Medical education in the UK is regulated by the General Medical Council (GMC), which among other things, formulates and publishes policies to effect this regulation. The latest GMC policy on medical education was published in July 2015 and came into effect on 1st January 2016. As educational organisations and educators endeavour to implement the latest GMC policy therefore, I contend that it is both fitting and germane to seek to provide a critical understanding of the policy by analysing its heritage, ramifications and significance. The literature on policy studies in medical education, and engagement with policy by medical education organisations and educators are meagre, in spite of the abundance of policy covering this area. This work presents a post-structural critical policy analysis of the 2015 GMC policy, in the light of its preceding policies published in 1993, 2003, and 2009. It uses documentary evidence and applies the study of problematisation in and of policy to the discursive representation of policy problems, evaluating how these have evolved and transformed in light of the prevailing sociopolitical contexts, and critically analysing and reflecting on the implications and significance of these problem representations. It finds that the GMC policies hinge on the problematisation of medical education as an issue of patient safety, educational prerequisites and the workforce demands of an increasingly decentralised and marketised health service. It argues that this problematisation is situated in notions of individual responsibility, marketisation and social accountability, and is underpinned by a reliance on the asymmetrical union of neoliberal and socialist ideologies. The findings might be particularly useful to medical educators and educational organisations who have an interest in contributing to the development of further medical education policy. This work will contribute to the body of policy studies and medical education literature and, it is hoped, stimulate further research into medical education policy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:722805 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Bazira, Peter J. |
| Contributors | Hyatt, David |
| Publisher | University of Sheffield |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/18238/ |
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