The Teaching and Learning (T&L) Thematic Working Group (TWG) is organized around ways to improve the teaching and learning of Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR). This is a period of growth of the field of HPSR, with innovation and new developments in a wide variety of HPSR methods and applications. There is a pressing need to better define the field of HPSR and improve the capabilities of teaching institutions and tutors to teach and apply HPSR, and to keep up with these new developments. There is also an increasing demand for qualified HPSR teachers, trainers and practitioners by governments, public health, clinical and other organizations and stakeholders in health systems.
There have been dramatic changes in the learning technologies available to teach and assess learning, forcing educational organizations to re-think how they teach, train or build capacities as well as why they teach the way they do, that are intimately linked to the strategic roles of education in the development of health systems. Furthermore, there is evident gap in teaching and capacity building research in field of HSPR which requires attention proposed by the TWG.
This TWG aims to continue offering spaces where these issues can be discussed, teaching materials and pedagogical tools shared, and the ability to research, network and collaborate with those involved in the educational mission of teaching and learning HPSR. This Thematic Working Group aims to continue providing networking and support to those involved in the educational mission of teaching and learning HPSR as well as create a platform to build the field of HPSR. The TWG aims to support adapting new methods of teaching, building national health system capacities to face the evolving pandemics that challenged health systems.
Objectives
- Provide an interdisciplinary forum for teachers, students, education administrators, trainers and those interested in the teaching and learning of HPSR to collaborate and share information about the scope of the field, educational approaches, curriculum development, pedagogical techniques, teaching and learning materials, innovations in teaching and learning, HPSR research, and other capacity building issues related to the teaching and learning of HPSR.
- Develop and implement a strategy to support Health Systems Global membership (particularly early career researchers via the Emerging Voices for Global Health TWG) in the area of teaching and learning HPSR, including the oversight of a section at the biennial Global Symposium on Health Systems Research.
- Provide a platform for knowledge sharing and dissemination on teaching and learning HPSR, using web-based strategies, and by producing special issues of journals on teaching and learning HPSR.
- Promote dissemination and exchange of information amongst students and faculty; trainers and learners; between educational institutions; development organizations; and governments in the area of teaching and learning HPSR.
- Strengthen HPSR in LMICs. There is a critical lack of capacity in many LMICs institutions, which hampers embedding research and program evaluation in the policy process. Retention of young and promising researchers is especially problematic and undermines country capacity.
Activities
Key activities include hosting webinars, workshops, meetings at global events, regional activities, and the development and hosting of the HPSR training database. The T&L TWG also aims to develop and maintain a repository for materials on teaching and learning HPSR, including curricula, syllabi, competencies, lectures, case studies, and other learning and examination materials, seeking to identify their strong points and gaps.
