M.Phil. / Therapeutic massage therapy (TMT) as a profession has undergone major transformations on two levels simultaneously in the past five years. The first is the statutory recognition of TMT as a health profession regulated by the Department of Health and the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA) that has propelled the therapy from the services sector into the country's primary health care system. The second is the transformation of the South African education structures requiring TMT to be formalised and accredited by the South African Qualifications Authority's (SAQA) and the accommodation of the qualification on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in accordance with the Higher Education Act of 1997. These impetuses have led to a shift in the profession's approach to how it defines itself and how it trains future therapists. The focus of this study is the Massage Therapy Institute's Community Service Programme (MTI CSP), the focal point of the institution's second year programme. The CSP entails the combining of practical sessions and community service in order to expose learners to a wide variety of conditions to encourage theory-practice integration. It also fosters a social awareness through exposure to patients from varied cultural and socio-economic backgrounds in a clinical setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of learners and educators regarding the efficacy of the programme to integrate theory and practice and to prepare TMT therapists for a health profession in the primary health care domain. From the analysis it was apparent that despite a number of shortcomings, learners and educators agreed that the CSP encouraged theory practice integration and personal development. They were also able to hone their professional skills. All participants indicated however, that learners failed to effectively transfer the knowledge and skills gained during the combined practical and community service sessions to written learning tasks that formed part of and tasks outside the programme. This was confirmed by text analysis of treatment and case study reports. The implications for teaching and learning are discussed in the context of language learning and learning through language in order to move beyond the what and the how to the why. It was also clear from the research that participation in the programme led to perspective transformation in the majority of learners' perception of TMT as a health profession located in the PHCS. The analysis showed that the reasons for the exception to this trend, is related more to macro policies rather than the efficacy of the CSP. Finally, a number of recommendations are made to improve the transferability of the knowledge, skills and attitudes gained in the CSP to other learning tasks and beyond that to learners' personal and public lives. The recommendations emphasise metacognitive skills and critical reflection to equip learner-therapists to become fully participating members of a responsible and relevant health profession.