Preceptorship in Nursing Education

Education is challenged nowadays with the important for survival goal of facilitating change and learning. New meanings are now attributed to education such as learning how to learn rather than acquiring new knowledge (Rogers, 1983). In a constantly changing situation, where reliance on static knowledge does not make sense anymore, it is important to help students to develop autonomous ways of learning, which will be of vital value through their careers (Slevin & Lavery, 1991). Preceptorship has the potential to facilitate the clinical experience of the students by encouraging reflection and enhancing their ability of critical thinking. In this paper, the author will examine the available data in literature with regard to the principles, roles and appropriate preparations for the preceptors. Moreover, the available research data concerning its effectiveness will be reviewed and evaluated. Finally, an alternative hermeneutic approach will be presented for a more extended understanding of preceptorship as an educational process.