Abstract:

Educators at different developmental professional stages, tend to hold diverse roles which differ in terms of their demands and skills and different interfaces (clients/ students/ colleagues etc.). Conflicts often arise because of these different roles. This conflict, known in the literature as professional role identity, is considered to be the extent to which the person has established a personal commitment to the profession and considers it to be an important aspect of who they are.

When we examine the modes of interaction with interfaces, we find confusion and overlapping between the ability to identify the most relevant types of action according to the roles we are required to perform.

Academic institutions strive to be relevant to the students' future world of work. There is a trend towards integrating lecturers who are experts in their field into academic teaching. This reality often creates conflicts in the role of lecturer in academia versus being an expert in the field.

This presentation will focus on PBL tutoring as a case study, representing the conflicts set out above.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is well known for enhancing students’ problem-solving skills and teamwork abilities. The role of PBL tutors is to facilitate the learning process, discussion and maintain a positive group climate (Young & Papinczak, 2013). Studies have explored the challenges for tutors to transition from lecturers to facilitators.

In this study we will present a specific example of conflict among lecturers in the field of health professions. The conclusions can be applied in all academic fields.

This presentation focuses on health profession practitioners that facilitate PBL groups and how they develop their professional identity during the transition from the position of practitioner to the role of a PBL group facilitator. The transition might be confusing for them in that their role in this position is to tutor rather than to treat.

The current study includes 35 health profession practitioners with an average of 7.4 years of professional experience. Participants were asked to describe issues and dilemmas that occurred while facilitating groups and how they solved them. We found a recurring narrative; educators identified dilemmas that challenged their role as tutors and created confusion between the two roles. Based on this, we propose that this presentation will present a model suggesting a practical solution that will enable the practitioner-educator to deal with dilemmas, while identifying their core role/ profession. Professional identity will lead to the correct selection that best suits the problem, thereby improving the specific job requirement. The assimilation of the model will enable practitioner-educators experiencing the dual roles, to adapt the most efficient coping mechanism according to the source of the dilemmas that arise.

Keywords:

Higher education, challenges and strengths.