Critical orientations for humanising health sciences education in South Africa

Abstract

In this article, the authors make a case for the ’humanisation' and ’decolonisation' of health sciences curricula in South Africa, using integration as a guiding framework. Integration refers to an education that is built on a consolidated conceptual framework that includes and equally values the natural or biomedical sciences as well as the humanities, arts and social sciences, respecting that all of this knowledge has value for the practice of healthcare. An integrated curriculum goes beyond add-on or elective courses in the humanities and social sciences. It is a curriculum that includes previously marginalised sources of knowledge (challenging knowledge hierarchies and decolonising curricula); addresses an appropriate intellectual self-image in health sciences education (challenging the image of the health professional); promotes understanding of history and social context, centring issues of inclusion, access and social justice (cultivating a social ethic) and finally, focuses on care and relatedness as an essential aspect of clinical work (embedding relatedness in practice). The article offers a brief historical overview of challenges in health and health sciences education in South Africa since 1994, followed by a discussion of contemporary developments in critical health sciences pedagogies and the medical and health humanities in South Africa. It then draws on examples from South Africa to outline how these four critical orientations or competencies might be applied in practice, to educate health professionals that can meet the challenges of health and healthcare in contemporary South Africa.

The behavioural and social sciences as hidden curriculum in UK dental education: A qualitative study

“…7,47 An integrated curriculum 'includes and equally values the natural or biomedical sciences as well as the humanities, arts and social sciences, respecting that all of this knowledge has value for the practice of healthcare' (p. 221). 48 and interpretative epistemologies in this way will address student criticisms that current BeSS teaching lacks cohesion and relevance and encourage a more appropriate professional image of dentists as 'biopsychosocial clinicians' 15 rather than 'drill and fill' technicians. 48 Currently, this dental school is undergoing a curriculum review terms of teaching as well as assessment.…”

“…48 and interpretative epistemologies in this way will address student criticisms that current BeSS teaching lacks cohesion and relevance and encourage a more appropriate professional image of dentists as 'biopsychosocial clinicians' 15 rather than 'drill and fill' technicians. 48 Currently, this dental school is undergoing a curriculum review terms of teaching as well as assessment. It is hoped that this new approach will not only improve the overall learning of our students but also reduce the HC regarding BeSS.…”

“…Second, curricular change in dental schools is needed to ensure complete integration of BeSS rather than it being merely an ‘add‐on’ to dental school teaching . An integrated curriculum ‘includes and equally values the natural or biomedical sciences as well as the humanities, arts and social sciences, respecting that all of this knowledge has value for the practice of healthcare’ (p. 221) . Such a move would help break down the knowledge hierarchy that traditionally defines healthcare education: one in which biomedical knowledge is falsely prioritised at the expense of BeSS.…”

“…A truly integrated curriculum, co‐designed and co‐taught by clinicians and BeSS staff, promotes the viewpoint that both clinical and BeSS knowledge, skills and expertise complement healthcare practice. Harmonising clinical and interpretative epistemologies in this way will address student criticisms that current BeSS teaching lacks cohesion and relevance and encourage a more appropriate professional image of dentists as ‘biopsychosocial clinicians’ rather than ‘drill and fill’ technicians …”

Reflections on a field across time and space: the emergent medical and health humanities in South Africa

“…What our colleague’s question points to is a tendency to read (and later cite) the European author when in fact others’ philosophies ‘speak from the South’ more clearly in their emphasis on colonialism, race and class. Here, we use the terms ‘North’ and ‘South’ because they are terms we have so often heard used in the SA space—themselves set against a backdrop of social and student movements calling for decolonisation of knowledge and pedagogy (see Pentecost et al in this issue for more on this question9). The meaning we intend by ‘North’ and ‘South’ here is reflected in the description by Levander and Mignolo:…”