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South African Journal of Occupational Therapy

versión On-line ISSN 2310-3833
versión impresa ISSN 0038-2337

S. Afr. j. occup. ther. vol.41 no.2 Pretoria  2011

 

ARTICLES

 

Doing, being and becoming a first year occupational therapy student

 

 

Viki Janse van Rensburg

B OT (US), M Phil (Faculty of Education UWC),PhD (Faculty of Education UWC). Senior lecturer: Academic Development in Health Sciences Education, Education Development Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town

Correspondence

 

 


ABSTRACT

This paper explores the experiences of three occupational therapy students from middle-class backgrounds who encountered academic challenges during their first year. In contrast to notions of academic risk being linked to constructs of working class status or being first generation university entrants, the three students in the case study came from middle class backgrounds, had parents and siblings who held tertiary qualifications and had attended 'good' schools. This study forms part of a larger, longitudinal research project that explores students' learning by tracing their progress over the course of the undergraduate years. Bourdieu's analytical constructs of habitus, field and capital were used to analyse data obtained from individual interviews, a focus group interview, questionnaires and examples of students' written work. The challenges experienced are reported in three themes -challenges in academic literacy; in balancing social life with academic demands; and in negotiating diversity and complexity in a new social world.

Key words: Academic challenges, first year, academic literacy, middle class, institutional practices


 

 

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Correspondence:
Viki Janse van Rensburg
Viki.jansevanresnsburg@uct.ac.za

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