You can start this as a medical student when you are applying to residency or at any point in  your career.  The key is to update your CV regularly.  USask has a recommended format for your CV and it can be found here.  A CV can be an important document when you apply for a faculty position, an award or for promotion.

A teaching dossier or education portfolio is an important document that accompanies your CV.  It is the place you can describe your teaching philosophy, the various students you have taught throughout your career and their level of training and any courses you have taught including the evaluations.  You can use a teaching dossier to capture comments from learners and your responses to the feedback you have received.  You can also describe what you have done to improve your teaching and the continuing professional development/faculty development you have participated in striving to be the best teacher you can be.  For USask resources to help you with your teaching dossier, click here.   A good strategy is to keep everything related to your teaching including copies of your presentations/ handouts/ evaluations/ innovations in a file on your computer that you can draw on and to your dossier.  You can also scan and save any cards, notes, emails of thanks and correspondence from your learners.  The Gwenna Moss Centre offers courses on compiling your educational portfolio.  Start early and add to this regularly.  A teaching dossier can play an important role in your future academically and it can also be a wonderful reminder and opportunity to reflect on all you have contributed in your role as a teacher!

For those in basic science departments, IAMSE (The international Association for Medical Science Educators) has resources that may be helpful to you including this toolkit to help create a Medical Science Educator Portfolio.  There are sections on Teaching, Learner Assessment, Curriculum Development, Advising and Mentoring and, lastly, Educational Leadership and Administration.  Click here for more information.  These resources help develop a scholarship approach to this work and track your involvement for promotions purposes.  There are also some excellent examples provided.

Looking for opportunities to find scholarship in the day to day work you do can be a challenge but also can be very efficient and rewarding.  If you develop a new course or lecture or a new way of teaching learners clinically, you can evaluate this work and potentially publish it.  Presentations can become papers for publications.  Changes in your teaching including clinical teaching from a quality improvement initiatives in medical education are also be sources of scholarship.  Creative professional activities, innovations, new tools and resources can be developed and peer reviewed in a variety of forums. Be curious, find collaborators and share your work.  A mentor can help as can the supports available through the CoM research office.  Gwenna Moss also supports Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (through SoTL grants).  Join the annual Medical Education Research and Scholarship Day to present or learn about what is happening in the CoM.  Get inspired!

All faculty can consider promotion. Click here for information.

Having a mentor can be a great source of support in any area of your career – clinical, administrative, leadership, teaching and/or research and for your personal growth.   Finding a mentor usually just involves thinking who can help you, challenge and support you and then asking.  There are many definitions of mentors and defined roles for you as the mentee and for your mentor.

For family physicians who are new faculty an introduction to mentoring is described here.

Awards are generally an important consideration for promotion.  Awards are also a wonderful way of recognizing colleagues and celebrating the contributions made by individuals in all areas of the work we do across the province.  Read more about our award-winning faculty here.

Consider applying for the following faculty awards:

University of Saskatchewan awards

• The University of Saskatchewan has a number of faculty teaching awards, as well as funding for projects related to curriculum innovation, experiential learning, scholarship of teaching and learning, open educational resources, and course innovation communities. This website also contains information on how to apply for national and international teaching awards.

External awards

• Canadian Medical Association — deadline for nominations is November 30.
• Resident Doctors of Canada — deadline for nominations is the January 30.
• Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada — nominations are open from July 1 – September 30.
• CaRMS — deadline for nominations is in September, annually.
• Medical Council of Canada — deadline for nominations is May 1.
• Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons - The Royal College also provides research grants and professional development funding.
• College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) — deadline for nominations is in May, annually.
  • The CFPC also provides research grants and professional development funding.
  • Saskatchewan chapter awards.
• Saskatchewan Medical Association – deadline for nominations is February, annually
• Canadian Association for Medical Education 
•  College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan – deadline September 30, annually.

There are opportunities through Gwenna Moss about career development

Other FD supports include:

PeeR Observation and Mentorship Program for Teaching in MEDicine (PROMPT-MED)

The purpose of this program is to provide opportunities for faculty to grow their skill set in teaching through peer observation.  Depending on the goals of the individual faculty member, this flexible program may be a one-time consultation with direct observation of teaching and feedback, or it may be a more long-term mentorship relationship with on-going coaching and development.  Peer observation can also be tailored depending on the predominant type of teaching the faculty member does (e.g. clinical, small group with facilitation, or large group/classroom).  The program will match the faculty member with a peer who has the appropriate teaching experience for the teaching context.  The feedback can used by the faculty member strictly for personal development of teaching, or it can be used for professional development (i.e., promotion and tenure).  Regardless of the context, the goal is providec constructive, practical, and evidence-based feedback in a safe and supportive environment.  If you are interested in this program, please contact Dr. Greg Malin in the College of Medicine. 

A Twitter discussion on promotions can be found here.

STFM has a link for new faculty on career planning.  It is an American resource with some generalizable tips for family physicians considering promotion.

Why is this important?
Sometimes early in your career or if you are on a clinical track, you may not think that promotion is something to consider.  Promotions can help you in your overall career planning especially if at some point you move, choose to take on a leadership role or wish to advance your career beyond a clinical focus.

Need help?
The best source of help for promotions can be your department head.  This is a great time to seek out a mentor and engage with someone who has been through promotions successfully to help guide you through the requirements and the process.

Want to learn more?
Vsit the CoM Faculty Engagement website for more resources.