Racism and the mentor-student relationship: nurse education through a white lens

This paper is based on a study of relationships between Internationally Recruited Nurse (IRN) mentors and White students in one nurse education department in England (Scammell, 2010). The aim of the study was to analyse mentorship relationships, focusing on interaction in which perceptions of difference were in play. The research drew upon the principles of qualitative ethnography. Data were collected through focus groups, interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis. The purposive sample included 10 IRNs, 23 nursing students, two lecturers and five placement-based staff development nurses. The data were analysed thematically. Essentialist constructions of different 'cultures' emerged amongst students speaking of their experiences with IRN mentors. These were used to explain and justify differences in practice and often to portray IRN education as inferior. Difference was viewed as a problem, leading to the reinforcement of boundaries that differentiate 'them' from 'us'. Racism was denied as a source of these views. The findings suggest that Whiteness as a source of power was influential in the production of racism within everyday nursing practice. Whiteness appeared to be normalised: essentially nurse education is seen through a White lens. Students require deeper sociological understandings to better equip them to recognise and to challenge racism and to acknowledge their own part in its reconstruction.