Fictions of work-related learning: how a hit television show portrays internship, and how medical students relate to those portrayals

Abstract

This article proceeds from three main premises. First, we assert that popular culture functions pedagogically and helps cultural consumers learn about work, even before they enter educational programs or workplaces. Second, we argue that exploring portrayals of internship is useful in understanding the ‘attributes of formality and informality’ that are present in any learning context. Third, we view internship not as a singular pedagogical strategy, but rather as a complex of pedagogical and learning approaches. We use the American television show Grey's Anatomy, set in a teaching hospital and focused on surgical residents, as a case of cultural representation of the internship process. We identify six approaches that are portrayed in the show: question-and-answer, experiential learning, mentoring, networking, peer learning and learning/teaching. These approaches illustrate how multiple strategies are developed and adopted by learner-workers and teacher-supervisors. We then explore how undergraduate medical students who participated in our study anticipated their own internship experiences and made sense of portrayals of it in the show.

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