ABSTRACT This paper aims to show how debates on the appropriate education of nurses are strongly affected by economic, social and interest group considerations in addition to the overt educational arguments. Concentrating on the New Zealand situation, but making some comparisons with the U.S. and U.K., it discusses the following two issues: 1. (i)hospital-based training against training based in an educational institution; 2. (ii)the case for and against two levels of qualified nurses. 1. (i)A phased transfer of responsibility for training of registered nurses from hospital boards to technical institutes is well under way in New Zealand and a detailed evaluation has been published. Reservations about this transfer included (a) the practical and financial problems of staffing hospitals with reduced student labour, (b) the possibility of educational provision above the needs of regular nursing care and raised expectations of a role beyond that which would be encountered, together with unwillingness to perfo...