Assessment of the existing dental education environment at a dental teaching institution

An important aspect of creating a competent medical practitioner is the teaching-learning environment that shapes the mentality and instigates an urge among the students to learn. To facilitate a motivating learning setup, the faculty members need to inadvertently establish a successful and safe learning environment which is extensively feasible, given that the faculty gets to control their own style of teaching. A lot of research focuses on student's perception of the learning environment, seldom studies have reported the teacher's perspective. This present study focuses on the teacher's side of the story regarding the current scenario of the workplace that is one of the essential factors to alter the approach toward andragogy.

A cross-sectional questionnaire study was carried out using the Assessment of Medical Education Environment by Teachers (AMEET) questionnaire. The AMEET questionnaire was administered to 50 staff members at MA Rangoonwala College of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Pune. All the participants were assured of confidentiality of their personal details and they all signed a written informed consent before participating in the study.

Majority of the participants had a positive attitude which was seen more in the seniors compared to the juniors. The teacher's perception of teaching is that there needs to be a greater emphasis on what the student learns rather than what the teacher does. Junior staff members felt that students do not prepare and come for classes nor are the expected outcomes clear to them. Assignments are also a task for the students that are never on time.

It was observed that more senior faculties were positive toward the existing education environment. In addition, even though opportunities are available for the staff as well as students for upgrading and imbibing newer information, they were not being benefitted by the same due to underutilization.