Held annually on 5 October since 1994, World Teachers’ Day is an opportunity for us to celebrate teaching across our Faculty and to thank our teaching staff and faculty.
Whether in the classroom, the laboratory or in clinical settings, thank you to our teachers for the education and mentorship that you provide undergraduate and graduate students, residents and fellows.
Teaching is essential to our mission, which is why we are working to augment the value and recognition of teaching across the Faculty. We could not do so without the dedicated work by faculty members, staff, students and residents.
To recognize this work, we are pleased to introduce the Proud to Teach initiative that will highlight many of the wonderful and innovative teaching taking place across our Faculty today, recognizing great teachers for their exceptional work.
These stories will be shared via Med e-News on an ongoing basis through the course of this academic year. Faculty, colleagues, staff and students are invited to share their “Proud to Teach moments” to recognize leadership in teaching with Communications Associate, Matthew Brett (matthew.brett [at] mcgill.ca).
World Teachers’ Day is also an opportunity to take stock of the measures that we are taking to enhance the value and recognition of teaching and the broader education and learning environment across the Faculty.
Guiding this work is our Education Strategic Plan, which places a strong emphasis on learner-centered education and teaching excellence. You can learn about the Education Strategic Plan on the new Health Sciences Education website (www.mcgill.ca/healthsciences-education).
Recent accomplishments include:
– The launch of the new Institute of Health Sciences Education (IHSE)
– A productive Learning Environment Action Panel retreat
–  Expansion of the mandate of the Office of Interprofessional Education
– A strong drive to create a School of Biomedical Sciences
– Newly constituted Education Champions groups in the health professions and basic sciences
We also know that more work needs to be done. The Learning Environment Action Panel continues to strategize and implement measures to foster a safe, supportive and stimulating learning environment that promotes learner and teacher vitality and recognizes excellence in education and teaching.
A recognition workgroup is exploring ways to identify teaching excellence through teaching evaluations while also exploring awards and faculty acknowledgments for exceptional teachers. Capacity-building and knowledge translation workgroups are also busy working to advance teaching and educational innovation and research across the Faculty.
As we begin to settle into this academic year, we would like to thank our teachers, mentors, teaching assistants and staff. We are proud to teach, and we are always learning. Best wishes this academic year and happy World Teachers’ Day. Thank you to all of our teachers.
Sincerely,
Dr. David Eidelman
Vice-Principal (Health Affairs)
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
Dr. Annette Majnemer
Vice-Dean, Education