Placing education at the core of what we do

Source: https://cumming.ucalgary.ca/about/cumming-school-medicine/our-priorities/placing-education-core-what-we-do Parent: https://cumming.ucalgary.ca/

We inspire, support and advocate for our learners to be skilled professionals,   leaders and critical thinkers.

Objectives

1. Canadian medical school leader in educational experience
2. Value research and teaching faculty equally
3. Expand capacity to train medical learners in distributed sites throughout southern Alberta

Principles

• Promote educators and empower learners
• Value all education programs equally throughout CSM
• Value educational scholarship on par with research productivity
• Acknowledge clinical faculty as vital to the teaching mission of the school
• Develop education specific metrics for faculty success and promotion
• Recruit and retain a population of diverse learners and faculty
• Attend to the learner voice and elevate the learner experience
• Integrate anti-racism, anti-oppression, Indigenous content and pedagogy, and EDIA in all curricula

Strategies

1.      Attend to the learner voice and elevate the learner experience

• Deliberate and proactive inclusion of learner feedback in curricula development, policy development and approval, priority setting for learners and education for CSM more broadly
• Equal access to resources for learners in different education programs (ie. counselling, career guidance, rest spaces, lounge access)

2.     Establish safe reporting mechanisms for concerns in the learning and working environment

• Develop and/or expand safe avenues for disclosure in the learning and working environment
• Engage learners and faculty with the Protected Disclosure and Research Integrity office (PDRI)
• Establish a robust Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) process that regularly reviews processes, barriers to reporting and outcomes

3.     Enhance accessibility of all CSM programs to diverse members of our community

• Further develop pathways for admissions to all education programs
• Increase rural applicants and develop a more direct pathway to practice rural medicine
• All CSM education programs to conduct regular review of admissions pathways
• Work toward achieving a learner population that reflects our diverse communities

4.     Education programs proactively address EDIA and anti-racism in their curricula

• Programs commit to regular review of curricula and teaching materials to ensure EDIA and anti-racism is incorporated
• Educational leadership engages with leaders in EDIA and anti-racism
• Principles reflected in parallel admissions pathways incorporated into all education programs

5.     Value of teaching recognized by equitable remuneration and metrics for promotion

• Develop education specific metrics for faculty success and promotion
• Work with CSM and university leadership to create equivalent remuneration for faculty appointed in the teaching and research domain
• Contributions of clinical teachers are equally valued and recognized
• Survey clinical faculty regarding teaching roles and relationship with CSM
• Equitable remuneration for academic and clinical faculty for teaching activities
• Scholarship in education valued on par with scientific research in pathway to promotion and as a career track

6.     Research and scholarship in medical education regarded as academic work and supported by CSM

• Financial and infrastructure support to recruit and retain scholars in medical education with the goal of building a robust community of medical education researchers
• Recognition of educational scholarship as a viable path to academic career promotion for faculty members
• Support for learners to develop experience in education, research/scholarship