The need for high-quality teaching practices and general practitioners (GPs) skilled in teaching is ever increasing. The authors determined the quality of teaching in the Göttingen general practice teaching network with regard to equipment, student participation and GPs' motivation for teaching. A questionnaire was mailed to all GPs in the Göttingen teaching network. The response rate was 81% (98/121). GPs considered taking histories (98%), decision-making (98%) and physical examination (94%) to be key elements of teaching in general practice. They felt that somatic topics like upper respiratory tract infections (98%) were easy to teach, while 51% acknowledged difficulties conveying psychosocial topics like caring for dying patients. In only half of the practices did students have the opportunity to take histories and perform physical exams by themselves. Participation in medical education was driven mainly by the satisfaction derived from teaching (66%) and the desire for academic affiliation (39%). GPs in the Göttingen network need support to teach their students more psychosocial-oriented topics and to allow them a more active role in consultations.