Practice teaching: professional identity and role recognition

Practice teachers have a significant role in leading education in clinical practice and in thepreparation, assessment and ‘signing off’ of post registration specialist practice students atthe end of their programme (NMC 2008).This paper reports on the preliminary findings of a grounded theory study which examinedthe perceived role of the practice teacher from the perspectives of relevant stakeholders.One to one interviews were carried out with a purposively selected sample of 21 participants.Data analysis took place concurrently, codes and categories being derived from the data(Charmaz 2006). A focus group interview was conducted further into the study with 6specialist practice nurse educators (Holloway 2005).Early findings suggest that the role of a practice teacher is operationalised differently bothwithin and across organisations and disciplines. This confounds the professional identity ofthe practice teacher and affects the recognition that practice teachers are afforded for theirrole.Role recognition appears to be key to building professional identity. The development of aclearer professional identity is essential if educational preparation is to be tailored morespecifically to the needs of those undertaking a Practice Teacher role.