Hardness or Resignation: How Emotional Challenges During Work-Based Education Influence the Professional Becoming of Medical Students and Student Teachers

This paper addresses how emotionally challenging experiences during work-based education may influence the professional becoming of student teachers and medical students. We conducted a qualitative analysis of eight focus group interviews with undergraduates from two universities in Sweden who studied to become either physicians or teachers, and interpreted their experiences through Wenger’s theory of communities of practice. The findings show that students’ ideal view of how to be caring in their aspiring professional role as physician or teacher collided with existing practices, which affected them emotionally. In particular, the students found it challenging when norms and practices differed from their values of professionalism and when the professional culture within practices reflected hardness (physicians) or resignation (teachers). Both medical students and student teachers experienced that professional decision making and legitimacy challenged them emotionally, however in different ways and for different reasons. This study makes visible both general and specific aspects of how students view their future role in the welfare sector and challenging dimensions of professional practice. The findings bring into focus the question of how professional education can support students’ professional becoming in relation to their emotional challenges.