Exploring the implicit meanings of 'cultural diversity': a critical conceptual analysis of commonly used approaches in medical education.

Existing approaches to cultural diversity in medical education may be implicitly based on different conceptualisations of culture. Research has demonstrated that such interpretations matter to practices and people concerned. We therefore sought to identify the different conceptualisations espoused by these approaches and investigated their implications for education.

The 'exotic other' in medical curricula: Rethinking cultural diversity in course manuals.

Implementation of cultural diversity training in medical education faces challenges, including ambiguity about the interpretation of 'cultural diversity'. This is worrisome as research has demonstrated that the interpretation employed matters greatly to practices and people concerned. This study therefore explored the construction of cultural diversity in medical curricula.

Experiences with the implementation of a national teaching qualification in university medical centres and veterinary medicine in the Netherlands.

In 2008, a compulsory national basic teaching qualification was introduced for all university teachers in the Netherlands. At that time all eight University Medical Centres (UMCs) and the only Faculty of Veterinary Medicine had adopted or were setting up teacher development programmes. This study explores how these programmes relate to each other and to the basic teaching qualification.

A framework of teaching competencies across the medical education continuum.

Background: The quality of teachers in higher education is subject of increasing attention, as exemplified by the development and implementation of guidelines for teacher qualifications at Universities in The Netherlands.

Aim: Because medical education takes a special position in higher education the Council of Deans of Medical Schools in The Netherlands installed a national task force to explore a method to weigh criteria for teacher qualifications of medical teachers.

Methods: A framework was developed covering competencies of teachers throughout the medical education continuum and including medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine.

Student teachers' beliefs about mentoring and learning to teach during teaching practice.

Background: Various interpretations of mentor roles, by teacher educators and mentors, have been described in the literature on mentoring, while those of student teachers have received less attention. Therefore, this study focuses on student teachers' expectations of mentors and their own contributions to their learning process while they are supervised by a mentor.

Aims: The main aims of this study were: (1) bridging the research on mentoring and the research on higher education students' learning conceptions by investigating student teachers' beliefs about mentoring and learning to teach, and (2) comparing these beliefs to mentors' ones and recent views on mentoring and learning in order to make suggestions for improving learning to teach.