Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Studying nursing in higher education
Learning outcomes
After reading this chapter you will:
• have gained knowledge of higher education and its place in the UK education system;
• understand some of the terminology and 'jargon' used in higher education;
• have gained knowledge of institutions which set standards for nursing education;
• have gained knowledge of levels and qualifications in nursing;
• understand the relevance and importance of lifelong learning and continuing professional development;
• understand the importance of student autonomy and independent learning in universities;
• have gained knowledge of how courses are structured and delivered.
This chapter will develop your knowledge and understanding of the study of nursing in UK universities. It will outline the 'qualification frameworks' that are relevant to becoming, and developing as, a nurse, and discuss the role of important educational and professional bodies. In addition, you will be introduced to the types of teaching and learning that you will encounter as a student nurse.
Before you read the chapter, test your knowledge with the Quick quiz below. You can revisit the quiz as you read, or come back to it after reading the whole chapter to see if your answers have changed. Key words in this chapter are highlighted in bold and can be found in the glossary in the Appendix.
What is HE?
HE stands for 'higher education', one of two options in UK tertiary education, ie education available to people of 16 years or above.
HE is mainly provided by universities, and principally awards degrees and diplomas. In contrast, further education (FE) is provided by colleges, which deliver courses and award qualifications which are vocational in nature (NVQs; City & Guilds; BTEC), preparing people directly for the workplace. However, in recent years, there has been a blurring of the line between the two types of institution, with many FE colleges, sometimes in association with partner universities, also offering degrees. This is one way of making degrees accessible to a wider range of people, some of whom may find it convenient to attend classes in a local FE college or to study in the evenings. Recently introduced 'degree apprenticeships', which offer the potential to obtain a degree while learning on the job, also blur the boundaries between vocational and academic learning.
Your nursing degree
Nursing and midwifery in the UK are today fully integrated into the HE sector. Although there is a large vocational component to these subjects, based on practical and clinical skills, they also require highly developed intellectual skills, and universities are considered to be the best place for students to acquire and develop these. Nursing is thus an academic subject, equivalent to any other, such as medicine, engineering or English literature, and therefore measured against the same standards.
Qualification frameworks
HE qualifications, sometimes called 'academic awards', are regulated across the UK via two frameworks: the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (QAA, 2008), and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in Scotland (QAA, 2014). These frameworks help institutions and employers judge the value of an individual's education and help ensure equity between academic subjects. Table 1.1 shows the academic levels assigned by the QAA to each stage of HE, and provides information on how they relate to a study pathway in nursing.
An undergraduate degree has four classifications. These are shown in Table 1.2, along with the marks usually required at each level.
Courses and credits
You can see from Table 1.1 that, in order to enter the nursing profession, you must obtain a degree from an HE institution, usually a university. If you study full time, it will take three years to obtain an honours degree (or four years in Scotland). However, universities recognise that this timescale is not possible or ideal for many people, so they have flexible learning systems which allow students to fit study into their lives in a practical way. This can involve:
• distance learning, where the student mainly studies from home via correspondence, using web-based resources – perhaps occasionally attending university workshops etc;
• blended learning, which combines traditional classroom study and web-based learning;
• part-time study (including the new degree apprenticeships mentioned earlier).
Flexible learning is facilitated by the credit points system which underpins HE education. Each course module that you study has a number of credit points attached to it. Each credit is equal to 10 hours of study, either in class, or through self-study (QAA, 2008, 2014). These credit points build up to eventually form your degree, whether over three years' full-time study, or over a longer period if you study part time. Table 1.3 shows that a student has to earn 360 credit points in order to be awarded an honours degree.
Look at the QAA frameworks (2008, 2014) online to see descriptors detailing exactly what is expected of a student at each level. Note that not all universities offer the CertHE. Some universities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland may offer an ordinary degree without honours to students who have obtained a certain number of credits at Level 6. A four-year Scottish Honours Degree requires an additional 120 credits at Level 9/10.
