Dr. Anu Sasidharan

The teaching methodologies in medical colleges can be tilted towards teacher centric or learner centric kind of approach. Recently Medical Council of India has been mandating revised faculty training programmes and one of the objectives of such training programmes is to promote a learner-centred approach. Self-Learning is the vital component of a learner-centred approach in medical education. Through self-learning the learners assume responsibility for their learning thereby facilitating adult learning. However till date, there is no published literature on the existing knowledge, attitude and practice of self-learning among faculty members of a medical college. Unless the existing scenario is clear, it is not possible to decide on the emphasis of self-learning in the revised faculty training programmes across the country. Moreover unless the faculty members are trained adequately, it is near to impossible to promote self-learning in the learners. This pilot research work was chosen as a beginning to determine this gap of knowledge of existing scenario amongst the faculty members in medical colleges. 30 junior level and 30 senior level faculty members voluntarily participated in this study that lasted six months. The results have shown that the attitude and practice of self-learning in faculty members, especially juniors were disappointing and it is high time for research works relating to medical education to be taken up involving faculty members in order to understand the pitfalls in the existing system. © 2017 South India Medico-Legal Association. All rights reserved.