Project 2000 students' perceptions of their training

This paper reports on the findings of a study conducted into the perceptions of final year Project 2000 pre-registration students towards their pre-registration education programme. The aim of the research was to discover how students perceive their training in terms of value, relevance, intellectual potency, teaching methods and organization. Data were collected using the Hoste scale which has been developed for the evaluation of educational courses. A convenience sample of students (n = 131) within one college of nursing were invited to participate. Findings include a particularly high level of satisfaction with Project 2000 in terms of value, breadth and relevance. Organization and liveliness of the course were perceived much less satisfactorily. There was a trend for a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the theoretical and practical components of the course. The findings are discussed with particular reference to the perceptions of theory and practice within the educational programme.