The learner‐centredness of two registered general nursing and two registered mental nursing courses as perceived by third‐year nursing students

Using the conceptual framework of the Nottingham Andragogy Group, two first‐level British courses in general nursing and two in psychiatric nursing were studied to investigate their degree of perceived learner‐centredness Boydell's Scale for Measuring the Learner‐Centredness of a Course was administered to a non‐random sample of all 172 third‐year students at three schools of nursing Preference for learner‐centred nursing education was investigated using Boydell's Preferred Teaching Style Rating Scale with the student sample and by 31 nurse teachers Results indicated that first‐level nursing courses were perceived to be highly teacher‐centred in terms of planning, direction, sequence, pace and evaluation of learning The climate of learning proved to be moderately learner‐centred though teacher‐student relationships were perceived as formal Variety of learning approach was seen as limited with a tendency towards positivism rather than relativism of knowledge Both students and teachers of nursing expressed a slight preference for teacher‐centred courses despite the former's dissatisfaction with lack of participation in determining learning objectives Significantly greater perceived learner‐centredness of a psychiatric course was attributed to variations in the philosophy of learning within a particular school rather than to the course per se