Análisis de características generales

4.1.4.1 What is a Student-Centred Approach?

Teaching styles and approaches mainly relate to how educators control student learning and how much freedom students have for their own learning. This notion is relevant to the contrasting principles of teacher-centred and student-centred approaches. The teacher-centred approach focuses on a low level of student choice, passive learning, and the authority of teachers while student-centred focuses on a high level of student choice, active learning, and power students have over their own learning (O’Neill and McMahon 2005).

The student-centred approach provides students with active engagement in learning contexts, a high level of flexibility in learning, and a power to take control and responsibility for their own learning (O’Neill and McMahon 2005). It can decrease the surface learning and enhance the deep learning

approach (Baeten et al. 2010; Baeten et al. 2013). It is suggested that

educators require an understanding of the student-centred approach in order to effectively support student learning and development (Wall and McAleer 2000; Oliver et al. 2008; Srinivasan et al. 2011). Student-centredness is one aspect of CBE which educators need to appreciate in order to provide effective teaching within the UG-curriculum (Chambers 1998; Frank et al. 2010a).

However, it is not necessary that all students are familiar with student- centred learning. A study by Paukert and Richards (2000) suggested that students at an UG level require educators to get involved in and direct their learning. This is probably because UG students lack foundation knowledge, skills, and experience – student are still in the ‘novice’ and ‘beginner’ stages (see Chapter 2). Additionally, cultural background also provides an influence on student learning (Hofstede et al. 2010). For instance, students in many Eastern countries are familiar with teacher-centred learning; they respect and believe in their educators, perceiving them as ‘information providers’.

Students prefer to listen to educators rather than to discuss in a group. In contrast, students from many Western countries are eager to present their opinions to a group and feel comfortable about arguing with their educators (Kember 2000; Phuong-Mai et al. 2005). This suggests that a teacher-

centred approach may still be required in Eastern countries, while in Western countries students are able to adapt themselves to a student-centred

4.1.4.2 Mentoring, Coaching, and Supervision

While students develop professional knowledge and skills from novice toward competent level, the role of educator gradually changes from providing

information and direction to supporting learning and development (Chambers 1993, 1994; Paukert and Richards 2000). Through reflection, experiential learning, and SDL students control their learning and the development of professional competences. However, these processes also require feedback and support from educators (Mann et al. 2009; Kaufman and Mann 2010). Educators play an essential role in supporting student development, especially within the student-centred approach.

Several terms associated with the role of ‘learning support’ have been

discussed in the literature and sometimes they are used interchangeably and confusingly (D’Abate et al. 2003). For example, mentoring is a process by which an experienced individual provides guidance and support to a novice colleague (Launer 2010). It aims to enhance the growth and development of the novice through several processes including collaboration and role

modelling (Murphy et al. 2005) within a long-term period (D’Abate et al. 2003). In contrast, the term ‘coaching’ is used to describe using an

individual’s potential to help another individual to achieve specific goals in a short-time period and to enhance their performance (D’Abate et al. 2003; Launer 2010). These two terms are commonly used in clinical practice (Fugill 2005; Kalén et al. 2010).

Another term relating to both clinical and non-clinical contexts is supervision. “Supervision covers all one-to-one encounters aimed at promoting

competence and reflective practice” (Launer 2010, p. 112). The author claims that supervision also includes mentoring and coaching. However, one might argue that supervision could involve intervention in learning or practice in some contexts. In a dental practice, for instance, if an unexpected situation happens during student practice, a dental educator needs to take control of

the situation by correcting a student’s work while the student observes the educator. In this context, supervision can cover an ability to recognise unforeseen circumstances and to recover the learning situation and patient trust.

4.1.4.3 Evidence-Based Teaching

A wide-range of contemporary educational strategies for the student-centred approach have been developed and utilised in health professional education including PBL and case-based learning (Colliver 2000; Garvey et al. 2000; Rich et al. 2005; Hendricson et al. 2006). Traditional educational methods (e.g. lectures) have been shown to be insufficient to help students attain a large amount of new knowledge and develop professional competences (Rossomando and Moura 2008). Also recently, the number of publications in dental education research has been growing (Sukotjo et al. 2010). It is essential for educators to understand evidence about which educational strategies work and are appropriate to an UG-curriculum. Educators need to acquire an ability to critically appraise and apply educational evidence to support teaching and learning (Hesketh et al. 2001; Srinivasan et al. 2011; COPDEND 2013a). However, some educators lack awareness and

competence in teaching based on sound evidence (evidence-based teaching) (Masella and Thompson 2004; McLeod et al. 2008). Thus, evidence-based teaching is an area in the further development of dental educators.

4.1.4.4 Implications for Dental Educators

Regarding the Western literature, the student-centred approach provide students more opportunities to develop learning and professional skills than the teacher-centred approach. However, the issues relating to cultural impact on learning have not yet been taken into account. It cannot assume that the student-centred approach is more beneficial to students especially in Eastern countries where the teaching-centred approach is dominant (see Chapter 5).

Hence, an appropriate mixture between teacher-centred and student-centred approaches in the UG-curriculum is desirable. In a context where there is a mixture of students from different background, educators may need to direct student learning at an early stage in an UG-curriculum. This could help students feel comfortable with the teaching and learning strategies. Then, in the later years, educators can gradually introduce student-centred strategies, thereby allowing students to take more responsibility on developing their own learning.

However, several questions which require further investigation arise from the above situation: when and how to use teacher-centred and student-centred approaches to enhance student learning, how much knowledge about these approaches dental educators need to develop, what is the most appropriate role of educators in supporting student learning, and what educational strategies are effective to help students learn?