A classroom of life : a qualitative analysis of the reflections of medical students on their entry into an obstetric community of practice

This study looks at how students describe their entry into an Obstetric community of practice.In common with other Health Science Faculties in South Africa the MBChB curriculum offered by the University of Cape Town is in a state of transition with the last final year class of the outgoing curriculum graduating at the end of 2006. The Obstetric programme in the outgoing curriculum provided courses in the fourth and sixth years of study. The fourth year rotation provided students with their first contact with childbirth and the related service I learning environment. The final year programme prepared students for internship and subsequent independent practice. The overall theoretical framework for this study is the situated learning theory of Lave and Wenger (1992), particularly its notions of community of practice and legitimate peripheral participation. Additional insights are provided by ritual theory, with its notions of separation,transition and integration. Other important concepts include the role of reflection in learning and critical discourse analysis as a means of analyzing textual data. Students' descriptions of their entry into an obstetric community of practice in reflective commentaries and a focus group interview provide the data set on which the analysis is based. Specific aspects considered are identities, roles, relationships and issues of power. Shifts in these aspects over time and the implications of these issues for curriculum change are explored. Within a qualitative research framework a case study strategy is employed. The 'case' consists of a 'focal group' of five students purposively selected from the group of students who had voluntarily submitted reflective commentaries. Their commentaries written in their fourth year and the transcription of a focus group interview conducted at the end of their final year provide the data for the analysis. The research process involves a layered, sequential approach. A limited quantitative analysis of demographic data compares the students who submitted commentaries with those who did not. Using a content analysis of all the student commentaries common themes are identified. These inform the more detailed discourse analysis of a sample of textual material derived from the reflective writing and the transcriptions of the focus group interview. The results overall indicate that the spheres of practice for the two years are related but differ in key areas.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

School of Education

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Draper, George

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Thesen, Lucia
• Case, Jenni

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10412

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10412