Bridging Experience and Transformation: The Role of Flexible Clinical Learning Spaces in Medical Education

Abstract: Medical education increasingly calls for clinicians who are reflective, adaptable, and collaborative, not merely knowledgeable. This conceptual Perspective, rather than an empirical study, proposes the Four-Bridge Framework (4BF), developed by the authors, to consider how flexible clinical learning spaces may support transformative learning. Rather than assuming that space alone transforms learners, the framework suggests that space may contribute to conditions in which experience, dialogue, reflection, and agency are more likely to unfold, in interaction with educators, organizational culture, and learners’ readiness. Drawing on a narrative synthesis of the literature, we describe four bridges: between experience and reflection, the individual and others, learning and experimentation, and reflection and action, and propose a heuristic mapping of these onto Mezirow’s ten phases of transformative learning. From this, we outline design principles, low-resource adaptations, and contextual considerations. The 4BF is intended to contribute to medical education theory by offering a learning-theoretic account of how spatial features may matter, and to practice by offering educators and planners a structured basis for designing and evaluating clinical learning spaces. As a proposed framework, it has not yet been empirically validated, and we outline a research agenda for testing it. Keywords: transformative learning, clinical learning environment, medical education, flexible learning spaces, interprofessional education