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Nurse education in Ireland: redressing the balance
Guest Editorial
Nurse education in Ireland: redressing the balance As an Irish nurse and midwife academic, I was distressed at the tone of a recent editorial in Nurse Education Today (McKenna & Coates 2001). This editorial, concerning the future of nurse education in Ireland, was written by two academics from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, in the UK, which may suggest they possess only a theoretical knowledge of the situation in the Republic of Ireland. I have great respect for both authors, whom I know personally, yet I cannot accept their pessimistic and, at times, cynical view of the future of nurse education in our country. In particular I am saddened by their comments that nurse educators will find their move to the universities stressful and uncomfortable. I lead one of the largest schools of nursing and midwifery in the country, situated in the oldest university in Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin. For the past 5 years we have worked in collaboration with 45 nurse tutors in the six hospitals linked with us, to provide the Diploma in Nursing programme. All 45 tutors are classed as `Lecturers (Part-time)', their names and annual achievements are recorded in the University Calendar under the auspices of our School. They are eligible for a staff card as well as having full access to the library. During the past 5 years, we have involved our tutor colleagues in teaching on our Access, Degree and MSc programmes and in supervising our Degree and MSc students. We have collaborated with them in providing Postgraduate Specialist Nursing courses in which high academic level is combined with excellence in clinical practice. We have taken many of them onto our MSc taught courses or encouraged them to follow research degrees themselves. We have been grateful for their help in running our Annual Research Conference. We have collaborated with them in conducting research, resulting in three published papers thus far. We have joined
& 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd doi:10.1054/nedt.2001.0702, available online at http: // www.idealibrary.com on
with them in seeking funding for research, with some success. It may not be widely known, but long before our School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies was established, nurse tutors in three of our associated hospitals developed a degree in nursing curriculum in collaboration with academics from Trinity College. Over the past 2 years, since the publication of the report of the Commission on Nursing, academic staff of the School and the nurse tutors linked with us, met regularly in a series of `Vision 2002' meetings. Here, we discussed, planned and negotiated the future for all of us. Views from the participants at those meetings contributed to feedback given to the Nursing Education Forum and to meetings between the Department of Health & Children and the Heads of University Schools of Nursing in Ireland. The future structure, governance and funding of the new School have been deliberated and discussed. Pooled views from these discussions have contributed to documents presented to the Council and Board of Trinity College, Dublin, to the Department of Health & Children and to the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities. The curriculum sub-committee has been formed by a team of nurse lecturers from the School working with nurse tutors and clinical staff from all six hospitals. In all of this process, we valued the expertise of nurse tutors in the vitally important dimensions of teaching, curriculum design and development. Their opinions on buildings, equipment and future structure have also been welcomed. From the above you will see that the nurse tutors linked with Trinity College, Dublin (and, I am sure, those linked with the other Irish third level institutions) will not be entering as `novices in new institutions'; they will be joining a team where they already know
1
Nurse EducationToday (2001) 21, 595±596 595
Guest Editorial
the members, know the rules and mores, and are, in a real way, already part of the decision-making body. Of course, moving office and altering one's job is stressful; I am not belittling the stress that they will feel, but they will not be novices and their expertise in teaching will, certainly, still be recognized and appreciated. McKenna and Coates speak of how nurse tutors will be expected `to engage in the academic game for which they had no previous training'. That may have been true 5 years ago, but from the above you will see that many of these nurse tutors have involved themselves in the academic world and have already taken part in research activities and publishing. All nurse tutors transferring to third level institutions in Ireland will hold Master's degrees, a situation very different to that pertaining in the UK in similar circumstances in the past. Three of the nurse tutors who I hope will transfer to our School are actively pursuing PhD studies. It is also a pessimistic view expressed by the authors, that those who do not play `the academic game' will not `enhance their future career, salary and position'. All the nurse tutors entering into third level institutions will be given a higher salary and better pension rights than they could ever have achieved in a hospital appointment. To receive that, they need only to continue to do well that which they are already doing, so their future career, salary and position are automatically improved. Those who wish to become Senior Lecturers and Professors will, naturally, have to compete in the academic world, and many of the present nurse tutors have the ability and desire to do just that. Considerable efforts have been made to plan and fund a staff development programme for those nurse tutors who choose to enter academia. Far from becoming `an endangered species', they will be supported, encouraged and facilitated to develop and enhance their teaching, clinical and research profiles. Their teaching expertise will enhance the academic environment and their presence will serve to accelerate the already rapid development of Schools of Nursing and Midwifery in the third level institutions of Ireland.
