Faculty development: yesterday, today and tomorrow

Medical education has evolved to become a discipline in its own right. With demands on medical faculties to be socially responsible and accountable, there is now increasing pressure for the professionalisation of teaching practice. Developing a cadre of professional and competent teachers, educators, researchers and leaders for their new roles and responsibilities in medical education requires faculty development. Faculty development is, however, not an easy task. It requires supportive institutional leadership, appropriate resource allocation and recognition for teaching excellence. This guide is designed to assist those charged with preparing faculty for their many new roles in teaching and education in both medical and allied health science education. It provides a historical perspective of faculty development and draws on the medical, health science and higher education literature to provide a number of frameworks that may be useful for designing tailored faculty development programmes. These frameworks can be used by faculty developers to systematically plan, implement and evaluate their staff development programmes. This guide concludes with some of the major trends and driving forces in medical education that we believe will shape future faculty development.