Beyond Binary

Co-operative inquiry to developing medical curriculum for inclusive education 

Current undergraduate medical education gives priority to certain social norms. Often this means that representation of people with intersecting, multiple, marginalised identities (e.g., young/old age, gender, LGBTQIAT+, ethnicity, disability, social disadvantage, big bodied…..) is not well/under-represented in medical curricula, or in the learning environment. This represents two injustices and contributes to inequity in access to cultural safe and inclusive care. One injustice is that doctors with diverse and intersecting social identities are invisible in the learning environment, and the second, that doctors are not well prepared to care for people with diverse social identities. Doctor preparedness for working with gender and sexuality diversity is internationally recognised as an essential practice competency which needs to include undergraduate medical education. However, this is not the current norm. 

Co-operative inquiry is a well-established qualitative participatory action research method. It involves a collaborative approach to generating knowledge where people with common interests or shared concerns come together as both co-researchers and co-participants.