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Journal of Vocational Education & Training
ISSN: 1363-6820 (Print) 1747-5090 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjve20
Student Nurses’ Experience of Experiential
Teaching and Learning: towards a
phenomenological understanding
Anita J. Green & David G. Holloway
To cite this article: Anita J. Green & David G. Holloway (1996) Student Nurses’ Experience of Experiential Teaching and Learning: towards a phenomenological understanding, Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 48:1, 69-84, DOI: 10.1080/0305787960480105
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0305787960480105
Published online: 11 Aug 2006.
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Journal of Vocational Education and Training, Vol. 48, No. 1, 1996
Student Nurses' Experience of
Experiential Teaching and Learning:
towards a phenomenological understanding
ANITA J . GREEN & DAVID G. HOLLOWAY
University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT This paper reports on the use of a phenomenological research methodology to investigate the influence on clinical practice of pre- and post-registration nurse education which makes explicit use of experiential teaching and learning approaches. The primary aims of the research were: first, to examine the learners' understanding of experiential teaching and learning, and, secondly, to examine the claims made for the use of experiential teaching and learning approaches in both pre- and
post-registration nurses courses. A rationale is provided for the selection of a phenomenological approach indicating its compatibility with the focus of the enquiry. Data collection has involved focused non-directive interviews with nine members of a BSc Nursing Studies and MSc/DipHE Mental Health Branch courses. The data have been analysed using a technique developed by Giorgi. The findings are presented and discussed In the context of other studies from both nurse and higher education. Previous experiences of experiential teaching and learning were explored, student interpretations differentiated, and the relationship between course-based learning using experiential approaches and the implications for its influence on practice were examined. The paper concludes with the identification of
methodological problems arising from the research strategy and issues emerging from the interview process.
Introduction
During the past decade there has been a growing interest amongst nurse educators in the application of experiential teaching and learning approaches. This has been stimulated in part by major reforms in the education and professional development of nurses, and also by developments in the understanding of the problematic relationship between theory and practice emanating from the work of Schon (1983; 1987) and Benner (1984).
This paper reports on the first stage of a small scale longitudinal enquiry investigating the influence on clinical practice of pre- and post-registration nurse education which makes explicit use of experiential
teaching and learning approaches. The primary aims of the research were: firstly, to examine the learners' understanding of experiential learning and teaching methods; secondly, to examine the claims made for the use of experiential learning and teaching methods in both pre- and post-registration nurse courses; thirdly, to investigate how clinical practice is influenced by the experiential teaching elements of these courses, and finally, to explore the use of phenomenological research methodology.
The enquiry uses a phenomenological methodology for which a rationale is provided. That rationale and its compatibility with the focus of the enquiry is subject to a critical examination as an integral part of the research process. The findings are presented and discussed in the context of other studies from both nurse and higher education. Students' experiences of experiential learning and teaching methods have been probed, interpretations differentiated, and the relationship between course-based learning using experiential methods and the implications for its influence on practice have been examined.
Bryman (1988) has drawn attention to the danger of failing to consider the full extent and complexity involved in the application of phenomenological ideas to the social world. The paper also identifies and discusses methodological issues and dilemmas arising from the research process.
Research Methodology
Burnard (1989) has claimed, with some justification, that little research has been carried out in the field of experiential teaching and learning methods suggesting that:
... given the subjective nature of the field and the centrality of individual experience, this would seem to be a particularly difficult area.
Barber & Norman (1989) state that research into experiential methods has yielded inconclusive results due to the adoption of inappropriate research designs. Burnard (1989) lends some support to this view suggesting the use of ethnomethodological case studies and phenomenological descriptive methods as an alternative to the conventional quantitative approaches.
