Page 70 - KNJIGA SAŽETAKA

INOVACIJE I IZAZOVI U OBRAZOVANJU I SESTRINSKOJ SKRBI - KNJIGA SAŽETAKA

Forms of Professional Training and Development of

Healthcare Teachers

The knowledge, skills and commitment that the healthcare teacher brings into the learning
process are necessary for quality and effective teaching of future nurses. Considering the
complexity of healthcare teaching, the developed professional competencies of healthcare
teachers represent a challenge for new curricula and for a modern approach to teaching. In
addition to having the knowledge, teaching strategies and methods for creating an effective
learning environment, healthcare teachers are expected to continuously invest in their own
professional development.
The goal of this research was to examine what forms of professional development healthcare
teachers use for their own professional development.
90 healthcare teachers employed in secondary medical schools in Croatia participated in the
research. The professional development of healthcare teachers was examined using a
customized standardized questionnaire which, in addition to sociodemographic factors,
examines specific data related to the forms of professional development of healthcare teachers.
Specific data included external, internal and organisational factors which influence the forms
of professional training and development of healthcare teachers.
Among the various forms of investment in their own professional training and development,
healthcare teachers most often chose to participate in professional training organized by the
school where they are employed (M = 4.50, SD = 0.95), and go to inter-county expert councils
of healthcare teachers (M = 4.16 , SD = 1.17). This is followed by participating in online courses
and webinars (M = 3.68, SD = 1.19), programmes to improve general teaching competences
(M = 3.61, SD = 1.15), and reading professional literature in the field of psychology, pedagogy
and didactics (M = 3.50, SD = 1.16). The least represented is writing health care
textbooks/manuals (M = 2.00; SD = 0.82), and writing scientific/professional articles (M = 1.87,
SD = 0.81).
This research, which examined what forms of professional development healthcare teachers use
for the purpose of their own professional development, provides important information for the
possible improvement of the professional teacher training. Although healthcare teachers
continuously professionally improve and develop and rate their teaching competencies as high,
the most common forms of training are still at the level of participation in meetings organized
by the school and participation in inter-county activities. Considering the importance and
complexity of nursing education, the additional investment of healthcare teachers in their own
professional development through other possible forms of training is also extremely important,
such as participation in writing professional and scientific articles in the field of health care
teaching or writing textbooks/manuals in the field of health care. Continuous professional
development of teachers will undoubtedly have repercussions on the quality of teaching, which
will then ultimately reflect on the quality and safety of nursing care for patients.

Key words: health care, teacher, professional development

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