This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Alexander, K. , Cleland, J. and Nicholson, S. (2019), Bridging the cultural divide? Exploring school pupils’ perceptions of medicine. Med Educ, 53: 571-583., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.13805. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.