Phenomenological methodology is an approach only recently adopted in nursing and nurse education research in Britain although there is a longer history in the USA (see Cushing, 1994). Anderson's (1989) comments regarding the introduction of phenomenology into nursing research in America are equally applicable in Britain:
Some nurse researchers saw scientific methods as constraining and, therefore, looked to phenomenology as a way of investigating questions concerned with the lived experience of patients and their families.
We suggest that the phenomenological approach has been received in British nursing research in a largely uncritical manner ignoring a long sociological and psychological tradition (see Jasper, 1994). A number of explanations for this uncritical acceptance can be advanced:
1. It has a humanistic ideology that nursing, with its own discrete professional values, can both identify and feel comfortable with. These professional values include: a humanistic approach towards the individual; participative aspects that emphasise the actor's own meanings and interpretations. In short, the researcher works with the respondent and the material just as the nurse works with the patient/client using the nursing process.
2. There is an assumption that the approach offers an opportunity for the nurse to gain insight into self through the process of self-reflection, thereby developing in the nurse the ability to care for the patient/client in terms of the meanings and interpretations that the patient attaches to his/her experience.
3. Many of the research reports in both the British and the North American journals lack a detailed discussion of the methods or only describe the research process in general terms (Cohen & Ornery, 1994). Significantly educational researchers in Britain showed interest in phenomenology during the early and mid-1970s as part of a reaction against the prevailing theoretical and methodological orthodoxies. In many respects that project was successful since it stimulated the development of a range of qualitative approaches in educational research. Especially influential have been ethnography and, increasingly, action research (see Atkinson et al, 1988). In addition it stimulated considerable interest in areas that researchers had, arguably, previously neglected, namely in the study of classroom and staffroom interaction and the examination of educational establishments as organisations. However, educational researchers, especially those influenced by developments in sociology, became aware of a number of serious shortcomings with interpretive social science and phenomenology. First, it neglects the relationship between individuals' interpretations (and actions) and the social conditions within which these interpretations occur. Secondly, it can be argued that the approach does not take adequate account of the unintended consequences of social actions. Such actions cannot be adequately explained simply by reference to intentions and meanings attributed by individual actors involved. This is well illustrated in the educational research on the self-fulfilling prophecy and classroom knowledge. Finally, the interpretive view of the theory/practice relationship incorporates conservative assumptions regarding the nature of change (including changes in professional and organisational practices). It tends to assume that conflicts arising from change are the result of groups and individuals having conflicting interpretations of the
social reality and that these can be overcome by revealing misunderstandings of meanings (and actions).
These issues have received considerable attention from educational researchers (and also from social science researchers Investigating medical issues (Silverman, 1987)). Until recently there does not appear to have been the same critical awareness adopted by nurse researchers. It was with such considerations in mind that this enquiry was designed utilising an inductive and descriptive phenomenological method. The congruence between the humanistic ideologies underpinning current approaches to nurse education and phenomenological methodology were acknowledged informing the researchers of the need to accept the individual's perspectives and warning against intervening and interfering with the individual's process of exploration. The research has utilised a phenomenological process adapted from Spiegelberg (1982) by Parse et al (1985) and the data analysed using phenomenological guidelines (Giorgi, 1970). Validation of the data was achieved by the researchers returning transcripts to the research participants for checking immediately after transcription. These researchers were aware, however, that Giorgi (1988) has advanced a case against the use of participants as validators of the findings on the grounds that such would be asking the participant to evaluate a psychological interpretation of their own descriptions thereby exceeding the role of participant.
The first stage of the enquiry reported in this paper has involved focused non-directive interviews each between 30 and 60 minutes duration with nine members of a full-time Diploma in Higher Education (Mental Health Branch)/MSc degree course and a part-time BSc Nursing Studies degree course. The former recruits graduates with health-related degrees enabling them to gain registration as mental health nurses and the option of a Masters degree in Professional and Policy Studies. The BSc is a 4top-up' degree for qualified and experienced nurses. Both student
groups had commenced their studies in September 1993 and members were available for interviewing. Both course curricula claim to make use of experiential teaching. The focused interview technique was developed in the social sciences by Merton & Kendall (1946) since it has proved useful as an approach that enables the research subject to explore his/her deeper feelings, attitudes and perceptions towards particular issues (Cohen & Manion, 1994). It involves qualities of acceptance and permissiveness with the interviewer respecting the interviewee's responsibility for describing his/her experience, situation and perceptions in his/her own way.
