Background: Recognizing the challenges that teachers face offers a platform for devising innovative teaching strategies, thereby boosting teacher performance. This study seeks to pinpoint the obstacles teachers encounter while conducting small problem-based learning (PBL) groups and to recommend measures that guide educational institutions in determining teacher training needs. Furthermore, the study explores the creation of interventions to bolster PBL teaching practices.

Methods: Utilizing a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were administered, prompting participants to contemplate the difficulties of instructing small PBL groups. Ten medical educators, purposefully selected based on their PBL teaching experience, participated. Verbatim transcripts were meticulously analysed using thematic analysis, facilitating code production, comparison, and overarching theme generation.

Results: The data underscored challenges associated with adopting PBL in a traditional educational setting, emphasizing the imperative for honed facilitation skills, fostering motivation towards PBL, and addressing the ramifications of students' conventional learning backgrounds. Notably, the accruement of experience over time, the enhanced confidence from managing diverse PBL groups, and the importance of knowledge exchange and shared experiences emerged as vital for PBL educators' professional growth.

Conclusions: Actively supporting teachers as they navigate shifts in their roles and urging the incorporation and adept application of teaching techniques can elevate teacher efficacy. Recommendations include the initiation of a teacher development program, the allocation of ample time and resources for student participation in PBL activities, the introduction of a comprehensive teacher assessment system, and the integration of quantitative research methods to further enrich teacher practices and professional advancement.

The dataset was collected through semi-structured interviews with ten faculty members of the School of Medicine at King Faisal University. The selection of participants was guided by a maximum variation sampling strategy to ensure a broad representation of experiences based on gender and years of teaching experience. Each interview was conducted individually and lasted approximately 60 minutes, focusing on the educators' experiences and perspectives related to teaching in a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) environment.

After the interviews were conducted, each session was recorded and transcribed verbatim to maintain the integrity and accuracy of the data. The transcripts were then anonymized to protect the identities of the participants. Subsequent data processing involved a thematic analysis where the transcripts were carefully reviewed to identify and categorize common themes and variations in the responses. This qualitative analysis was facilitated by the use of coding software, which helped to systematically organize and analyze the data, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the diverse instructional experiences among the faculty.