Abstract
Purpose: This paper aims to describe the education and career pathways of a group of nursing deans in the late 20th and 21st centuries. The study explores nursing deans to understand the career development process and to develop recommendations for succession planning. Methods: A qualitative interview captured the oral histories of 30 nursing deans from Canada, United Kingdom and Australia in 2011 and 2012. Career and educational pathways were mapped, tabulated and exemplars used to emphasise key education and career decisions. Results: Findings show that there are four distinctive pathways to becoming a nursing dean and these are: 1. Same university pathway: Clinical work to teaching and thence the promotion and leadership in education route and pursuit of deanship in the same institution; 2. Different university pathway: Clinical work to teaching thence the promotion and leadership in education route and pursuit of deanship at a different institution in the same country; 3. Different country pathway: Clinical work to teaching thence the promotion and leadership in education route and pursuit of deanship at a different institution in different country; and 4. Health pathway: Clinical work to clinical management to dean route. Conclusion: The career and educational pathways of the 30 deans described will inform aspiring deans and highlight the importance of doctoral qualifications, management experience and leadership qualifications. Importantly, these aspirants need to determine the particular institutional culture into which they aspire to commit to becoming a dean of nursing.
Highlights
Much of the research on deanship is conducted in the United States of America (USA) where there are predictions of a looming decline in candidates for deanships in the ten years.[1, 2]
Similar predictions have been made for nursing deanship candidates and nurse educators in Europe and the USA.[5]
Green and Ridenour [6] have emphasised that shaping a career in academic administration in nursing requires careful consideration by prospective candidates because of the trajectory to the role of dean, and the extent of the challenges associated with the role
Summary
Much of the research on deanship is conducted in the United States of America (USA) where there are predictions of a looming decline in candidates for deanships in the ten years.[1, 2] This shortage is forecast for academic nursing deans.[3, 4] The reasons for this have been attributed to burnout, retirement of senior education administrators and the reluctance of faculty to make the transition to senior administrative positions.[1]. There is general agreement that senior nursing academic administrators are needed to meet the demands of the 21st century and to achieve sustainable leadership capacity. There is an imbalance in the demand and supply of people with suitable skills.[3] Green and Ridenour [6] have emphasised that shaping a career in academic administration in nursing requires careful consideration by prospective candidates because of the trajectory to the role of dean, and the extent of the challenges associated with the role. Little has been documented regarding the journey of nurses to academic deanship. This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study of the career pathways of nursing deans in three countries
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