Dear Florence,

I'm new at the university, but even I can see we have curriculum issues in our school of nursing. Faculty believe that they have the academic freedom to teach any way and anything they want. Some stress the content they love and know well while minimizing the content that other faculty believe is important. Students complain about everything. Testing issues put students out of control and their anxiety is overwhelming at times. I am seriously concerned that our students as a whole are not being prepared, and there is this prevailing perception that the faculty are "out to get them." Our NCLEX results are okay, but I believe they could be better. Faculty and curriculum meetings curl my hair. Faculty argue about the simplest of issues and meetings go on forever. Do you have any suggestions? Why cannot we just all get along?

Curled in California

DearCurled,

Your problems are not unique to your school. After traveling around the country and hearing faculty talk about their schools' issues, I know actually these concerns are fairly universal. You actually describe 4 issues. First is the lack of a team effort in implementing the curriculum plan. Faculty seem to be meeting their own individual needs rather than those of the school as a whole. Your second concern is about a lack of positive student-faculty relationships, which results in students continually being in an uproar. Third is the need for improving the teaching and learning environment that will result in that students can perform better. Fourth is the ineffective use of time in faculty meetings.

Here are a few strategies to address your concerns. Regarding a lack of teamwork, of course, faculty must work as a team to effectively meet the curriculum's stated outcomes. This is not easy as individual faculty may have strong beliefs about what content is essential and how content should be presented. No one likes to hear negative feedback, particularly about the course they feel connected to. To convince faculty to change, you must show them data that indicate a change is needed.

One way to get such data is to analyze information collected in your systematic program evaluation plan (SPEP). All programs must have one of these plans to meet State Board of Nursing and National League of Nursing requirements. This document highlights information that must be collected to validate the quality of your program. One component of the SPEP is curriculum. Quality indicators include items such as NCLEX results, student evaluation of individual courses, and student satisfaction with the overall program. When faculty see data that indicate changes are needed, they may be more willing to listen to ideas to improve their courses.

However, some faculty may resist efforts to address apparent problems despite student complaints, negative NCLEX results, or clinical agency concerns. When this occurs, strong leadership is crucial to ensure compliance with change. At a meeting of nurse educators, a speaker suggested to faculty that once a curriculum decision is made that the dissenters need to adopt an attitude that they will not "rock the boat" and will respectfully "get in the boat and row in the same direction" as the other faculty. This does not mean that faculty should not listen to and respect the dissenters, as debate is healthy and faculty need to feel that their ideas are respected. However, once consensus has been achieved, individual faculty must take the responsibility to "just let it go" instead of reacting negatively with tactics designed to undermine the decision. Despite everything though, there will be some faculty who will "behave badly" and act out inappropriately. You cannot let these few sabotage your enthusiasm and efforts to effect positive change.

Your concern about student-faculty issues is not uncommon as faculty have the responsibility of evaluating their students. This creates an unequal power dynamic in the relationship, often resulting in students feeling that they have no control and that faculty do not really listen to their concerns. This may escalate to uncontrolled anxiety, resulting in students feeling that the faculty are "out to get them." Faculty must convince students that they have students' best interests at heart by reassuring them and listening to their concerns, ideas, and feelings. Although faculty cannot always allay student anxiety, listening and respecting their concerns go a long way in improving the strained relationship. Your school might want to form a faculty-student relations committee to ease tension and promote positive relationships. Meeting together on a regular basis allows both groups the opportunity to discuss issues and concerns before they become full-fledged problems and spiral "out of control." Also, by role modeling appropriate student-faculty interactions, you might help other faculty see the merits of working with, not against, students who are often seen as complainers or whiners.

Improving the teaching-learning environment is a goal to which all of us aspire. Most faculty share your concern and are constantly looking for ways to improve student learning. To improve this environment, we need to examine the situation from both the faculty and student viewpoint. The concept of learning communities is not a new idea, but it could be the answer you are looking for. Since the average age of nursing faculty is in the mid- to late fifties, most were educated by the instructional paradigm where the teacher is seen as the expert and the student is a passive participant in the learning process. We all tend to teach as we were taught modeling the authoritarian approach of our teachers, despite the evidence that students learn and retain more if they are active participants in the learning process and are encouraged to collaborate with their teachers and peers as they learn.

Faculty development is one way to help all faculty learn how to teach so that students really learn. Attending teaching conferences and reading nursing education journals can motivate faculty to try new and innovative ways to help students think critically, communicate effectively with their peers, and reflect on their own learning so that they are continuously improving themselves. Perhaps your faculty could have monthly brown bag lunches in which teaching strategies are shared. Creating this community of faculty learners focused on teaching strategies that stimulate critical thinking and problem-solving skills can be crucial in improving the teaching and learning environment as well as the enthusiasm for teaching at your school.

Similarly creating a student learning community could help students have a positive learning experience as well. Small group learning teams help students verbalize their own perspectives and ideas as they study complex material, which enhances the learning for everyone. These teams also create the kind of community among peers that encourages student nurses to transfer that positive experience of working together to their future workplaces as professional nurses. Faculty need to make the teaching learning environment a priority in order to the change the dynamics so common in many schools of nursing.

Your concern about never-ending faculty meetings is an issue for many schools. There is such a small amount of time all of us get together as a whole it is not surprising that we want to chat and be social. This can get in the way of doing the business necessary to run an effective school of nursing. One way to help keep meetings on task is to establish an agenda complete with a time line corresponding to the length of the meeting. In this way, discussions have a time limit and meetings adjourn on time. It also allows participants to decide if certain items require extra time; so future meetings can be planned appropriately. You will need to appoint a timekeeper to be sure the meeting stays on time, but this structure should improve the effectiveness of the meeting and respect everyone's time commitment. We are all incredibly busy and it is important to everyone that times for meetings are concrete so that individual faculty can mange their time and commitments.

Again, your concerns can be handled with a little planning by administration and the faculty as a whole. We all want the best possible student outcomes, as well as faculty job satisfaction.