Reflections of nursing students, lecturers and clinical supervisors in the Western Cape on large classes

Abstract

Nursing education in the Western Cape responded to the South African higher education transformation agenda by establishing a Common Teaching Platform (CTP) for the delivery of the undergraduate nursing programme. Three universities in the region have collaborated since 2005 in the delivery of this programme. One of the universities was identified as the enrolling institution. During this period, the province experienced a shortage of nursing personnel. In response to this shortage and to transformation in the country, there was an increase in the enrolment target for the undergraduate programme offered by the three collaborating universities. Five years after the establishment of the CTP and the increased student intake, there was a need to explore the experiences of the lecturers, clinical supervisors and students regarding teaching and learning in large classes. In this article, the experiences of nursing students, clinical supervisors, and lecturers are shared and suggestions from the target groups are presented.