Negotiation of learning and identity among first-year medical students |
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| Authors: | Elmi Badenhorst Rochelle Kapp |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences , University of Cape Town , Observatory 7925, Cape Town , South Africa elmi.badenhorst@uct.ac.za;3. Centre for Higher Education, Academic Development Programme, Hlanganani Building , University of Cape Town , Rondebosch , 7700 , South Africa |
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| Abstract: | The demand for medical schools to produce competent doctors to meet health needs in South Africa has increased. In response to this challenge, the Faculty of Health Sciences at a relatively elite university introduced a problem-based, socially relevant curriculum in 2002. The classroom environment is designed to facilitate a learning context where students from diverse backgrounds engage critically and learn from each other. This study draws on data from a larger qualitative case study to describe how a group of ‘black’ students who failed their first semester experienced the school–university transition. Drawing on post-structuralist theory, this article analyses how the students negotiated learning and identity. The argument is made that the students re-positioned themselves in deficit, outsider subject positions in order to survive their first year. This article ends with a consideration of the implications for developing a learning environment which recognises difference and fosters diversity. |
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| Keywords: | identity diversity problem-based learning academic support programmes medical students |
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