Complementary value of traditional bedside teaching and structured clinical teaching in introductory surgical studies
Summary. A prospective randomized trial was conducted to see if student performance in a combined multiple choice and objective structured clinical examination was better following a period of structured clinical teaching compared with traditional bedside teaching. Student groups were crossed over in a second phase of the experiment to allow the two teaching techniques to be compared sequentially in the same group. There was no significant difference between the two teaching techniques as measured by performance in a criterion-referenced examination. The results of the study led to modification of the curriculum for third-year introductory surgical studies to incorporate both teaching strategies, which are regarded as complementary in value.
This paper reviews the characteristics of students entering initial training in four countries?Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, and Trinidad and Tobago. First a brief overview of the teacher education systems is provided. Second, biographical data is reviewed on age, religious affiliation, ethnic group and mother tongue, parental occupations and academic achievement, and students? educational qualifications. Third, some insights into trainees? perceptions about teaching and the teaching profession are presented. Finally, comparisons are made for two countries on cross-sectional data comparing the perceptions of entering and exiting trainees and newly qualified teachers. The results draw attention to the qualities and perceptions that those on initial training programmes bring to the teacher education curriculum. They provide a reminder that teacher education curricula should recognise these characteristics and be designed to respond to needs that they create.