Pressures and interventions imposed on medical school teachers regarding students' examination grades

This study was designed to investigate the pressures and interventions experienced by medical school teachers in relation to grades awarded in assessments of students' knowledge.

Of 124 tenured teachers at the University of Split School of Medicine, 91 (73%) participated in the study through the anonymous completion of a questionnaire administered during the 2011-2012 academic year.

A total of 42 (46%) teachers reported having experienced some kind of pressure or intervention imposed by students, students' parents or colleagues that was intended to ensure the student obtained a pass or a better grade on an examination. The most common forms of pressure imposed by students were persistent pleading, 'friendly' requests and crying. Students' parents and staff colleagues mostly used 'friendly' requests or indicated that they would like to discuss a student's results. Colleagues who contacted teachers about students' examination results included doctors who did not work at the school and other teachers at the School of Medicine. As a method of preventing the imposition of such pressures and interventions in relation to examination results, teachers suggested that students should be warned against these practices before their courses started and that appropriate policies should be initiated. Some of the teachers rated some specific pressures or interventions as fully or partially acceptable; these included the making of 'friendly' requests, persistent pleading, crying and yelling. Most of the teachers stated that they would report some instances of such interventions to the school management, but 15 (17%) teachers stated that they would not report any type of pressure.

It is necessary to raise awareness of the unacceptability of such pressures and interventions in relation to examination results, and to change the current professional culture in which the imposition of such pressures by students, their parents and staff colleagues is considered acceptable and common.