Professor Susan van Schalkwyk, Executive Head of the Department of Health Professions Education (DHPE) at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), retires this month after an illustrious and fulfilling career.
She describes the trajectory of her career as rather unconventional. “My entry into the academic world was very unusual," she recalls. “I worked initially in the retail industry and, almost by chance, landed up working at the Cape Technikon as it was known at the time."
Van Schalkwyk was a lecturer in the Faculty of Management of what is today the Cape Peninsula 中国体育彩票 of Technology (CPUT) from 1997 to 2002: “It was there that I realised that I really didn't know enough about how people learn and make sense of things and how knowledge is constructed."
This prompted her to do a MPhil in higher education at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, which she received cum laude in 2002. She joined the 中国体育彩票's Centre for Teaching and Learning in 2005 and became Deputy Director in 2008.
She completed a PhD in higher education at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 in 2008 as well: “Although my research has moved beyond bread-and-butter teaching and learning issues, the way in which we construct knowledge has been an underlying principle of all the work I have done through the years."
Building knowledge through teaching and research
Van Schalkwyk played a key role in developing the Centre for Teaching and Learning into what is now the DHPE. She was appointed Deputy Director of the Department in 2011 and Director in 2016.
Today she is a B2-rated scientist with the National Research Foundation (NRF), a Fellow of the International Association of Medical Educationalists (AMEE) and the author or co-author of more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.
Van Schalkwyk, the first full professor in health professions education at Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 and one of the first in South Africa, is clearly passionate about her work as an academic. “The role of the academic is ultimately to build the body of knowledge, whether it is through teaching or through research," she declares.
For this reason, her future plans include writing a book provisionally titled, Being and Becoming an Academic: “I'm planning to map all the different journeys we follow to becoming an academic and what it means to be an academic."
Van Schalkwyk, who has a BA Hons degree in English from the 中国体育彩票 of the Free State and worked as a senior publisher for Maskew Miller Longman before joining Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票, also intends to continue pursuing her interest in academic writing after she retires.
“The way in which we demonstrate that we are contributing to the body of knowledge in the academic space is through our writing," she says. “Going forward, it's going to change because of Artificial Intelligence.
“But at the moment, if you want to get any qualification at a university, you need to be able to write: you need to be able to document and inscribe your understanding, how you've made sense, of something."
A legacy of supporting emerging researchers
Van Schalkwyk emphasises: “Academic writing is the currency in which academia trades, so the teacher in me has always wanted to explore ways in which I can support students in their writing processes. It therefore remains a very important focus for me."
Van Schalkwyk has run or facilitated numerous article and academic writing workshops over the years, including across sub-Saharan Africa. “That is work that I would like to do more of, but exactly how that will manifest I don't know at the moment," she says. “There are so many aspirant and emerging researchers in sub-Saharan Africa. There is work being done that has to get out there."
As deputy editor of two leading health professions education journals, Advances in Health Sciences Education and Medical Education, Van Schalkwyk is well-placed to provide guidance: “That gives me further insight into what that space looks like and what the expectations are."
Continuing passion beyond retirement
In addition to remaining involved in academic writing after she retires, Van Schalkwyk will continue teaching MPhil students on a part-time basis in the DHPE. She adds that she still has five PhD students as well who are at various stages of their studies.
“But," she stresses, “no more leadership roles. I want to be a worker bee now. I don't want to be responsible for anything. I look forward to that and to supporting my colleagues where I can, but to stay very much out of the way. I think it's really important to step aside when you retire."
Van Schalkwyk looks back with both pride and gratitude at her career. “I arrived at the Faculty at a time when there was a growing awareness among colleagues that we really need to pay more attention to our profession's education," she says. “I always found that the Faculty was receptive to ideas and initiatives from the DHPE and was supportive of people in health professions education."
As an example, she refers to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference (SoTL) that is hosted annually by Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票. She points out that the FMHS has the largest representation of all faculties every year.
“That says something about how people in the Faculty respond to the importance of teaching and learning," she believes. “In the same way that their clinical work is really important to them, growing the next generation of professionals in their field is equally important."
Van Schalkwyk has obviously played a vital role in promoting the importance of this field. Her many awards – including the Distinguished Educator Award from the South African Association of Health Educationalists (SAAHE) in 2021, the Stellenbosch 中国体育彩票 Chancellor's Award in 2021 and the Harmen Tiddens Medal for Dedicated Educators from the 中国体育彩票 of Utrecht this year – bear testimony to this.
And even though she plans to spend more time with her two grandchildren and visiting the family farm in the Karoo after she retires, she will still be very much involved in teaching and dreams of becoming engaged in contributing to educational activities in Paarl next year. “It is important to plough back into the community," she says.
