Student perceptions of the education environment in a Spanish medical podiatry school

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to explore students’ perceptions of the educational environment (EE) in a Spanish school of podiatry. Various aspects of EE were compared by academic year in the program. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire to collect perceptions using data from a 2015 survey. Podiatric medical students from Extremadura University participated in this study. EE was assessed with the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) tool. The DREEM questionnaire covers five domains of student perceptions, including learning, teachers, academic self-perceptions, atmosphere, and social self-perceptions. RESULTS: Two hundred thirty-five students participated, resulting in a 90.73% response rate. Participants included similar numbers of students from different years in the program, and most were women. The global EE score was 2.58 out of 4, indicating that students’ perceptions were more positive than negative. Although some weaknesses were detected in this school, students viewed the EE positively in all five DREEM domains. Academic year in the program were generally not related to perceptions of EE. CONCLUSIONS: Podiatric medical students declared, in general, that the EE was more positive than negative in our school, according to the DREEM questionnaire. However, although the results are on the whole good, some areas need to be revised to make improvements.