Teacher archetypes: Perceptions of nursing students

Abstract

Good interpersonal relationships between teachers and students are primordial in nursing education. The aim of the study was to understand the perception of the students on the teachers’ attitudes that contribute to their professional education. A qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research was undertaken. The subjects are nursing students in the final course term of four distinct undergraduate courses, two of them from a public university and two from a private university, totaling 72 students. Based on the data analysis, the results permitted the construction of five empirical categories, namely: knowledge of teachers; teachers’ posture; respectability in the teacher-student relationship; ethics in the teacher and student relationship; responsibility in the teaching pratice. It was concluded that, independently of the institution and course, among many teacher attributes, the students particularly value the density of knowledge.