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Influence of Student Feedback on the Quality of Teaching among Clinical Teachers in Bahrain

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Abstract

Background

The effect of student feedback on teaching quality has been well-documented. However, only a few studies have examined the impact of feedback on clinical teachers delivering cross-border medical education in this geographical region. The aim of this study is to investigate (i) the quality of teaching among clinical teachers in a cross-border medical education setup, (ii) the impact of student feedback on teaching effectiveness, (iii) the differences in ratings among different groups of students, and (iv) factors that improve clinical teaching.

Methods

Fifty-seven clinical teachers and 140 students participated in this study. Teachers received feedback on their performance and were allowed to reflect on them. Six months later, the teachers received feedback again. Additionally, semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 5 selected clinical teachers working in 2 different hospitals to explore the factors that influenced clinical teaching.

Result

Overall, nearly half of the clinical teachers (n = 25) showed a trend of greater scores in the second assessment, while most of the remaining teachers (n = 24) continued to have more or less the same score or marginal fall in the second assessment. Even though few clinical teachers demonstrated significantly lesser scores, careful observation of data showed that the mean value of the second score either remained above (n = 5) or closer (n = 2) to the cut-off value of 3.74, except one teacher who recorded the least mean score of 3.17 in the second assessment. In qualitative analysis, teachers emphasised that the student feedback allowed them to develop more effective teaching approaches and strategies.

Conclusion

The pattern of results suggests that the effect of student feedback on teaching quality can have multiple outcomes, mostly positive or neutral, and very rarely negative. This study also advocates that feedback can be more beneficial if strengthened by other interventions like faculty training.

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Abbreviations

mSETQ:

modified systematic evaluation of teaching qualities

RCSI Bahrain:

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland–Bahrain

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Availability of Data and Material

The datasets used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. RCSI Bahrain, P.O. Box 15503, Adliya, Kingdom of Bahrain

    Ahmed Al Ansari, Kathryn Strachan, Shaima Al Balooshi, Amal Al-Qallaf & Sameer Otoom

  2. Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain

    Ahmed Al Ansari

Authors
  1. Ahmed Al Ansari
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  2. Kathryn Strachan
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  3. Shaima Al Balooshi
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  4. Amal Al-Qallaf
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  5. Sameer Otoom
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Contributions

AAA and KS contributed to the conception and design of the study. SAB and AAQ worked on the data accusation. AAA and SO contributed on the data analysis and interpretation of the data. AAA, SA, KS, SO, and AAQ contributed on the drafting of the manuscript. AAA gave the final approval of the version to be published.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ahmed Al Ansari.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

The research was approved by the Research and Ethics Committee at the RCSI–Bahrain and was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Not Applicable.

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Al Ansari, A., Strachan, K., Al Balooshi, S. et al. Influence of Student Feedback on the Quality of Teaching among Clinical Teachers in Bahrain. Med.Sci.Educ. 30, 253–262 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-019-00892-1

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