Articulation of pre-registration nursing courses in Western Sydney

This paper will describe a project, undertaken in 1996-1997, which sought to develop formal articulation arrangements between nursing education courses provided by Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions in Greater Western Sydney and the University of Western Sydney (UWS). The project sought to facilitate the access of TAFE-trained Enrolled Nurses (ENs) to UWS's Bachelor of Nursing (BN) courses and eliminate costly duplication in programs of study. Although conducted in Australia, the project generated insights of utility to colleagues in the UK, the USA and New Zealand, in particular, who are dealing with the effects of the 'knowledge explosion' and reductions in government funding to universities. The project comprised two stages. Stage 1 involved a statewide survey of all stakeholders, using individual telephone interviews and focus groups, of practices and perceptions with respect to formal articulation arrangements. The findings demonstrated an overwhelming consensus with respect to both the benefits of and barriers to formal articulation arrangements. These benefits and barriers will be described. Stage 2 involved the TAFE-UWS collaborative design and implementation of 2 EN-BN bridging programs which allow, differentially, ENs to access UWS's BN programs with 1 and 2 semesters block credit. This paper includes details of the project's background, survey methods and findings, bridging courses' contents and courses' implementation evaluative data.