Elements describing nurse teacherhood after the establishment of polytechnics’ functions

In the second phase of my study in the years 2003 – 2004, polytechnics had been established and functioning from three to eight years. In this phase, elements (Figure 5) describing nurse teacherhood included 1) process of change in the organisation, 2) operating culture of the health care working community, 3) nurse teachers’ professional self-esteem, 4) focus of nurse teachers’ competence, 5) nurse teachers’ relationship with students, 6) future in one’s profession, and 7) requirements for staying in the profession. A concept combining all these was commitment to nurse teacherhood, which was a very dynamic process (Article IV).

Figure 5. Elements describing nurse teacherhood after the establishment of polytechnics’ functions as experienced by nurse teachers.

CONTEXT OF NURSE TEACHERHOOD

Process of change in the organisation and operating culture of the health care working community were connected to the context of nurse teacherhood (Article IV, Table 1). Nurse teachers experienced the administrative and content-related development of polytechnics that belonged to process of change in the organisation individually. The administrative development of polytechnics included changes connected to organisational structures, administration and economy. The content-related development of polytechnics, on the other hand, included realisation of the polytechnic functions, multidisciplinarity in the polytechnic and additional training of teaching staff. Additional training of teachers was needed in order for them to acquire additional skills to develop nurse education and manage the tasks set to polytechnics. The above-mentioned changes connected to the development of polytechnic were mainly considered either as successful or unsuccessful, or with a neutral opinion.

The operating culture of the health care working community either strengthened or weakened the commitment to nurse teacherhood. Atmosphere of the working community (e.g. employee interrelations) and established practice patterns of the working community (e.g. management of tasks) were experienced in very different ways even within the same working community. For example, employee interrelations and the quantity of tasks divided opinions. According to some, the interrelations between employees were good and there were numerous, but not too many, tasks. Others thought that while interrelations between the closest employees might be good, on the level of the whole working community they were fairly bad. Similarly, some criticised the quantity of tasks, which they considered unreasonable. Work was also done in the evenings and weekends because nurse teachers wanted to manage the tasks assigned to them conscientiously. Consciousness was explained, on the other hand, with a typical way of women to take care of things, and on the other with the occupational background of nursing. In the best case, atmosphere of the working community and practice patterns both helped individual employees to manage in their work and supported their commitment to nurse teacherhood. In the worst case, the significance of the atmosphere of the working community and practice patterns could have the opposite effect.

The professional self-esteem of nurse teachers, focus of their competence and relationship with students described the contents of nurse teacherhood (Article IV; Table 2). Nurse teachers’ professional self-esteem comprised of the significance of the profession to teachers themselves and how the professional self-knowledge of nurse teachers was developed. The significance of the profession varied, depending on, for example, what kind of a conception the nurse teachers had about the basic task of a teacher and its purpose and clarity. If nurse teachers considered the basic task of a nurse teacher as clear and were satisfied with the way they could fulfil their basic task, this strengthened their commitment to nurse teacherhood. On the other hand, commitment to nurse teacherhood was weakened if nurse teachers thought that the basic task of nurse teachers had obscured and they were dissatisfied with their possibilities to realise their basic task.

Nurse teacher’s profession could, on one hand, be experienced as significant and important, or, on the other hand, its meaning to teachers themselves had diminished from what it was before. The development of professional self-knowledge was manifested in e.g. how clear nurse teachers considered their professional identity to be and whether they thought that their professional identity and self-knowledge had strengthened or weakened from what is was before. If a nurse teacher’s professional identity was clear and professional self-knowledge good, she was satisfied with the profession. If the professional identity was unclear or conflicted and professional self-knowledge had weakened in time, the nurse teacher was dissatisfied with the profession.

Satisfaction with one’s own profession strengthened and dissatisfaction weakened the commitment to nurse teacherhood.

The focus of nurse teachers’ competence included teachers’ areas of competence, and changes related to the utilisation of this competence. The emphasis in nurse teachers’ areas of competence was on the knowledge of nursing contents, management of pedagogic skills, research and development competence and skills needed in interpersonal work. Nurse teachers emphasised the contents of teachers’ areas of competence in different ways.

For example, in the management of nursing contents they emphasised either

special competence corresponding with medical speciality or extensive knowledge base of nursing. In addition, changes connected to the utilisation of teachers’ competence were experienced in different ways, because nurse teachers might be satisfied or dissatisfied with how their competence was considered when defining tasks. Individual experiences of nurse teachers’ areas of competence and their contents and utilising of teachers’ competence either strengthened or weakened their commitment to nurse teacherhood.

In addition, nurse teachers’ relationship with students was considered meaningful, because students gave the nurse teachers the strength to manage at work. Furthermore, feedback received from students was for some nurse teachers the only kind of feedback they received from their work. If the relationship with students was considered close and good enough, it supported nurse teachers’ commitment to nurse teacherhood, and if the relationship with students was considered too distant, it weakened the nurse teachers’

commitment to nurse teacherhood.

Future in one’s profession and requirements for staying in the profession described the future of nurse teacherhood (Article IV, Table 3). Attitude towards the future in one’s profession was either confident or several elements of uncertainty were connected to it (e.g. uncertainty about maintaining one’s current tasks and employment). Similarly, tasks were believed to become more meaningful in the future than they were at present, or to change for the worse unless changes would occur in the contents of nurse teachers’ tasks or job description. Nurse teachers’ confidence with the future and contentment with future prospects increased commitment to nurse teacherhood. Instead, uncertainties connected to the future and discontentment resulting from it weakened commitment to nurse teacherhood.

Requirements for staying in the profession included defining tasks and taking care of oneself (e.g. resource identification), which also either strengthened or weakened the commitment to nurse teacherhood. Nurse teachers’ work was considered so burdening that in the future nurse teachers would have to pay special attention to the requirements for staying in the profession. For example,

with regard to ageing employees, the definition of tasks so that they would correspond with their areas of competence more than at present would support the ageing nurse teachers’ managing at work.