Implications of Confucian learning on nurse education in the UK: a discussion

This paper explores and discusses the increasing presence of international recruitment in higher education in the UK with a particular focus on nurse education and the implications of this growth in student population with regards to teaching and learning. It draws attention to the noted differences in learning styles of Confucian learners from the East to that of Socratic learners in the West. Addressing these two dimensions and cultural differences in learning for international students is important if educators are to fully understand the student learning behaviours. Owing to a lack of information regarding these learning behaviours in the nursing domain, comparisons have been drawn from other disciplines. Recurrent themes are presented and analysed in terms of the educational paradigm and their possible influence on the educational interaction is postulated. From this analysis it is apparent that although quite disparate, both learning behaviours could benefit from each other's intellectual tradition. Emic differences between learning styles have been highlighted in this paper, it would in future be useful to identify etic commonalities within learning groups and use those as a foundation for further research, so that the full potential of confusion learners can be achieved within a Westernised academic arena.