PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF NURSING EDUCATION: IMPACTS, CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS

Abstract

The article analyzes two widely used general philosophical foundations of nursing education and pedagogy, which are closely related to them – behaviorism and constructivism.

The article also examines the impact of these philosophies on nursing education, updates the advantages and challenges of their application in the education of modern medical nurses.

It was found that nursing education, from curriculum development to assessment, rests on a solid foundation of behaviorist pedagogy.

The challenges of behaviorist pedagogy for nursing education were also revealed: more focus on results and evaluation, and less on the creation of an effective learning environment for practical learning, more attention to changes in the structure, processes and content of educational programs, rather than the development of pedagogical methods for effective learning.

The constructivist basis of pedagogy is also often used in nursing education. Concepts such as active learning, student-centered learning, and group learning are closely related to constructivism. In nursing education, problem-based learning using case studies, concept mapping, teaching clinical and critical thinking, through simulation, and gaining clinical experience are closely related to constructivist pedagogy.

However, all these methods will be effective only when the learning environment is well thought out, the teachers make sufficient preliminary preparation of the learning environment, and the students are fully involved in the learning environment and process.