Universities provide students with information on each module with regard to its academic level and the number of credit points it carries. Many modules, often called 'core modules', will be obligatory; some modules will be optional. All modules are organised around the following:
• a set of learning outcomes which identify what you will be able to do or understand by the end of the course;
• a process of teaching and learning which will help you achieve the learning outcomes;
• assessment which will measure your achievement and provide evidence of it.
Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL)
Credit points can sometimes be assigned for prior learning or experience, through a process known as Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL). There are two branches of APL:
1) Accreditation of Prior Certificated Learning (APCL) allows you to transfer any credit points you already hold from one institution to another. One example of this is when English registered nurses holding only a diploma (having qualified before 2010) decide to 'top up' to an honours degree by completing 120 credit points at Level 6.
2) Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) allows you to acquire credit points for your practical or professional experience, provided that it meets the academic standards demanded by the university involved. To support an application for APEL, a university will often require a portfolio of evidence, ie a reflective account (usually written) of your learning experiences.
While this transfer system allows for flexibility in HE, note that it can often be a very complicated process, with institutions sometimes disagreeing on the transfer values of particular modules.
Lifelong learning and continuous professional development
The flexible approach to study outlined above is underpinned by the much-valued educational principle of lifelong learning. Lifelong learning, by definition, extends beyond your degree, and may involve postgraduate study or general professional development. If you are a registered nurse with a degree or diploma, lifelong learning may involve taking post-registration modules, sometimes called 'standalone modules', which are offered by many universities. These could help you top up a diploma to an honours degree, or, if you already have a degree, they could help you generally in your continuing professional development (CPD).
CPD in nursing is regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). This body specifies the amount of professional training and updating that should be undertaken by practising nurses and midwives via a process known as 'revalidation'. Currently, this is prescribed as 35 hours of CPD in a three-year period, at least 20 hours of which must be 'participatory learning', that is, learning activity involving interaction with other health professionals.
Being a university student
University culture and practices may not always reflect your past educational experiences. Some students may find it difficult to work things out at first.
The students quoted above have some common misunderstandings about university life. These areas of confusion are dealt with in the following sections, to demonstrate, among other things, how study is not just about the time you spend in the classroom, why it is important to go to lectures, when and how you should seek support from academic staff, and why, sometimes, you might just need to push yourself beyond your comfort zone in order to achieve your full potential!
Study time
At university, you will encounter a range of teaching and learning methods, including those which involve face-to-face contact with academic staff, ie lectures, seminars and tutorials. However, you may find that there seems to be a lot of 'free' time on your timetable. Hence, it is important to understand that the time you spend with your lecturers is only a small part of your study. A 10-credit module is seen to represent approximately 100 hours of actual work (QAA, 2008, 2014). So if you attend, say, 30 hours of lectures on a particular 10-credit module, this still leaves 70 study hours of study to complete outside the classroom. This may involve searching the library, reading, planning and writing essays, improving your computer skills, or collaborating with other students on a group project.
Virtual Learning Environments
Study outside the classroom is often facilitated by Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) such as Blackboard or Moodle. VLEs contain vital information on the course and links to useful resources. They also host a number of useful tools. For example, VLE discussion boards can enable interaction with your peers and with the lecturers. VLEs are also important in terms of assessment: you may be required to complete some assessment tasks online, and you will probably be required to upload written assignments onto your VLE using plagiarism-detection software such as Turnitin, which compares your writing with published sources and other submitted essays to ensure it is all your own work. You may also receive assessment feedback online.
Lectures
Lectures at university are designed to provide an overview of a topic. As such, they are a very useful starting point. They are also a springboard for further reading, thinking, discussion and writing. The aim of lectures is not just to reproduce what is in the books: the lecturer can guide you towards the most important aspects of a topic, or provide you with a theoretical framework on which to 'hang' the ideas you accumulate from your reading. They may direct you towards particular chapters in textbooks or indicate how different journal articles relate to the topic, as well as each other. Lectures can also be enjoyable! A lecturer may present you with interesting examples, or offer up lively anecdotes which can bring a subject to life. Some lecturers may include interactive activities, for example, getting you to use mobile phone apps or 'clickers' (a device used to provide on-the-spot analysis of students' responses during a lecture), or they may encourage comments and questions.
