ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the experiences of student nurses and newly qualified nurses as they transition into independent practice and their learning from and in practice. Findings from the project which investigated the effects of academic award on registered nurses’ ability to re-contextualise knowledge to allow them to deliver, organise, supervise care. The demand for nurses able to manage complex clinical nursing teams is predicted to increase due to an ageing population with people suffering from long-term, manageable conditions. To prepare for the rising demand for nursing, the UK Government has said that nurses, equipped with critical thinking skills, will increasingly take up leadership positions to meet the challenges in future healthcare and delegate care to the unregistered nursing assistant workforce. Alison Steven’s work is a further development of the ideas around the interplay between context, referred to as knowledge contexts, emotions, learning, where she develops a framework for understanding student nurses’ learning in practice as emotional safety” for learning.
