Generating ideas for the teaching of nursing's history in Australia
Received 4 February 2009; accepted 9 June 2009. published online 13 August 2009.
Summary
Nursing's history is an important, yet overlooked component of the nursing curriculum. History learning offers an opportunity to develop nursing graduates as critical and constructive thinkers with a positive professional identity. An Australian national study of nursing academics conducted in 2008 found that even though participants valued history of nursing teaching, educators have difficulty finding a place for history in the crowded curriculum, due to an over-emphasis on technical skills. The study also found that history of nursing pedagogy is inconsistent and poorly developed, and teaching expertise is unevenly distributed and difficult to access. This paper is an attempt to advance nursing history pedagogy relevant to Australia, by promoting a transformative approach to curriculum design in history learning, considering issues of significance to Australian nursing, and creating exemplar activities.
dHistory Department, University of Sydney, Australia
Corresponding author at: School of Health and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Science, Health and Education, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, DC, Queensland 4558, Australia. Tel.: +61 7 5456 5032; fax: +61 7 5459 4767.
ABSTRACT