From educational philosophy to educational practice: fidelity and the curriculum in context

As part of a higher degree on research methods, exploratory work was undertaken concerning educational philosophy and educational practice using an ethnographic approach. This author discusses, using this exploratory work, the difficulties of attempting fidelity to an educational philosophy, through curriculum practice. Schools of nursing are increasingly adopting a rational approach to education, without considering the wider social context within which education occurs. The attempt to establish and pursue a single philosophy, ignores the plurality of ideological commitments held by nurse teachers. Further research is proposed using naturalistic methods in order to understand the processes of interpretation and implementation of educational philosophy.