A sharing in critical thought by nursing faculty

A critical analysis of nurse education programmes has revealed an overt and covert curriculum; the overt being the one underpinned by values which espouse humanism and critical thought; the covert being the one which reflects the patriarchal system and is directed by a means-end rationality. In response to this dilemma the 'curriculum revolution' mandate for change, which occurred in the latter half of the last decade, called for nurse educators to unveil, understand and criticize the assumptions and values which guided their practice, so that they, and consequently their students, could be more responsive to the needs of society, value subjective experience, acknowledge theoretical pluralism, and share an egalitarian relationship. This paper explores the formation of a 'critical collective' of nurse academics who came together believing that, 'if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've already got'. The major concern of this collective was to facilitate change within their work environment, through the development of strategies, so that the ideas of the 'revolution' were not lost to the mere rhetoric of curriculum documents.