["And it is always recommended"--educational concepts and expertise in nursing practice]

This article presents the results of a qualitative empirical study of interaction between teachers and students during lessons in nursing training, focussing in particular on the perspectives of nursing didactics. It examines whether the classes warrant appropriate preparation for beginners with regard to the complex demands of professional practice. The presentation focuses on a widespread educational concept named "rule-orientation". This category summarises those communication patterns of teachers which create rules for operating in typical nursing situations and which are presented as benchmarks for professional practice. Limitations associated with this concept are (1) lacking science-based justification of those operation rules, (2) the communication of standards and recipes instead of clinical judgement, and (3) the partial resolution of intrinsically contradictious demands in nursing practice. Three nursing didactical target dimensions for nursing education are being concretised as a referential framework for class-related decisions that can contribute to better qualify nursing students for professional practice.