ABSTRACT
Learning is optimal when students and their teachers negotiate the purposes and methods of learning in a climate of trust between participants. This partnership between the teacher and the learner should be enabling. The medical educational environment is complex. Learning takes place in different places and at different times through a variety of methods and activities. The setting of educational objectives should ideally be shared with the learners, taking into account the ability of the learner and their preferred learning style. The ward round has been and probably is the centrepiece of a hospital doctor's learning. The learning environment: establishing a learning culture any other small group activity, trust between the participants is necessary. The tutorial is the formal setting for one-to-one learning, but valuable learning can also take place informally in the workplace, at the bedside, in the consulting room.
