ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the needs of both pre-registration and post-registration nursing education, particularly the need for leadership enhancement. It examines the developing role of the healthcare assistant (HCA). The chapter explains the preparation for future educators and researchers in light of the emerging clinical academic careers. Nurse education in the UK is distinguished from nursing in most other countries across the globe in that the education system leads to a specialist registration as an adult nurse, a children's nurse, a mental health or a learning disabilities nurse. The pre-registration nurse education in the UK has been the subject of vigorous debate since 1939 and the Athlone Report, recommending that nurses should have student status. There have been a number of reports targeted at the future education of pre-registration nursing, there has been less written about the professional development of registered nurses.
