Identifying Student-Oriented Faculty

Abstract

There is general agreement that excellence in teaching involves both content and process dimensions. According to Gorman (1969), content expertise refers to the teacher's knowledge and command of subject matter. Expertise in the process dimension refers to the teacher's skill in establishing working relationships with students that activate learning. While theorists and educators place different emphasis and priority on these dimensions, this research addressed the process dimension of teaching. Specifically, the purpose of the study was to establish the validity of the Teacher Perceiver Interview as an instrument to identify nursing teachers who develop rapport with students, and who activate students to become involved in the learning process. Should the Teacher Perceiver Interview have predictive value, it has potential as a useful tool in the selection and development of nursing faculty. The process dimension of teaching, mentioned earlier, receives considerable commentary in nursing education, with the need for positive and supportive teacher-student relationships well documented in the nursing literature. In her review of student stress in nursing, McKay (1978) reports that nursing education is a stressful and anxiety-provoking experience for students, and concludes by emphasizing the need for faculty to establish positive and supportive interactions with students. Gunter (1969) also urges nursing educators to establish positive teacher-student relationships contending that "The nursing student, through this experience of an understanding relationship with faculty, may be enabled to establish an understanding relationship or therapeutic relationship with her patients" (p.242). In support of the concept that nursing is a humanistic, helping profession, the essence of which is care and caring, Watson (1981) points to the paramount importance of a learning climate in which the student experiences these conditions. Such experience is a precursor to the student's internalization of the humanist values that are basic to the profession of nursing (Benoliel, 1983; Ellis, 1970; King & Gerwig, 1981; Watson, 1981).