Student nurse-educators' construction of teacher identity from a self-evaluation perspective: A quantitative case study

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the teacher identity formation dynamics of student nurse-educators about the subject matter, pedagogy and didactics. Design: A case study using descriptive quantitative design was employed. Methods: Using a cross-sectional approach, data were collected in 2014 using a self-administered questionnaire. Participants were asked to self-evaluate their teaching competencies on the nursing subject matter, pedagogical expertise and didactical expertise. Using descriptive analysis we determined the central tendencies of the constructs. Results: The descriptive analysis revealed a very small variance (0.0011) and standard deviation (0.04) among the means of the three constructs, which indicates a fair balance in the contribution of the subject matter, pedagogy and didactics towards teacher identity formation. Nursing student-educators can achieve a balanced combination of subject matter expert, pedagogical expert and didactical expert combination during the formation of their teacher identity. This could be indicative of how effective the training programme is in helping the students achieve a balanced teacher identity.