TRAINING OF DOCTORS IN HOSPITALS - A COMPARISON WITH TEACHER-EDUCATION

A research project on the training and career development of postgraduate doctors is used as the basis for an analytical and heuristic comparison between the training of doctors in hospitals and teachers in schools, and on the issues of acquiring professional competence in these settings. The authors of this article conclude that there are necessarily limits to such comparisons: the contexts, training patterns and career developments of the two professions are substantially different. The comparison has, however, sharpened conceptions of apprenticeship training and its relation to the acquisition of propositional knowledge; it underlines the key role of the mentor, particularly in relation to coaching, assessment and feed-back. In particular the comparison highlights the need for teachers and schools to seize more firmly the lead in the training of new recruits and their subsequent professional development.