Research Questions
The interview format followed closely the principles of the non-directive interview (Cohen & Manion, 1994) although {here was a focus due to the
learners being aware of the subject of the interview and having been given details of the research.
A focused non-directive approach allowed some interviewer control, including limiting the discussion to certain aspects of the learner's experience. Madge (1965) captures the essence of this approach stating:
(there are those) who wish to retain the qualities of the non-directive technique and at the same time are keen to evolve a method that is economical and precise enough to leave a residue of results rather than merely a posse of cured souls, (cited Cohen & Manion, 1994)
The focus of the interview questions was on the learners' understanding, experience and interpretation of experiential learning and teaching methods. They were compiled in order to guide the interrogative statements that encouraged the learners to share personal thoughts, knowledge, perceptions and feelings about the phenomenon in an unstructured manner.
The data was analysed using a technique developed by Giorgi (1970; Giorgi et al, 1975) involving the following stages:
1. Identification of natural meaning units, sections of text in the respondent's own language with a 'natural beginning' and a 'natural end'. 2. A further examination of the text to identify emergent themes, continuing to use the respondent's own language.
3. Establishment of focal meanings. The progression from themes to focal meanings represents a shift in the level of discourse with the researcher using his/her own language: abstract, focused and condensed.
4. Synthesising of situated structural descriptions. A synthesis of each respondent's focal meanings using the researcher's language.
5. Synthesising of the situated structural descriptions to create a general structural description.
Findings
A Methodological Concern
On reaching the stage in the data analysis of synthesising the respondent's situated structural meanings in order to prepare a general structural description the researchers became acutely aware of the need to disregard a significant amount of the data brought together in the form of situated structural descriptions. The research process hitherto had highlighted numerous salient points about the nature of experiential learning from the student's perspective. Until this stage the researchers had maintained a high degree of fidelity both to the phenomenological process adapted from Giorgi (1970; Giorgi et al, 1975) and the data collected from the respondents. On reaching the stage of preparing the
general structural description, which is the meaning of the lived experience of the phenomena studied from the perspective of the subjects (Parse et al, 1985), the researchers' concerns about the methodology that had been emerging throughout the project became focused on the following issues:
1. Many of the studies that have used a phenomenological methodology have only obtained data from a limited number of respondents, rarely venturing beyond a sample size of four (Andre/cited in Parse et al, 1985; Kranjie, cited in Parse et al, 1985; Appleton, 1990). A consequence of this is that with a greater number of respondents there is a greater diversity of definitions, meanings, ideas and experiences. This in turn creates considerable difficulties when moving from the situated to the general structural description.
2. Creating the general structural description from the data in the situated structural description would involve disregarding a significant amount of material that would otherwise have been incorporated into the findings if an alternative methodology had been used.
3. This raises ethical issues regarding fidelity to the data collected in the context of the expectations of those respondents who gave their time being interviewed, reading transcripts and offering feedback as a part of the research process.
4. The stages in the phenomenological research process aim at totally immersing the researcher(s) in the data, and bracketing (Merleau-Ponty, 1956, cited in Oiler, 1982) any preconceptions and prior understandings of the meaning(s) of the research topic. With a larger number of respondents this research process becomes elongated and time consuming thereby leading these researchers to consider the efficacy of bracketing as a integral element in the methodology.
In the light of these concerns the researchers have chosen to report only as far as the situated structural descriptions. The following data represents the students accounts; names have been changed in order to maintain confidentiality.
