Abstract
Objectives
To present a conceptual framework of student professionalization for health professional education and research.
Methods
Synthesis and discussion of a program of research on competency-based education.
Results
Competency-based education relies on active, situation-based group learning strategies to prepare students to become health professionals who are connected to patient and population needs. Professionalization is understood as a dynamic process of imagining, becoming, and being a member of a health profession. It rests on the evolution of three interrelated dimensions: professional competencies, professional culture, and professional identity. Professionalization occurs throughout students’ encounters with meaningful learning experiences that involve three core components: the roles students experience in situations bounded within specific contexts. Educational practices conducive to professionalization include active learning, reflection, and feedback.
Conclusions
This conceptual framework drives a research agenda aimed at understanding how students become health professional and how learning experiences involving action, reflection, and feedback foster that process and the advancement of professional practices.
Competency‐based curriculum transition: A conceptual framework
