Glocalizing the theory of learning: a pluriversal perspective on health professions education

Abstract

Glocalization has emerged as the preferred solution in health professions education (HPE) to the tension between globally recognized standards and local training practices. Its structure, however, is hub-and-spoke: theory is developed at a Western center, adaptation handled at the periphery. Curricula, accreditation, and assessment are adapted locally; learning theories are treated as universal and unchanging. This Perspective contends that the glocalization project remains incomplete and suggests how to finish it: by glocalizing the very theory of learning. Drawing on bibliometric evidence of concentrated knowledge production and thirty years of educational practice across four continents, I propose a pluriversal extension that integrates Islamic, Hindu, Confucian, Buddhist, and Ubuntu traditions as active sources of learning theory rather than as cultural contexts for imported ideas. To keep engagement rigorous rather than romantic, I outline a five-level comparison framework (vocabulary, phenomenon, mechanism, prescription, ontology), state its provenance and limits, and demonstrate its operation in worked examples and a complete supplementary application. The paper closes with theoretical and practical implications for curriculum, assessment, research capacity, and artificial intelligence, as well as an agenda for validating the framework.