7. Mary
The experience of experiential learning was described by Mary as involving a range of activities: doing, testing, reflecting and examining in a critical manner aspects of practice with a view to identifying good and ineffective practice as preparation for change. Mary described experiential learning as enabling her to handle situations more effectively, gain insight into the feelings of others and develop better understanding and greater awareness. Learning was gained from working with the client. This involved an intuitive element, related to decision making. This learning was identified by Mary as not readily gained from textbooks. She
suggested that a key element of experiential learning was the opportunity provided for participation, interaction and shared learning with peers. A major problem arising, however, was that Mary's previous education experiences had had a more formal structure; consequently she encountered initial difficulties of strangeness and vagueness that were not alleviated by the course documentation.
2. Anne
Anne believed learning by experience to be more practical than theoretical, but acknowledged that in order to attain a higher level of expertise and understanding a theoretical input was necessary. She stated that the implications of theory may not manifest themselves outside the clinical situation and may be different from what was previously imagined. She appreciated that an appropriate nursing model can improve nursing care, but the model currently being used in her clinical situation has not been used effectively. She argued that evaluating nursing models led to a greater clinical awareness and understanding.
Anne claimed that experiential learning is insidious and that it was only through reflection that it is influential. She explained the significance of reflection by contrasting two courses, one of which made explicit use of experiential learning, whilst the other placed a greater emphasis on the questioning of taken for granted practice and the clarification of meanings. The student was aware of changing requirements in the clinical situation and the challenging nature of Project 2000 students; these in turn encouraged qualified staff to examine their own practice.
3. Paul
Paul defined experiential learning as learning by doing, both in the clinical situation and through the exploration of clinical practice issues in the classroom setting. However, he believed that learning in the clinical situation could be problematic due to what he perceived as the poor quality of care provided by nurses. In particular, Paul directed attention to the inadequacy of role models provided, leading to students being unable to see how the theory they have learned is translated into practice by qualified nurses. Nevertheless, he claimed that students are able to distinguish between good and ineffective practice, and recognise that they can offer therapeutic skills themselves. He believed that the acquisition of therapeutic skills taught in the classroom can provide the necessary framework that gives the student confidence in practice. However, he suggested, in small groups this acquisition may be diminished by the interpersonal familiarity of group members, further reinforced by the practice of pairing. Yet the sharing of information was considered to be important, especially the reciprocation, further reinforced by the silent
members, creating frustration for others. Paul believed that clinical practice experiences should be reviewed in classroom-based reflective practice sessions, and that these should be regarded as a high priority activity since they offer the opportunity to share experiences and can bring about changes in perspectives. He stated that experiential learning helped in the development of individual styles of practice. This involved the exercise of individual initiative that can create strain for some students. Role play was seen by Paul as having a positive influence on practice, although that influence may not immediately be apparent. Role play needs to be enjoyable, realistic and to take place in a safe environment where skills can be practised and feedback received. Paul pointed out the possibilities of inadequate supervision both in experiential learning sessions and in clinical practice, highlighting that there can be feelings of isolation.
4. Claire
The experience of experiential learning was described by Claire as involving learning through the experience of doing, remembering, and building on each experience to bring about the development of confidence in order to experiment in professional practice. Claire recognised that it is possible to select from previous learning experiences, to contribute to and enhance new experiences. This prior experience was also identified as enabling her to adapt theory to practice. Claire also believed that research-based courses enabled the exploration of ideas derived from the experience in the practice situation. Research projects involving colleagues were seen as contributing to changes in practice. Support from other professional colleagues was seen as important. She recognised that experiential learning involved reflection and that the courses that she had attended differed in the focus placed on the development of skills necessary for reflective practice. A consequence was that the process of reflective practice was not always realised.
5. Rob
Rob described experiential learning as involving hands-on experience working with clients, professional and non-professional colleagues, receiving clinical supervision, and engaging in reflective practice in combination with a theoretical component. He recognised that the intention of the Mental Health Branch was to integrate theory and practice; however, he stated that other students saw them as separate.
