The culture of (not) valuing teaching: Perceptions of faculty members in health professions education

INTRODUCTION: In health professions education (HPE), faculty members often combine teaching with patient care and research. Teaching is often perceived as undervalued relative to these other roles, potentially affecting educational quality. Little is known about how faculty members perceive the culture of valuing teaching in their organisation in which competing values, such as being efficient or being flexible, are at stake. The aim of this study is to investigate how the organisational culture of valuing teaching is perceived by faculty members in HPE. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study in a Dutch university, including 18 semi-structured vignette-based interviews with faculty members combining teaching responsibilities with patient care and/or research. The Competing Values Framework by Quinn was used to investigate the competing values. Interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, combining an inductive and deductive approach. RESULTS: Three themes were identified. First, although teaching is claimed to be valued by the university, it is not perceived that way at different levels within the organisation by faculty members. Second, faculty members feel that primarily the fulfilling of formal requirements related to teaching is valued, i.e. fulfilling the required teaching hours, with limited focus on valuing teaching quality, teamwork and professional development. Lastly, the culture of valuing teaching is perceived to differ among departments. DISCUSSION: The culture of valuing teaching is perceived to be characterised by a dominant focus on efficiency and formal requirements and limited focus on flexibility and human aspects, which might hamper experimentation and innovations in education. Some departmental leaders are perceived to be able to navigate these competing values of efficiency and flexibility in teaching from the faculty members' perspectives. These findings suggest that valuing teaching requires leadership practices that carefully balance competing values.