Generating alternatives in nursing: turning curriculum into a living process.

The transfer of nursing education into higher education institutions is challenging nurses to re-think educational structures and processes. Traditionally, nursing education has used objective curriculum models which tend to reinforce bureaucratic rather than professional values. Critics suggest that these models, by their failure to incorporate social, political and cultural realities, contribute to theory-practice dichotomies. This paper shares the intentions of Deakin University's School of Nursing in developing alternative approaches to curriculum design and to learning and practising nursing.