Rob acknowledged that experiential learning in Mental Health enables the practising of skills, receiving feedback, and allows discussion with other group members. Role play as a form of experiential learning, whilst it sometimes had artificial qualities, was seen by Rob as enabling
students to 'get in touch' with feelings and receive feedback which would contribute to the improvement of therapeutic skills. He pointed to the value of role playing in trios, thereby facilitating feedback from an observer; value was enhanced when roles were exchanged. Rob is a member of a small group and commented that small groups may restrict the flexibility of role play activities, and whilst he acknowledged that small groups may have certain perceived advantages, in reality such may not exist. Games and simulation activities were seen as enabling the student to gain a greater insight into the client's experience.
Rob attributed equal importance to the interwoven nursing practice, nursing theory and clinical practice elements of the curriculum. The clinical work provided the opportunity to practise with people with mental health problems; the supporting clinical supervision and classroom experience provided the opportunity for discussion with peers regarding effectiveness. The approach to reflective practice requires competent facilitation to encourage full group participation. Paul believed that clinical supervision should be a positive experience but acknowledged that it could be complicated when the supervisor's role includes assessment.
6. Emma
Emma described experiential learning as relating theory to practice, learning through experience, examining the application of acquired theories, knowledge and ideas. She saw the adaptation to role play as variable, the enthusiasm of some group members having a positive influence on others involved. She suggested that despite gains in knowledge and skills students may well feel that their performance was inadequate. She illustrated the effectiveness of role play with the following: nurses have to deal with patients who are seeking information regarding their condition; however, they have to respond within constraints of regulations and confidentiality. Emma believed such dilemmas can be explored effectively using role play to highlight issues of control, perceptions and feelings.
Emma, as a member of a BSc in Nursing course, believed that the course provided the opportunity to debate the nature of care and the essence of nursing. She stated that some members of the course were newly qualified as nurses: the course provided them with the opportunity to learn from more experienced nurses.
Emma identified experiential learning as occurring in clinical settings in particular relating to patient care. Newly qualified staff are required to teach as a requirement of their role, yet some doubt their ability to teach in the clinical setting, having reservations regarding their teaching skills and specific deficits. She suggested that their confidence could be developed if they taught students on courses that the qualified nurses had
previously attended. She commented that teaching students in a clinical setting should involve an attempt to bridge the gap between statutory assessment requirements and the requirements of the clinical situation.
Emma stated that there was not always an opportunity to reflect on a learning situation. Individual reflection may not develop beyond the affective elements of the experience so learning may not be consolidated. Non-threatening supportive collaboration with a colleague, she believed, can assist in this process and bring about resolution.
A distinction was drawn by Emma between the course where a pedagogical approach is adopted, and those where experiential learning is used to facilitate discussion, drawing from experience to aid understanding.
7. Elizabeth
Elizabeth described experiential learning as learning from experiences in the clinical situation and in the classroom. The classroom experiences are transferred to the clinical situation. She stated that initially students can be apprehensive due to their inexperience, but self-awareness and therapeutic skills developed in the classroom contribute to the development of their confidence. She stated that skills are taught in the classroom but there can be a delay in their application to the clinical situation. On occasions students may request classroom sessions which relate to aspects of clinical practice encountered. Consequently, some teaching sessions are developed from the students' clinical experience. However, it was acknowledged that there were limits to the extent that reality can be recreated in the classroom. Similarly the relationship between theory and practice was recognised by Elizabeth as being problematic, with some theory proving to be unrealistic when applied to practice.
According to Elizabeth, participation in experiential learning sessions is voluntary; however, normally, all group members join in. She saw the links between classroom-based experiential learning and clinical practice as invaluable. Those links were facilitated by the requirement on students to maintain a portfolio recording their interactions with clients, assessments and clinical notes. These are used in the classroom situation to stimulate ideas and reflect on practice. According to Elizabeth the significance of these reflective practice sessions was not initially appreciated by the students, in part due to the sessions being used for other purposes, but later their importance was acknowledged.
