An analysis of nurse educators' educational orientation: andragogical or pedagogical

This study was concerned with the assessment of the andragogical-pedagogical orientation of nurse educators in associate degree, diploma, and baccalaureate schools of nursing. The principal objectives were to obtain valid data about nurse educators' attitudes toward adult education, to determine if the educational orientations of nurse educators differed from the educational orientation of other adult educators, and to determine if the nurse educators' educational orientation was affected significantly by certain background variables. Additionally, the study examined whether continuing education programs were needed to acquaint nurse faculty with theories of adult learning and whether theories of adult learning should be included in the curricula offerings for the preparation of teachers of nursing.

The study was a survey of seventy nurse educators from each type of nursing program - associate degree, diplema, and baccalaureate - in Virginia for a total.of 210. The instruments used for data collection were a Supplemental Data Sheet to gather information on fourteen background variables which were thought to affect educational orientation and Hadley's Educational Orientation Questionnaire (EOQ). There were 171 responses of which 155 questionnaires and data sheets were usable.

The criterion variable was educational orientat:ion as measured by the Educational Orientation Questionnaire and analyzed as a single mean score. The independent variables were educational background, type of employing institution, level of position, college credits earned in field of adult education, number of years in nursing practice, number of years in nursing education, geographic location of basic.nursing program, current appointment,,subject matter, preparation of syllabus, instructional setting, continuing education courses taught, attitude toward mandatory continuing education for relicensure, and pursuing advanced degree.

The data were analyzed by t-test and the FREQUENCIES, ONEWAY and REGRESSION procedures of the Statistical Package for the .Social Sciences (SPSS). The data were presented descriptively and statistically.

The most significant finding was that the nurse educators' mean score differed significantly (p≤0.001) from the mean score of other adult educators as reported by Hadley. The finding· indicated that nurse educators, as a group, are pedagogically oriented toward education.

Analysis of variance revealed that the nurse educators' educational. orientation was affected significantly at the 0.05 level or better by type of employing institution, current appointment, instructional setting, and subject matter. Regression analysis showed that about 14% of the educational orientation score variance isi predictable using the four variables which showed a relationship to educational orientation.

It was recommended that nurse educators adopt an andragogical approach to nursing education rather than pedagogical. In order to accomplish this it was also recommended that theories of adult learning and strategies for implementing those theories be introduced through a vigorous program of workshops and conferences for practicing teachers. Courses in adult education should be included in the curricular offerings for teacher preparation at the graduate level.

Recommendations for further study included a comparative study among students, faculty, and administrators' education. orientations: andragogical or pedagogical, and that each faculty study its educational orientation in relation to the stated philosophy and objectives of the school.