Abstract
BackgroundThe educational environment has a significant impact on students’ behavior, sense of well-being, and academic advancement. While various research methodologies have been used to explore the educational environment, there is a paucity of studies employing qualitative research methods. This study engages in an in-depth exploration of chiropractic students’ experiences of the meaning of the educational environment.MethodsA qualitative approach was employed by interviewing 26 students in four focus group interviews at two different points in time. A conventional manifest and latent content analysis was chosen to investigate and interpret the experiences of the educational environment in an undergraduate chiropractic training institution in Sweden.ResultsThe analysis resulted in five overarching themes: Personal growth; Being part of a community; A place of meaningfulness; Trust in a regulated system; and Scaffolding relationships. Early in the training, the meaning of the educational environment was experienced as part of a vocational community and the scaffolding of intra-institutional relationships. In later stages, the environment was experienced in terms of personal growth – balancing academic pressures and progress within the professional community – thus laying the foundations for autonomy and motivation. During the clinical training, the environment was experienced as where learning happens, thus creating a place of meaningfulness. Throughout the training, the formal and clinical environments were experienced as isolating, with little bridging between the two. A regulated system – conveying an operative organization with clear communication regarding what to expect – was experienced as important for an apt educational environment.ConclusionsWe found that experiences of an educational environment are dynamic and change over time. When restructuring or evaluating curriculums, educational managers can consider the emerged themes as constituting facets relating to the educational environment, and thus possible learning conditions. Likewise, researchers can consider these aspects of the educational environment when: interpreting results from quantitative and qualitative inquiries, constructing and refining instruments, or conceptualizing and framing the educational environment phenomenon.
Highlights
The educational environment has a significant impact on students’ behavior, sense of well-being, and academic advancement
Genn [4, 5] details a vivid discourse on the concepts around the educational environment and asserts that students’ perceptions of the environment are related to their achievements, satisfaction, and success
The analysis resulted in five overarching themes describing the students’ experiences of the meaning of the educational environment: Personal growth; Being part of a community; A place of meaningfulness; Trust in a regulated system; and Scaffolding relationships (Table 1)
Summary
The educational environment has a significant impact on students’ behavior, sense of well-being, and academic advancement. Healthcare professional training environments have been increasingly acknowledged as imperative for high-quality education [1, 2]. Exploring educational environments can be intricate as they encompass many features and settings [3] They can be viewed as interactions between groups of people with a vested interest and their organizational structure where students are one of the key stakeholders. In his seminal papers, Genn [4, 5] details a vivid discourse on the concepts around the educational environment and asserts that students’ perceptions of the environment are related to their achievements, satisfaction, and success. Scholarly work has shown that organizational changes impact educational environments [4, 8] and that dysfunctional environments are costly and counter-productive [9]
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