8. Jane
Jane claimed that experiential learning means learning through experience using such teaching strategies as role play. She commented that role play
can, however, present difficulties for students especially when students' own issues are used as part of the role play experience. She also identified confusion regarding boundaries and the extent of roles, and referred to concerns arising from the involvement and interest displayed by peers when sharing their own emotional experiences. She saw these difficulties as affecting the utility of role play but did accept that role play could provide the closest experience necessary to developing a sense of realia.
Jane suggested that experiential learning, when used in the context of nursing, tends to refer to work in the classroom rather than in the clinical situation. She was aware that much learning takes place in the latter. She claimed that students tend not to have a theoretical definition of experiential learning but have derived their own definitions from their own experiences. Referring to the experiences of the graduates, she attributed this to their prior experience of higher education where there had been an emphasis on lectures while practicals were perceived as assessment hoops rather than as an opportunity for the development of skills. Jane argued that 'experiential' is currently, along with 'self-directed learning1, a trendy word, a current fashion. The consequences were, she
stated, feelings of insecurity and frustration shared by herself and her peers and the belief that she was not "bloody learning anything". She knew, however, that therapeutic skills can only be learnt in the clinical environment and that the relationship between theory and practice in the curriculum and the sequence in which they are delivered is problematic.
Jane commented on the fewer opportunities available to group members to work with others when the size of the group is small. She mentioned how, even when there are explicit 'opt-out' clauses, considerable group pressure is exerted on individuals to encourage them to participate: a pressure that could extend to a form of bullying. She was aware of her peers feeling self-conscious when observed by their peers. She believed that participants may feel that they are being judged or assessed not on their professional capabilities but on their emotional state if they chose to opt out.
9. Susan
Susan stated that experiential learning meant learning by doing, reflecting and identifying different courses of action. She contrasted this explanation with lectures which were described as boring, uninvolving and not encouraging long-term retention. She argued that active participation in learning is initially difficult and raises anxieties, but becomes easier with practice. The students on the Diploma in Higher Education/MSc course (of which this student is a member), use reflection to learn more effectively but they found this different from earlier learning experiences. The University experience was seen as passive by Susan, while learning from practice and reflection was believed to lead to the development of self,
greater interest and involvement with the potential for change and improvement (of practice).
Susan claimed that the combination of client involvement, classroom activities, reflection and clinical supervision bring about changes in students' behaviour and contributes to all aspects of the course. Reflection on practice is a major part of the course. This is formalised in the form of a portfolio, a written document recording involvement with clients, accessible to the tutor and used for assessment purposes. Susan revealed that students are also encouraged to keep a personal journal, which can include feelings, problems and other personal material. The personal journal is not assessed and does not need to be viewed by others, but can be used as an aid to problem solving and contribute to reflective practice. Susan acknowledged that there can be a duplication in the material recorded for reflective practice and personal journals.
Susan also commented on role play as a form of experiential learning, suggesting that regular experience enabled the student to move from feeling self-conscious to a level of competence and confidence. She pointed to the need for the development of trust in this process. She contrasted learning from the experiences of others which offers a wider perspective, with learning through self-reflection.
Susan identified support networks consisting of personal tutors, clinical supervisors and colleagues. The clinical supervisor provided overall supervision but students also meet with key workers to discuss individual clients on their caseload. Susan concluded that experiential learning and teaching was enjoyable, the active involvement encouraging learning.
Discussion of Findings
We believe that it is possible to identify the following themes. However, in doing so, we are aware that we are deviating from Giorgi's framework. 1. Students were able to define in their own words experiential learning. Their definitions usually encapsulated both classroom and clinical experiences.
