Teachers' Understanding of Internationalisation as an Essential Part of Nursing Education in Sweden

Abstract

This study presents a phenomenographic, contextual and content analysis approach used to reveal the understanding 60 university teachers in the Swedish nursing programme had of internationalisation. A 28-page self-administered questionnaire, especially designed for this study, was distributed to university colleges of health sciences in southern, central and northern Sweden. The variations in teachers' qualitatively different experiences and understanding of internationalisation were first related to two perspectives within their working context — an organisational didactic and an educational didactic — and second, the perspectives were described in five main themes and 10 subthemes. The findings imply the importance of reinforcing an understanding of internationalisation in coherence with the need for a didactical theoretical awareness and thinking of the learning object.