachers with feedback about their teaching skills is a powerful tool to improve teaching. Evaluations are mostly based on questionnaires completed by residents. We investigated to what extent characteristics of residents, clinical teachers, and the clinical environment influenced these evaluations, and the relation between residents' scores and their teachers' self-scores. The evaluation and feedback for effective clinical teaching questionnaire (EFFECT) was used to (self)assess clinical teachers from 12 disciplines (15 departments, four hospitals). Items were scored on a five-point Likert scale. Main outcome measures were residents' mean overall scores (MOSs), specific scale scores (MSSs), and clinical teachers' self-evaluation scores. Multilevel regression analysis was used to identify predictors. Residents' scores and self-evaluations were compared. Residents filled in 1,013 questionnaires, evaluating 230 clinical teachers. We received 160 self-evaluations. 'Planning Teaching' and 'Personal Support' (4.52, SD .61 and 4.53, SD .59) were rated highest, 'Feedback Content' (CanMEDS related) (4.12, SD .71) was rated lowest. Teachers in affiliated hospitals showed highest MOS and MSS. Medical specialty did not influence MOS. Female clinical teachers were rated higher for most MSS, achieving statistical significance. Residents in year 1-2 were most positive about their teachers. Residents' gender did not affect the mean scores, except for role modeling. At group level, self-evaluations and residents' ratings correlated highly (Kendall's τ 0.859). Resident evaluations of clinical teachers are influenced by teacher's gender, year of residency training, type of hospital, and to a lesser extent teachers' gender. Clinical teachers and residents agree on strong and weak points of clinical teaching.

Dealing with emotions is a critical feature of professional behaviour. There are no comprehensive theoretical models, however, explaining how medical students learn about emotions. We aimed to explore factors affecting their emotions and how they learn to deal with emotions in themselves and others. During a first-year nursing attachment in hospitals and nursing homes, students wrote daily about their most impressive experiences, explicitly reporting what they felt, thought, and did. In a subsequent interview, they discussed those experiences in greater detail. Following a grounded theory approach, we conducted a constant comparative analysis, collecting and then interpreting data, and allowing the interpretation to inform subsequent data collection. Impressive experiences set up tensions, which gave rise to strong emotions. We identified four 'axes' along which tensions were experienced: 'idealism versus reality', 'critical distance versus adaptation', 'involvement versus detachment' and 'feeling versus displaying'. We found many factors, which influenced how respondents relieved those tensions. Their personal attributes and social relationships both inside and outside the medical community were important ones. Respondents' positions along the different dimensions, as determined by the balance between attributes and tensions, shaped their learning outcomes. Medical students' emotional development occurs through active participation in medical practice and having impressive experiences within relationships with patients and others on wards. Tensions along four dimensions give rise to strong emotions. Gaining insight into the many conditions that influence students' learning about emotions might support educators and supervisors in fostering medical students' emotional and professional development.

Many students in Biomedical Sciences have difficulty understanding biomechanics. In a second-year course, biomechanics is taught in the first week and examined at the end of the fourth week. Knowledge is retained longer if the subject material is repeated. However, how does one encourage students to repeat the subject matter? For this study, we developed 'two opportunities to practice per day (TOPday)', consisting of multiple-choice questions on biomechanics with immediate feedback, which were sent via e-mail. We investigated the effect of TOPday on self-confidence, enthusiasm, and test results for biomechanics. All second-year students (n = 95) received a TOPday of biomechanics on every regular course day with increasing difficulty during the course. At the end of the course, a non-anonymous questionnaire was conducted. The students were asked how many TOPday questions they completed (0-6 questions [group A]; 7-18 questions [group B]; 19-24 questions [group C]). Other questions included the appreciation for TOPday, and increase (no/yes) in self-confidence and enthusiasm for biomechanics. Seventy-eight students participated in the examination and completed the questionnaire. The appreciation for TOPday in group A (n = 14), B (n = 23) and C (n = 41) was 7.0 (95 % CI 6.5-7.5), 7.4 (95 % CI 7.0-7.8), and 7.9 (95 % CI 7.6-8.1), respectively (p < 0.01 between A and C). Of the students who actively participated (B and C), 91 and 80 % reported an increase in their self-confidence and enthusiasm, respectively, for biomechanics due to TOPday. In addition, they had a higher test result for biomechanics (p < 0.01) compared with those who did not actively participate (A). In conclusion, the teaching method 'TOPday' seems an effective way to encourage students to repeat the subject material, with the extra advantage that students are stimulated to keep on practising for the examination. The appreciation was high and there was a positive association between active participation, on the one hand, and self-confidence, enthusiasm, and test results for biomechanics on the other.

Background: Physicians play a crucial role in teaching residents in clinical practice. Feedback on their teaching performance to support this role needs to be provided in a carefully designed and constructive way., Aims: We investigated an evaluation system for evaluating supervisors and providing formative feedback., Method: In a design based research approach, the 'Evaluation and Feedback For Effective Clinical Teaching System' (EFFECT-S) was examined by conducting semi-structured interviews with residents and supervisors of five departments in five different hospitals about feedback conditions, acceptance and its effects. Interviews were analysed by three researchers, using qualitative research software (ATLAS-Ti)., Results: Principles and characteristics of the design are supported by evaluating EFFECT-S. All steps of EFFECT-S appear necessary. A new step, team evaluation, was added. Supervisors perceived the feedback as instructive; residents felt capable of providing feedback. Creating safety and honesty require different actions for residents and supervisors. Outcomes include awareness of clinical teaching, residents learning feedback skills, reduced hierarchy and an improved learning climate., Conclusions: EFFECT-S appeared useful for evaluating supervisors. Key mechanism was creating a safe environment for residents to provide honest and constructive feedback. Residents learned providing feedback, being part of the CanMEDS and ACGME competencies of medical education programmes.