Seminars
On some courses, small seminar groups will provide an opportunity for you to follow up on the lecture, to clarify points and expand your understanding. You may be asked to read an article beforehand, and one or two students may be asked to lead the seminar by presenting their summary and opinion of the article, before a general group discussion.
It can be difficult to contribute in seminars: for some people it is rather nerve-wracking; many find it hard to interject – particularly if there are some dominant personalities (maybe yours!) in the room. But remember you are all in the same boat – you all have your strengths and weaknesses, you all have something to learn – and the lecturer is there to bring out the best in you, not put you on the spot!
Tutorials
Some universities and courses will offer one-to-one tutorials with a lecturer, often to discuss general progress, give feedback, or help you prepare for an essay or dissertation. Most academic staff will also have office hours, when you can visit them in their office and raise any queries. If you are worried about your progress or your marks, it is important that you use this opportunity to seek advice.
Independent learning
Studying as an adult at university may be very different to what you experienced at school. At school, for many reasons, there may have been a lot of direct instruction from the teachers, where they talk and you listen. At university, there is more emphasis on guiding you towards working and thinking independently, with the lecturer acting as a facilitator, adviser or resource: this is known as independent learning, something which is highly valued in universities.
As a university student, you are expected to take responsibility for, and manage, your own learning at all times. This involves recognising what you need to do to study successfully, and finding out how to do it. Independent learning requires self-motivation, self-direction and self-discipline. The lecturers will guide you; they will offer support and encouragement. But they will not hold your hand; they will not do your work for you or solve your problems. This is not because they are lazy or don't care what their students do; it is because they believe in the educational principle of student autonomy, whereby a student takes charge of their own learning. They are convinced that encouraging you to take responsibility for your learning will make you a better student, a better thinker and, ultimately, a better nurse: it will, among other things, prepare you for the requirement to 'be accountable for your decisions' in professional practice(NMC, 2015, p 10).
A commitment to independent learning is part of a kind of contract between you and the university. This contract also covers the things you can in turn expect from the university.
One teaching and learning method commonly adopted by university lecturers to encourage independent learning is directed study. This is where the lecturer sets a task and offers some guidance; but it is your responsibility to complete the task, even if you are not required to formally submit it: some tasks are assessed, but others may simply have the aim of contributing to your long-term development. Directed study may involve problem-based learning, where you find solutions to real-world problems. This is often achieved by means of collaborative learning, ie working collectively and co-operatively with other students. The lecturer may or may not be present; they may or may not intervene. You, the students, are in control of the learning process. During these tasks, you will develop skills which are essential for nursing practice, in which you are required to 'work co-operatively' and to 'share your skills, knowledge and experience for the benefit of people receiving care and your colleagues' (NMC, 2015, p 8).
One of the main aims of activities such as problem-based learning is to help you develop your critical thinking skills, your ability to analyse and evaluate information and ideas. Great emphasis is placed on critical thinking in education and in nursing practice.
In the university learning environment, there may be a certain amount of role reversal in class, whereby a student takes on a typical teacher role. This could include giving a presentation or leading a seminar. Many students can feel very nervous about this kind of activity, but remember that there are techniques you can adopt to help you perform better.
Summary
This chapter has examined the place of nursing in the UK HE system, and the role of key institutions that set standards for nursing education, such as the QAA and the NMC. It has discussed the practicalities of nursing study in terms of the qualifications and degree classes that can be awarded, as well as the credits system that underpins university courses. It has explored the notion of lifelong learning, and it has looked closely at current modes of teaching and learning, with a particular emphasis on independent learning and student autonomy. With this knowledge and understanding, you will be well-equipped to begin your journey as a student nurse.
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Excerpted from "Studying for your Nursing Degree"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Jane Bottomley and Steven Pryjmachuk.
Excerpted by permission of Critical Publishing Ltd.
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