I have just spent the day at a local agricultural show, where the announcer for the grand parade of beef cattle (a retired auctioneer) spoke more about the local butchers than farmers! It has got me thinking what these shows achieve: competition, social cohesion in rural areas, entertainment and some education amongst other things, but also perhaps what they do not achieve. For those with no connection with agriculture, do they really learn where their food comes from or how it is produced? There is a desperate need for the public to better understand agriculture but is anyone presenting a coherent ‘farm to fork’ narrative that the public can engage with?
As the summer draws to a close and the university academic year begins again, I have also been reflecting on education generally as well as the specific changes in our sector. For the vets amongst you, on entering veterinary education you learned anatomy, physiology, animal management, pathology, pharmacology etc. and then applied much of that knowledge in clinical situations. Even in the more integrated ‘case-based learning’ veterinary programmes we now have, the same basic principles apply. Furthermore, much of what we learn as vets, at least as undergraduates, is dictated by others, in a large part by the RCVS Day One Competencies.
In veterinary education core clinical skills will always remain central to those working in clinical practice, but students fixate sometimes on certain skills and may shy away from what they see as ‘non-clinical’ or less interesting or important content, like epidemiology, data management or communication and professional studies. This mindset can at times be reinforced during extramural studies (EMS), with colleagues emphasising certain skills as being critically important. However, as illustrated by the article in this edition of Livestock on Mastitis Pattern Analysis (Breen and Manning, pp202–208), the ways we monitor and manage disease in animal populations is increasingly about how we analyse and interpret data, and not just our hands on clinical and diagnostic skills. As role models we all need to encourage our early career colleagues to value these data driven skills they will increasingly need.
How learning takes place is constantly changing, the pandemic accelerated that change, with online and remote learning becoming the only way we could deliver education for a short period. Both teachers and learners discovered that some material was better delivered that way, or that to offer remote learning allowed students more flexibility in when, and where they studied, even if what they studied was still quite tightly defined. These more flexible teaching and learning modalities however also offer the option to not only deliver material in a more flexible way, but in some cases to offer a broader range of subject matter with elective elements. Learning environments have probably now changed forever. Despite this I am sure those of us working in universities will be asked again at the start of this academic year, ‘When will teaching return to normal?’ by some students or their parents. What was normal for those studying at university 20–30 years ago is not today's normal and I think we would all be disappointed if it were! It has evolved and changed in very many ways for the better and should continue to do so.
Despite all the changes that have occurred, I write this a week before the first World Buiatrics Congress since the pandemic. I will not be the only one looking forward to the chance to meet colleagues again in an international forum. The social side that accompanies our learning is also important. I hope by the time you read this many of you will have attended that meeting, or will be looking forward to the upcoming national meetings of the BCVA, SVS, PVS etc. We can learn online, but we share ideas and stories and support each other best when we are physically together.