EDITORIAL

Veterinary education: challenges of the future

The environment for veterinary education has always provided exciting challenges. For example, despite the impor- tance of the task, it has not been easy to find the resources to meet the expectations of the community and the demands of the profession. What will it be like in the future? This will be considered under three headings: political, professional and educational.

The political environment is controlled mainly from Canberm, where paymasten and their minders have recently caused major changes in the structure of higher education, including more direct government control over universities. They have also made words about the appraisal of staff performance, and the promoting of quality. Regular appraisal can help improve staff performance,

especially if it is linked with credible programs for main- taining and updating skills, and with appropriate rewards. At present, there is a perception in the ranks that the reward structure is biassed towards research, and that it gives inadequate recognition to teaching quality. This must be rectified.

The importance of quality is paramount. Unfortunately, when this term is used by the education bureaucrat it usuaIly causes concern, mainly because of lack of clarity. It is not clear what the term is intended to mean, and how this can be measured. It is clear that the resources available to promote quality

have diminished and are now inadequate; that real im- provements in government funding are unlikely irrespec- tive of who is in power in Canberra, and that an increasing proportion of budgets must come from outside sources including grants, contracts and fees. There is a risk here that the seeking of money could take precedence over the fostering of teaching, but this can be resisted under strong leadership. The professional environment for which the veterinary

schools prepare their products is increasing in breadth, depth and complexity. Major developments are occurring in knowledge and techniques in all facets, and in the paradigms upon which they are based. A notable example is the effect of molecular biology and biotechnology on the diagnosis, treat- ment, control and study of animal disease, and on the breeding and husbandry of animals.

The professional perspective of most students is focussed on private practice, but mn after graduation many decide that their careers lie elsewhere. Many, disillusioned and disap- pointed, leave the profession. Others take a more creative look at their veterinary background, and use it to fmd - or create - a satisfying niche for themselves. It is important that the veterinary profession be seen to embrace such non-traditional forms of professional activity. The educational environment must take account of all these

factors. However, the veterinary course cannot accommodate all the knowledge and techniques necessary for competent - let alone expert - performance in all relevant areas.

Developing veterinarians need to acquire underlying prin- ciples, and to develop the intellectual and technical skills necessary to build on these principles and to use them to solve practical problems. This view - that the emphasis should be on principles rather

than details, on understanding rather than memorising - is now widely held. It has been expressed in similar terms in recent reports in the USA, Europe and Britain. But much work is needed before it becomes a reality. The length of the veterinary course is not likely to in-

crease. Indeed, the move to second-year entry at Melbourne, and active discussion on four- year graduate courses for medicine, suggest a move towards decreased time for professional subjects. Thus new material - on recent developments, and on other species, techniques or approaches - can only be added after pruning of current content. But, many veterinary teachers will argue, “I cannot do justice to my subject in less time; I need more”.

Such a philosophy can only lead to further overloading of the students’ cerebral circuits. Principles will increasingly be lost in details, and learning of details willbecome burdensome to the point of diminishing motivation and stifling the stimulus for self-learning. This problem will be exacerbated if assessment is based on the recall of facts, rather than the solving of problems. The nature of the assessment is a powerful director of

student learning. Students will learn in a problem-based way if this form of learning is rewarded by the examination system. Thus an emphasis on defining, and examining for, the qualities required at graduation and at each stage of veterinary education, will be an important stimulus for change in the nature of student learning, and in the capabilities of the graduates. Terms such as educational objectives and competency-

based education are often used for this approach of working back from a defined, examinable end-point. But there are traps in using these terms and concepts in an uncritical way. They are used mainly to refer to attributes that can be measurixk to competencies that can be assessed; objectives that can be seen to be mastered, to specific skills and knowledge that can be examined. Unfortunately, some other vital attributes are harder to

measure and, because of this, are often given less overt atten- tion. These attributes include the ability to interact effectively with clients and colleagues; to maintain appropriate ethical standark, to take responsibility for one’s professional perfor- mance; to have the judgement to know one’s limits; to have the wit and the will to evaluate critically one’s actions and to take appropriate remedial action; to locate ’new’ information and skills, and to assess them critically before use. Though important and able to be learned some of these a~ difficult to assess and to teach. Unfortunately, sometimes the opposite effect is achieved.

For example, a critical, analytical approach to “new”

Australian Veterinary Journal, Vol69, No. 3, March 1992 49

infomation is unlikely to be developed in students who are required in examinations to regurgitate faithfully the iaterpretations of the teacher. What is needed is an environment where students are encouraged to question and critically analyse information presented to them. This, however, can be a threatening experience for a teacher, as many of us are more comfortable i n a situation where students are encouraged to accept uncritically what they read, and are told.

The role of the teacher in the learning of these less tangible attributes is vital; certainly no less than for learn- ing the things that are easier to measure. Teachers who demonstrate by their behaviour that they value high stand- ards of professional performance and self-evaluation for example, will be likely to inculcate such qualities in their students. Some of these qualities may be developed almost unconsciously, but others require the conscious creation of appropriate conditions.

The funding situation will dictate that further efforts be made to increaseefficiency. To this end,advantages may come from the thoughtful use of well-designed instructional technology, and greater integration and collaboration between veterinary schools.

In all of this, the teacher occupies the central role - as creator of the educational environment, as presenter of material, as demonstrator of skills, as model of desirable professional behaviour, and as custodian of professional Standards.

Veterinarians in private practice and government service are playing a key role, and their importance is likely to increase. This increase may be coupled with enhanced recognition: with making them feel more a part of the university com- munity: providing better access to facilities; providing help

in refining teaching skills, and in continuing education generally.

One w o n for an increase in the relative importance of part-time and extramural teachers is likely to be a difficulty in enticing the most able veterinary graduates back into leadership roles in the veterinary schools. This is one of the greatest challenges facing Australian veterinary schools over the years ahead.

It is a particular challenge in relation to women. They are urgently needed both for their professional qualities and as role models for female students. It is a matter of great regret that the number of female veterinary teachers, especially in senior positions, is so small especially in relation to the number of female students.

At present, many of the best young veterinarkm - male and female -believe, and with good reason, that our univer- sities offer too little reward for the level of training and other effort required, alternative employers, often overseas, are seen to be more attractive. But if the less-than-best become the teachers, they will

be unlikely to command the respect of the best of the next generation, and these people will be even less likely to put our veterinary schools on their career paths, or to encourage their able colleagues from elsewhere to come here. This cycle must be broken if the veterinary schools are to train, educate, encourage and stimulate our suc- cessors to be the creative leaders of our profession in the future. These are challenges worthy of our best efforts.

Trevor Heath Academic Board Offiie,

University of Queensland 4072

Australia's Universities through the Looking Glass

Professor David Penington, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, delivered the inaugural Sir Robert Menzies Oration at that university on 30 October 1991. He concluded: Australia's university system has reached the end of a

'branch' evolution, down a path of central funding and con- trol. The defects become yearly more evident as we are unable to meet ever increasing demands placed upon us. We must now return to the mainstream of university development. We have been prone to gaze into the looking glass, con-

strained in our thinking by how we now appear. We need to venture beyond. Change is never easy, but change we must if we are to continue to develop as the country needs us to do. Australia is at a turning point in its history as we strive for international competitiveness. We must 'invest' in people and in ideas, not in student numbers, in central prescriptions or dictates. Higher education has a critical role to play in helping the country to take, once more, an honoured place in the community of nations with a confident and secure economic, social and cultural destiny.

We are urged to become a clever country, with much talk of skills and mastery of facts, aided by the new information technology. But we need more than this. The poet, TS Eliot, is one of many commentators to have outlined the tenuous link between wisdom and knowledge:

Where is the life we have lost in living? Where i s the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? TS Eliot, Choruses from The Rock.

What the country needs, as never before, is to benefit from the fruits of wisdom. Ausoralia's universities have a very special responsibility in this regard. Higher education has a critical role to play in helping the country to take, once more, an honoured place in the community of nations with a Conf- dent and secure economic, social and cultural destiny. We must rise to the challenge.

50 Australian VeteriMly Journal, Vol69, No. 3, March 1992