DO MEDICAL TEACHERS NEED ACCOUNTABILITY?

A TIME TO THINK

Dr.T.V.Rao MD

India has volume of Medical Teachers but our educational system is

poor and unaccounted, I would not have written an article if I was younger, as I was at the mercy of

many of Senior professors who lives to spend Time and make as much as possible out of the

weaknesses in the system, The quality of teaching has a significant impact on student learning.

Higher standards require more of educators just as they require more of students too interested in

learning exploring the new ideas for future goals in life. Teachers must be knowledgeable about

state and local standards, about the content they teach, and about a range of instructional

approaches that will enable them to help all students. I really feel sad many Teacher just carry the

same message what they have spoken many decades back and do not accept any change as we have

never explored the idea Teacher accountability Teachers and administrators must understand how

to use information from assessments and student work to improve instruction for both individual

students and school programs. However our struggles start when we question what is our role as

Teachers, Many says students are entirely responsible for the failures, I totally disagree that we have

a role to ascertain, Ok it will serve the purpose for some Time but the Institutes and colleges collapse

very soon than later it is exactly happening in many Engineering colleges with no accountability on

Students and very few or inefficient teachers same phenomenon will encroach on the Medical

Colleges, as many Doctors we produce will certainly become non performers or even dangerous too

lacking basic life support skills.

I was reading a wonderful quote of and much impressed to propagate —Maya Angelou

This is the value of the teacher, who looks at a face and says there's something behind

that and I want to reach that person, I want to influence that person, I want to encourage

that person, I want to enrich, I want to call out that person who is behind that face,

behind that colour, behind that language, behind that tradition, behind that culture. I

believe you can do it. I know what was done for me.

However we cannot make every Teacher or Student better still we can wish to make a little better

things just think deeply about the subject matter, take on more challenging work, and even pursue

careers in a particular field of study. When I ask the Medical students, they are bored with outdated

ideas of the teachers many hard working, meritorious students wish to progress with their own

search for the better talents as is happening in many Government and Institutes of repute, Years of

research on teacher quality support the fact that effective teachers not only make students feel

good about school/ college and learning, but also that their work actually results in increased

student achievement. Studies have substantiated that a whole range of personal and professional

qualities are associated with higher levels of student achievement. For example, we know that

verbal ability, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, ability to use a range of teaching

strategies skilfully, and enthusiasm for the subject characterize more successful teachers. The

Medical Council of India is drastically reducing the Teaching ratios between students and Teachers it

is going to be catastrophic as we are producing many graduates who are non-performers, and very

badly performing postgraduates with many non performing Staff who just remain to enjoy the

benefits without accountability as just live for the sake of Medical Council of India regulations, if the

system to continue with effectiveness there would be not only Student assessments but regular

Teacher assessments that teachers want and need feedback, not only on the act of teaching, but

also on the results of teaching. Timely, informative feedback is vital to any improvement effort.

Assessing Teacher Effectiveness

Most educators would agree that they are responsible for student learning, but the profession as a

whole has avoided evaluations based on measures of student learning, sometimes with good reason,

given the unfair approaches that have been proposed. The solution, however, is not to continue with

traditional strategies simply because they are benign and comfortable, and live in comfort Zone but

rather to develop fair and reasonable means of assessing teacher success with students. Developing

fair approaches for the assessment of teacher effectiveness requires an unflinching look at both the

legitimate concerns that have driven the avoidance of a results orientation in the past, and the

promising possibilities that make it more attractive in today's climate of greater accountability for

student learning outcomes. Ultimately, everyone must work together to increase student learning.

Knowing whether their children measure up to common standards helps parents and the public hold

school systems accountable and identify when additional resources are needed and justified.

Medicine is a complex profession however to fix the parameters is difficult, No single test is a perfect

measure of what a student’s knows and can do. Students learn in many ways and should have many

ways to demonstrate what they have learned. Important educational decisions about a college or

students, We should always take into account relevant information about student achievement in

addition to test scores as many private Institutes market the results as score of success of

departments Professors and Head of the Departments,

I WISH MANY SINCERE TEACHERS TO CONTRIBUTE THEIR BETTER IDEAS AS OUR EDUCATIONAL

SYSTEM IS LIKE JURASIC PARK WAITING FOR DISINTEGRATION AND EXCINTON OF MANY SPECIES OF

TEACHERS

Ref The Power of an Effective Teacher and Why We Should Assess It Linking Teacher Evaluation and

Student Learning by Pamela D. Tucker and James H. Stronge

Dr.T.V.Rao MD professor of Microbiology Freelance Writer