Epistemic discourses concerning the competence developed in a Norwegian master's degree program in health science

Abstract

It has been claimed that various discourses related to competence influence higher education, but there is limited understanding of the discourses underlying competence development. The specific aim of this study was to explore epistemic discourses concerning the development of competence of health professionals with a master’s degree in health science. Accordingly, the study was qualitative and adopted discourse analysis. Twelve participants, all of whom were Norwegian health professionals aged between 29 and 49 years, participated in this study. Four participants were in the final stage of study for their master’s degree with three months left before completion, four had completed their degree two weeks before their participation, and four had been working for one year after the completion of their degree. Data were collected in three group interviews. Three epistemic discourses were revealed: (1) a critical thinking competencies discourse, (2) a scientific thinking competencies discourse, and (3) a competence-in-use discourse. The former two discourses were considered the dominant discourses and indicated that a knowing “that” discourse connected the specialized competence of different health professionals with a wider field of competence. This wider field transcended the boundaries of various health disciplines and represented a novel competence developed through a synergizing process between critical and scientific thinking competencies, which seems to drive continued competence development. A competence-in-use discourse was formed in the process. This discourse can be viewed as a unique outcome that contributes to health professionals’ specialized competence and suggests that a knowing “how” discourse was also an underlying background discourse.