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Abstract
The aim of this contextual, exploratory, descriptive and qualitative study was to describe strategies to improve the performance of learners in a nursing college. The article seeks to deal with factors relating to nursing education that contribute to the poor performance of learners and to outline related strategies to improve the situation. Three focus group interviews were conducted. One group was formed by seven tutors, and the other two groups were formed by fourth-year learners following a four-year comprehensive diploma course. All participants voluntarily took part in the study. Data was analyzed using the descriptive method of open coding by Tesch (in Creswell, 1994:154-156). Trustworthiness was ensured in accordance with Lincoln and Guba's (1985:290-326) principles of credibility, conformability, transferability and dependability. The findings were categorized into issues pertaining to nursing education as follows: curriculum overload; lack of theory and practice integration; teaching and assessment methods that do not promote critical thinking; tutors' lack of skills and experience; inadequate preparation of tutors for lectures; insufficient knowledge of tutors regarding outcomes-based education approach to teaching and learning; inadequate process of remedial teaching; discrepancies between tutors' marking; lack of clinical role-models and high expectations from the affiliated university as regards standards of nursing development programme by the staff development committee of the nursing college under study for implementation. Future research should focus on the effectiveness of the described strategies to improve the learners' performance. It is also recommended that similar studies be conducted or replicated in other nursing colleges to address the problem of poor performance of learners engaged in a four-year comprehensive diploma course.
Highlights
This research is part of the initiatives of a research sub-committee of the College Senate of a specific nursing college in Gauteng
Viljoen, Botma and Bester (2003:57) maintain that the poor performance of nursing students is due to an overloaded curriculum, emphasis being placed on coverage of the content, fragm ented and artificial learning, duplication among disciplines or subjects and the behavioural-objective model with its authoritarian stance
The educational changes in South Africa brought about the outcom es-based education (OBE) approach, which aimed to develop learners’ critical thinking powers and their problem -solving abilities
Summary
Becker et al (2003:58) argue that the scientific nursing process approach replaced the task-centred approach to a large extent, learning was still fragm ented, as subjects in the curricula were divided by traditional subject boundaries. This resulted in students dem onstrating a lack of retention and integration of knowledge - in particular, basic sciences with the clinical context (Fichardt in Becker et al 2003:58). The educational changes in South Africa brought about the outcom es-based education (OBE) approach, which aimed to develop learners’ critical thinking powers and their problem -solving abilities. The OBE learning approach requires that learners take greater responsibility for participating actively in the learning process and working hard, while facilitators take full responsibility for the careful planning and management of a conducive learning environment (Van der Horst & McDonald 1997:5). Becker et al (2003:58) and Mtshali (2005:10) argue that for the education and training system in the country to m eet the objectives of OBE, the use of the integrated and process-oriented curriculum model is advocated with the em phasis on com m unity-based education and a philosophy of problembased learning
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