Music lessons: revealing medicine's learning culture through a comparison with that of music
Open accessAbstract
Context: Research on medical learning has tended to focus on the individual learner, but a sufficient understanding of the learning process requires that attention also be paid to the essential influence of the cultural context within which learning takes place. In this study, we undertook a comparative examination of two learning cultures – those of music and medicine – in order to unearth assumptions about learning that are taken for granted within the medical culture. Methods: We used a constructivist grounded theory approach to explore experiences of learning within the two cultures. We conducted nine focus groups (two with medical students, three with residents, four with music students) and four individual interviews (with one clinician‐educator, one music educator and two doctor‐musicians), for a total of 37 participants. Analysis occurred alongside and informed data collection. Themes were identified iteratively using constant comparisons. Results: Cultural perspectives diverged in terms of where learning should occur, what learning outcomes are desired, and how learning is best facilitated. Whereas medicine valued learning by doing , music valued learning by lesson . Whereas medical learners aimed for competence, music students aimed instead for ever‐better performance. Whereas medical learners valued their teachers for their clinical skills more than for their teaching abilities, the opposite was true in music, in which teachers' instructional skills were paramount. Self‐assessment challenged learners in both cultures, but medical learners viewed self‐assessment as a skill they could develop, whereas music students recognised that external feedback would always be required. Conclusions: This comparative analysis reveals that medicine and music make culturally distinct assumptions about teaching and learning. The contrasts between the two cultures illuminate potential vulnerabilities in the medical learning culture, including the risks inherent in its competence‐focused approach and the constraints it places on its own teachers. By highlighting these vulnerabilities, we provide a stimulus for reimagining and renewing medicine's educational practices.
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Critical feedback is exchanged more readily when it is normalized by a learning culture in the training of athletes and musicians.
“It has also been found in the training of athletes and musicians that critical feedback is exchanged more readily when it is normalized by a learning culture [38, 84].”
From Guidelines: The do’s, don’ts and don’t knows of feedback for clinical education. (2015) · cites this paper as [84]
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- Authors
- Watling, C., Driessen, E., van der Vleuten, C. P. M., Vanstone, M., & Lingard, L.
- Affiliations
- Western University (CA)
- Maastricht University (NL)
- Department of Education Development and Research Maastricht University Maastricht the Netherlands
- McMaster University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Watling, Christopher
- Venue
- Medical Education
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2013-07-10
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 842-850
- ISSN
- 0308-0110 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2923
- OpenAlex
- W2030429140
- Cited by
- 72
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 6.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Medical Education (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Innovations in Medical Education
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Music › Diverse Music Education Insights
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health and Medical Education
- Keywords
- music education, hands-on learning, competence versus performance, self-assessment, feedback, teacher instructional skills, medical students, music students, medical education reform
- MeSH terms
- Education, Medical, Undergraduate, Educational Measurement, Humans, Learning, Music, Self-Assessment, Students, Medical, Teaching, Focus Groups
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