Twenty-five years of the international Bled course for teachers of family medicine in Europe: glancing back and looking forward

Abstract

The international Bled course for teacher training has played a central role in faculty development in family medicine for the past 25 years. The course was originally designed to promote faculty development for family medicine teachers in the new academic discipline of family medicine in Slovenia in 1990 and to introduce new topics into the family medicine curriculum. In this background paper, we perform a SCOT analysis (strengths, challenges, opportunities, and threats) of the current course, evaluating participant feedback and reviewing past topics and their impact on local and international teaching programmes. We also review the place of the course in the context of other teacher-training programmes in family medicine in Europe. We found that the structure and learning aims of the Bled course have remained stable over 25 years. It provides a safe, well-structured learning environment for the participants even though the course topic is different every year. The course has had a significant impact on curriculum development and teacher training in Slovenia as well as in many other countries in Europe and beyond. Because of the positive impact of the course and the high degree of satisfaction of the participants and course directors, it seems worthwhile to continue this endeavour. New directions for the course will depend on the learning needs of the participants and the evolving medical curricula in the countries they represent.