The Challenges facing midwifery educators in sustaining a future education workforce

Background national and international trends have identified concerns over the ability of health and social care workforces in meeting the needs of service users. Attention has increasingly been drawn to problems of recruiting and retaining professionals within higher education; however data in relation to the midwifery profession is scant. Aim to examine the perceptions and experiences of midwifery educators, in south-west England, about the challenges facing them sustaining the education workforce of the future. Design a mixed methodology approach was adopted involving heads of midwifery education and midwife educators. Methodology midwifery participants were recruited from three higher education institutions in south west England. Data collection comprised of self-administered questionnaires plus individual qualitative interviews with heads of midwifery education (n=3), and tape recorded focus groups with midwife academics (n=19). Numerical data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Textual data were analysed for themes that represented the experiences and perspectives of participants. Ethics approval was granted by one University Ethics committee. Findings demographic data suggests that within south-west England, there is a clear ageing population and few in possession of a doctorate within midwifery. The six identified sub-themes represented in the data describe challenges and tensions that midwifery academics experienced in their efforts to attract new recruits and retain those in post in a highly changing educational environment which demands more from a contracting workforce. Conclusion and implications for practice there remain some serious challenges facing midwifery educators in sustaining the future education workforce, which if unresolved may jeopardise standards of education and quality of care women receive. Active succession planning and more radical approaches that embrace flexible careers will enable educational workforce to be sustained and by a clinically credible and scholarly orientated midwifery workforce

Pedagogy for nursing: challenging traditional theories

This chapter explores the question of pedagogy within nursing education and considers what is the most appropriate approach in the learning and teaching of nursing for nurse educators to adopt. It further argues that to date insufficient attention has not been paid to the varied and changing demographic profile of student nurses. Alongside this is the issue of prior teaching and learning experiences before accessing higher education and impacts of this on transitioning to professional learning and practice. There is a suggestion that demographics and experiences of contemporary pre-registration student nurses and qualified nurses accessing higher education for continuous professional development (CPD) are increasingly similar. In the UK, both continuous professional development (CPD) students and the pre-registration student can be characterized as non-traditional students aligning closely to reported under-represented groups in many respects. It is also argued that nursing lacks a predominant or explicit pedagogy. Given the broad and diverse student nurse and CPD nurse population, there appears no one specific pedagogical approach espoused which fits such differing purposes and needs and the question is ought there be one. This creates a challenge for nurse teachers and the craft of facilitating learning. Drawing on a study at one London university which explored the experience of transition to higher education by nursing and healthcare students, a proposed model of pedagogic–androgogic (P-A) continuum with a fluid approach is presented to meet nurse student needs. This model advocates once nursing students are exposed to a variety of learning experiences their evolving needs can be located on this continuum to reflect their life progression and development. This model for nurse education conceptualization is proposed to respond to the changing demographic profile of student and other nurses, their varied teaching and learning experiences prior to entering university and impact on their success in transition journey

Inclusive learning, diversity and nurse education

Students embarking on undergraduate nursing programmes face many challenges. They must adapt to raised academic expectations, learn a bewildering new range of skills, values and behaviours, and begin to negotiate complex and emotionally demanding practice environments and relationships. In addition to practicalities such as moving away from support networks, constrained finances and perhaps being in a work environment for the first time, nursing students must incorporate changes into their personal identities and form a professional sense of self. How well students are supported to respond to these expectations via their own networks and through engagement and connection with their new profession and programme can shape their potential for achievement. The nursing profession advocates for non-discriminatory inclusive care for all, as well as advocating for a wider diversity of care professionals. This means actively promoting inclusion in programme recruitment and development strategies. However, these aims are hindered by student attrition which is a significant issue throughout higher education in Britain including nurse education. Data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) in 2016/17 indicates that students facing multiple disadvantage are more likely to leave university in their first year than their peers. As well as being a clear example of social injustice, unequal completion rates reduce the projected workforce and disrupt supply and planning. Discounting gender disparities, nursing has a strong record for recruiting and training a broad range of students, but completion rates emerge as lower than for other subjects. An influencing factor here may be that as the professional demands of nursing have intensified, so has the academic rigour required to deliver corresponding competency requirements. Nurse educators need to be creative and flexible to enable students to engage with complex learning which ranges from higher order thinking skills, and philosophical and ethical understandings, to intricate physical tasks. This creates challenges for inclusive curriculum design as well as needing to effectively facilitate it, it must be accessible to a diverse body of nursing students who may have strengths in terms of life experience but who present across the range of academic competence and confidence. Inclusive learning and teaching is advocated as best practice in providing a response to these issues. However, inclusivity is a contested concept, with varied uptake and it sits within a higher education context of financial restrictions, larger class sizes and a push for more online provision. What is clear though is that academic outcomes across student groups are unacceptably varied with significant attainment gaps for those with multiple disadvantages. A key question for nurse educators is how best to develop an evidence base for the pedagogical approaches that are most likely to enable the completion of successful student nurse journeys for all, regardless of their starting point