Introduction:

Learning and teaching methods have changed over time in medical education. Therefore, there is a strong case for investigating the attributes of a model professor in order to formulate new teaching strategies in medical education. This study aimed to ascertain which character traits are viewed in the eyes of medical students and teachers as essential to the profile of a model teacher.

Methods:

This is a quantitative, cross-sectional study conducted with medical students and teachers of the University of Fortaleza (UNIFOR) School of Medicine. Participants were invited to respond to a questionnaire, developed by the authors, addressing the most important characteristics of a model teacher. The respondents were asked to score each characteristic from 1 to 5 to reflect its respective importance.

Results:

A total of 418 people were surveyed, of whom 74 were teachers and 344 students. The highest scoring characteristics in both groups were “Attitude in the teaching environment” and “Interaction with students and colleagues”, although teachers placed more value on these attributes (p = 0.03 and p = 0.006 respectively). “Personality traits” was the least appreciated by the students (p = 0.02). In the “Attitude in the teaching environment” category, facilitating learning and maintaining an ethical attitude with the patient were the most valued characteristics in both groups, although the latter was more appreciated by the teachers (p = 0.001). In the “Interaction with students and colleagues” category, the ability to stimulate student participation was considered least important by the students (p = 0.001). Enthusiasm for teaching scored highly in both groups in the “Personality traits” category, though teachers tended to give rate it more highly than the students (p = 0.001). The analysis of the “Professional development” category showed that, for both groups, involvement in research was the least valued characteristic.

Conclusions:

These results suggest that not only attributes associated with teaching practice, but also teachers’ attitudes in the teaching environment and their interaction with students and colleagues were considered by both groups as important to their identification of a model teacher. They also suggest the necessity for developing strategies to value scientific research and stimulate greater participation of both students and teachers, underlining its importance in medical training.

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