596 Nurse EducationToday (2001) 21, 595±596
I find the term `academic fittest' a little puzzling, as in academic nursing we need experts in teaching, clinical teaching, curriculum design and development, evaluation, student counselling, assessment, research and academic writing. This broad range of activities requires a diverse group of academics, each fitted to using their particular talents to the benefit and development of the School. Just as we know that student group work produces more knowledge, higher quality learning and better productivity, so too do the acknowledgement and encouragement of varied talents in a particular team lead to an increased quality of output. Many nurse tutors of my acquaintance have superb skills in student counselling or in course evaluation, and may not necessarily wish to undertake research. This is equally true of academics within the third level sector as a whole. Perhaps the somewhat cynical view of the transition of Irish nurse education into the third level institutions described by McKenna and Coates may have been due to a hasty and somewhat misinformed look at the situation. It is difficult to comprehend the very rapid developments in Irish nursing education unless one is part of them. Unfortunately, though, the opinions expressed could be misinterpreted by the nurse tutors of Ireland, and lead to a disturbance of their confidence in themselves and their academic futures. In this respect I have tried to redress the balance. I hope that Irish nurse tutors may be reassured that their skills and contribution will be valued as they move forward to their new and exciting career. Reference McKenna H, Coates V 2001 The future of nurse education in Ireland. Nurse Education Today 21(6): 421±422
Cecily M. Begley Trinity College, Dublin
& 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd
Nurse education in Ireland: redressing the balance As an Irish nurse and midwife academic, I was distressed at the tone of a recent editorial in Nurse Education Today (McKenna & Coates 2001). This editorial, concerning the future of nurse education in Ireland, was written by two academics from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, in the UK, which may suggest they possess only a theoretical knowledge of the situation in the Republic of Ireland. I have great respect for both authors, whom I know personally, yet I cannot accept their pessimistic and, at times, cynical view of the future of nurse education in our country. In particular I am saddened by their comments that nurse educators will find their move to the universities stressful and uncomfortable. I lead one of the largest schools of nursing and midwifery in the country, situated in the oldest university in Ireland, Trinity College, Dublin. For the past 5 years we have worked in collaboration with 45 nurse tutors in the six hospitals linked with us, to provide the Diploma in Nursing programme. All 45 tutors are classed as `Lecturers (Part-time)', their names and annual achievements are recorded in the University Calendar under the auspices of our School. They are eligible for a staff card as well as having full access to the library. During the past 5 years, we have involved our tutor colleagues in teaching on our Access, Degree and MSc programmes and in supervising our Degree and MSc students. We have collaborated with them in providing Postgraduate Specialist Nursing courses in which high academic level is combined with excellence in clinical practice. We have taken many of them onto our MSc taught courses or encouraged them to follow research degrees themselves. We have been grateful for their help in running our Annual Research Conference. We have collaborated with them in conducting research, resulting in three published papers thus far. We have joined
& 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd doi:10.1054/nedt.2001.0702, available online at http: // www.idealibrary.com on
with them in seeking funding for research, with some success. It may not be widely known, but long before our School of Nursing and Midwifery Studies was established, nurse tutors in three of our associated hospitals developed a degree in nursing curriculum in collaboration with academics from Trinity College. Over the past 2 years, since the publication of the report of the Commission on Nursing, academic staff of the School and the nurse tutors linked with us, met regularly in a series of `Vision 2002' meetings. Here, we discussed, planned and negotiated the future for all of us. Views from the participants at those meetings contributed to feedback given to the Nursing Education Forum and to meetings between the Department of Health & Children and the Heads of University Schools of Nursing in Ireland. The future structure, governance and funding of the new School have been deliberated and discussed. Pooled views from these discussions have contributed to documents