Competencies and standards in nurse education: the irresolvable tensions

COLLIER-SEWELL, Freya, ATHERTON, Iain, MAHONEY, Catherine, KYLE, Richard G., HUGHES, Emma and LASATER, Kathie (2023). Competencies and standards in nurse education: the irresolvable tensions. Nurse Education Today, 125: 105782.

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Abstract

This paper explores the inherent contradiction between the purpose of nurse education – to produce critical thinking, autonomous and accountable future nurses – and the prescription of standards and competencies to realize this goal. Drawing on examples from the United Kingdom's Nursing and Midwifery Council's (NMC) ‘Future Nurse’ standards, we argue that standards and competencies offer little more than a veneer of protection to the public and that, fundamentally, educational approaches based on ‘dot point’ formulations are antithetical to conditions in which genuinely critical-thinking, autonomous and accountable practitioners can develop. The purpose of this paper is to raise debate about the hegemony of competencies and standards. For the sake of academic health and the future of the nursing profession, the ubiquity of competency-based education must be critiqued and challenged.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1110 Nursing; 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy; Nursing; 3901 Curriculum and pedagogy; 4204 Midwifery; 4205 Nursing
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2023.105782
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Elements
Depositing User:	Symplectic Elements
Date Deposited:	10 Mar 2023 16:45
Last Modified:	11 Oct 2023 16:31
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/31654

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