The learner-centredness of two registered general nursing and two registered mental nursing courses as perceived by third-year nursing students.

Using the conceptual framework of the Nottingham Andragogy Group, two first-level British courses in general nursing and two in psychiatric nursing were studied to investigate their degree of perceived learner-centredness. Boydell's Scale for Measuring the Learner-Centredness of a Course was administered to a non-random sample of all 172 third-year students at three schools of nursing. Preference for learner-centred nursing education was investigated using Boydell's Preferred Teaching Style Rating Scale with the student sample and by 31 nurse teachers. Results indicated that first-level nursing courses were perceived to be highly teacher-centred in terms of planning, direction, sequence, pace and evaluation of learning. The climate of learning proved to be moderately learner-centred though teacher-student relationships were perceived as formal. Variety of learning approach was seen as limited with a tendency towards positivism rather than relativism of knowledge. Both students and teachers of nursing expressed a slight preference for teacher-centred courses despite the former's dissatisfaction with lack of participation in determining learning objectives. Significantly greater perceived learner-centredness of a psychiatric course was attributed to variations in the philosophy of learning within a particular school rather than to the course per se.