Diversity is accepted as desirable in nursing education, ensuring that the system is both stable and responsive to the social environment. A more favorable environment for diversity requires eliminating or modifying policies that damage it. (Includes commentary by Jenny Morris.) (SK)

Critical thinking in nursing needs to be developed in four areas: formal knowledge, professional practice, ideology, and values. Critical thinkers assimilate encountered knowledge, develop deep understanding, recognize its provisionality, exercise judgment, respect others' knowledge, generalize their experience, and take a personal stand. (SK)

Presents a strategy for advancing research in clinical nursing: create a research practitioner position, develop and plan an ongoing research program, improve nurses' research expertise, obtain funding, and foster collaboration between academic and clinical staff. (SK)

To support nursing students in clinical placements, nurse educators are developing a variety of roles, such as lecturer/practitioner, researcher/practitioner, and lecturer/researcher. Nurse educators should have a firm practice base and collaborate more closely with clinical staff and lecturers from other disciplines. (SK)

Nursing education needs a new model of professional education that combines the liberal and vocational traditions--both knowing that and knowing how. Problem-based learning provides a framework for linking theory and clinical practice in a meaningful way. (SK)

Reflective tutorials used in supervising nursing student teachers raised several questions: What is the link between reflection and quality of practice? Can tutorials be used for assessment as well as personal development? Is reflection dependent on context? and How do the roles of supervisors and students change? (SK)