It is very clear that education in Nursing today is meant to be a blend of theory and practice. To paraphrase McKenna et al, (2014), its impossible to have theory without practice nor indeed practice without theory.
We need to be cautious though that the superimposed idea of an arbitrary 50:50 split doesn’t create a false dichotomy and actually carry some responsibility, (cause might be over-egging the argument), for what has become known as the theory practice gap.
The risk is, as I see it that 50:50 creates an epistemological wedge that has led us to the point where we are beginning to believe that learning in the classroom is different from learning in practice. Phil Race is unequivocal when he points out that, “learning is a natural human process”, (Race 2010), so why would moving locations from a classroom to a ward, (or other clinical facility) change that process?
I think that it is true of course that the way in which one might behave as an educator will be modified by context but my focus here is on learning.
If we could readjust our headspace to see education in Nursing along the lines of the circle where classroom and practice are blended then I think we will be one step closer to authentically representing the praxis of Nursing to students and thus enable them to construct their own learning out of information and experience.
learningbrian 