Deciding to fail

Abstract

Within pre-registration nursing education programmes, clinical competence is verified via continuous assessment in practice. Registered nurses who have undertaken mentor preparation assess competence in practice and have a responsibility to confirm that nursing students are capable of safe and effective practice prior to registration. This requires mentors to identify underperforming students and manage the situation appropriately. Drawing on interview data from 10 mentors who had failed a student in practice this paper will highlight the processes, alongside, the difficulties and dilemmas associated with managing a failed assessment successfully. Three key concepts emerging from the data will provide the framework for this paper, namely: identifying the weak student; creating possibilities for success; deciding to fail. Within the concept of ‘Identifying the weak student’ participants discuss how they recognised the early indicators of possible failure. While, ‘Creating possibilities for success’ reveals the strategies mentors used to attempt to facilitate students’ progress. The final concept ‘Deciding to fail’ exposes the emotional consequences for both the mentor and the student of a failed assessment and the importance of debriefing following the event. The paper concludes by discussing the support needs of mentors as this emerged as crucial in the process of managing a failed assessment.