presented to the Council and Board of Trinity College, Dublin, to the Department of Health & Children and to the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities. The curriculum sub-committee has been formed by a team of nurse lecturers from the School working with nurse tutors and clinical staff from all six hospitals. In all of this process, we valued the expertise of nurse tutors in the vitally important dimensions of teaching, curriculum design and development. Their opinions on buildings, equipment and future structure have also been welcomed. From the above you will see that the nurse tutors linked with Trinity College, Dublin (and, I am sure, those linked with the other Irish third level institutions) will not be entering as `novices in new institutions'; they will be joining a team where they already know
1
Nurse EducationToday (2001) 21, 595±596 595
Guest Editorial
the members, know the rules and mores, and are, in a real way, already part of the decision-making body. Of course, moving office and altering one's job is stressful; I am not belittling the stress that they will feel, but they will not be novices and their expertise in teaching will, certainly, still be recognized and appreciated. McKenna and Coates speak of how nurse tutors will be expected `to engage in the academic game for which they had no previous training'. That may have been true 5 years ago, but from the above you will see that many of these nurse tutors have involved themselves in the academic world and have already taken part in research activities and publishing. All nurse tutors transferring to third level institutions in Ireland will hold Master's degrees, a situation very different to that pertaining in the UK in similar circumstances in the past. Three of the nurse tutors who I hope will transfer to our School are actively pursuing PhD studies. It is also a pessimistic view expressed by the authors, that those who do not play `the academic game' will not `enhance their future career, salary and position'. All the nurse tutors entering into third level institutions will be given a higher salary and better pension rights than they could ever have achieved in a hospital appointment. To receive that, they need only to continue to do well that which they are already doing, so their future career, salary and position are automatically improved. Those who wish to become Senior Lecturers and Professors will, naturally, have to compete in the academic world, and many of the present nurse tutors have the ability and desire to do just that. Considerable efforts have been made to plan and fund a staff development programme for those nurse tutors who choose to enter academia. Far from becoming `an endangered species', they will be supported, encouraged and facilitated to develop and enhance their teaching, clinical and research profiles. Their teaching expertise will enhance the academic environment and their presence will serve to accelerate the already rapid development of Schools of Nursing and Midwifery in the third level institutions of Ireland.
596 Nurse EducationToday (2001) 21, 595±596
I find the term `academic fittest' a little puzzling, as in academic nursing we need experts in teaching, clinical teaching, curriculum design and development, evaluation, student counselling, assessment, research and academic writing. This broad range of activities requires a diverse group of academics, each fitted to using their particular talents to the benefit and development of the School. Just as we know that student group work produces more knowledge, higher quality learning and better productivity, so too do the acknowledgement and encouragement of varied talents in a particular team lead to an increased quality of output. Many nurse tutors of my acquaintance have superb skills in student counselling or in course evaluation, and may not necessarily wish to undertake research. This is equally true of academics within the third level sector as a whole. Perhaps the somewhat cynical view of the transition of Irish nurse education into the third level institutions described by McKenna and Coates may have been due to a hasty and somewhat misinformed look at the situation. It is difficult to comprehend the very rapid developments in Irish nursing education unless one is part of them. Unfortunately, though, the opinions expressed could be misinterpreted by the nurse tutors of Ireland, and lead to a disturbance of their confidence in themselves and their academic futures. In this respect I have tried to redress the balance. I hope that Irish nurse tutors may be reassured that their skills and contribution will be valued as they move forward to their new and exciting career. Reference McKenna H, Coates V 2001 The future of nurse education in Ireland. Nurse Education Today 21(6): 421±422
Cecily M. Begley Trinity College, Dublin
& 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd