Continuous formation and contributions from medical residence

The aim of this research is the analysis of a Medical Residence program that is already consolidated and well evaluated both academically and socially, in order to understand the doctors formation process and to find out what is the part played by the program participants. We assumed that knowledge resulting from the analysis of doctors and supervisors speeches could bring a useful contribution to teachers Continuous Formation programs. These Continuous Formation programs have not been able to introduce a significant improvement in teaching and it seems that teachers who participate in these programs could hardly ever transfer to classrooms some of the content that had been presented to them. We have taken as a reference the work of pedagogues who have been involved with science teachers professional development and their theories about the profile of competent teachers who may be able to exercise autonomously the function of educators. We then tried to identify Medical Residence participants conceptions that might correspond to those authors theoretical assumptions. The conceptual configuration framework that represents profiles of residents preceptor and supervisor – the actors of the Medical Residence that has been studied – has been designed in order to enable future correlations with the case of teachers continuous formation.