Burden versus benefit: continuing nurse academics' experiences of working with sessional teachers

Sessional teachers are taking an increasing role in classroom teaching in Schools of Nursing. However, there is a paucity of literature reporting the experiences of, and impact on, career academics working with or alongside the burgeoning numbers of sessional teachers. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the experiences of continuing academics working with sessional teachers. This qualitative study used purposive sampling to recruit nurse academics and collect narrative data related to their experiences of working with sessional teachers. Four major themes emerged from the data, namely: They have got real credibility - perceptions of clinical currency, We've got people who are very good clinically, but don't know how to teach - lacking skills and confidence, No allegiance to the school or the students - perceived lack of commitment and accountability, and A terrible burden - workload implications for continuing academics. The development and implementation of standards for the recruitment and employment of sessional teachers would benefit both continuing academics and sessional teachers, and assist in the delivery of quality teaching and learning to nursing students.