Training and education: an analysis of quality assurance in teaching and nursing education

There is a continuing tension between training and education in vocational higher education courses. The debate in nursing has been heightened by the transfer of courses into higher education and staffing problems in the NHS. Comparisons with other occupations can help prevent introspection in analysis of policy issues in nursing. Teacher training is a particularly useful comparator because it entered higher education before nursing, and teachers have failed to maintain a level of autonomy that nurses would once have envied. This paper compares nursing and teacher training with particular reference to quality assurance. The UK government has adopted a centralized quality assurance and funding system for teacher training. Nursing is included in higher education quality assurance systems but funding is devolved. The tensions between training and education within nursing and teacher training are examined, and implications for the development of nursing considered.