The emphasis on learning through experience (Pfeiffer & Goodstein, 1982), regardless of where the experience has taken place, appears to indicate a dynamic approach to the nature of knowledge as part of the learning experience. A less rigid conceptual framework of what experiential learning means, and an ability to transfer these meanings to other experiences is evident from the students' definitions. What appeared fundamental to the students' ideas on experiential learning was the importance of the experience itself. Kolb (1984) has emphasised the relationship between experiential learning and its application to practice. This could be seen as an opportunity to narrow the theory/practice gap.
Significantly from an examination of the students' definitions it could be argued that this gap does not form part of their experience.
2. Role play is identified as the main example of an experiential teaching and learning method encountered in the classroom situation.
Role play is offered as an example of experiential teaching and learning in the nurse education literature (Burnard & Chapman, 1990) leading Burnard (1989) to describe its use as 'fairly widespread'. The advantages of role play technique have long been recognised in the literature as encouraging active participation, allowing the investigation of personal and inter-relationship behaviours and the exploration of the affective domain in addition to the cognitive (Stock, 1971). The interviewees appeared to be well aware of such advantages commenting positively on the insights gained into the client experience. They did, however, possess an awareness of the limitations of the approach with interviewees commenting on levels of commitment, the issue of role boundaries and pointing to the need for competent supervision or facilitation.
3. Students were aware of the issues arising from the problematic relationship between theory and practice and practice and theory.
Proctor & Reed (1993) highlight the many issues which emerge from attempting to address the theory/practice gap, such as the ideals of holistic care in contrast to the specialist and somewhat fragmented Health Service facilities. They discuss how 'theories in use' developed by practitioners depict current practice approaches, thereby further exaggerating the theory/practice distinction, and, it might be suggested from the findings of this study, alienating the student from a meaningful experience. Significantly the student accounts do suggest that they were able to distinguish between good and ineffective practice.
4. The importance of reflection as a stage in experiential learning and of reflective practice was highlighted indicating diversity in application.
Reflection is a vital element of experiential learning. Even though experiential learning is often defined as learning through doing, more precisely it is learning through reflecting on doing (Burnard & Chapman, 1990), with import placed on the integration of new experience with past experience through the reflective process, which in turn may influence future practice. There are numerous theories and perspectives on reflection with some adding to or enhancing existing approaches (Schon, 1983, 1987; Kolb, 1984; Boud et al, 1985; Jarvis, 1985; Weil & McGill, 1989; Mezirow, 1991). A number of the students had identified reflection as an integral part of experiential learning and also when transferred to the practice setting, recognised how it could assist in making sense of experiences and affect future practice.
5. All respondents identified concerns regarding clinical practice. These concerns show considerable diversity (which the researchers believe would be impossible to encapsulate in a single General Structural Description).
6. All mental health students referred to the importance of clinical supervision viewing it as experiential learning.
The mental health students encounter clinical supervision as part of their nurse training; it is an integral part of their client allocation experience.
Clinical supervision can be defined as an exchange between practising professionals to enable the development of professional skills (Butterworth & Faugier, 1992). Clinical supervision could be seen as an experiential activity, especially where experiential learning methods are used, such as role play to facilitate the exploration of therapeutic dialogue. The clinical supervision experience was seen as a cyclical process comprised of elements associated with experiential learning.
Conclusion
This paper is an interim report on a longitudinal study. Consequently it does not include any final analysis or conclusion at this stage. The researchers are currently arranging a second series of interviews with the same respondents to be carried out before the completion of their courses. A third and final series of interviews will take place six months after those students complete their courses.
The research process has identified a number of methodological issues that warrant further examination. These include: the interview process when the interviewers have different disciplinary backgrounds (in this case social science and therapeutic), consistency in non-directive interviewing, the efficacy of bracketing, and issues surrounding power within relationships between teachers as researchers and their interviewee students. They highlight the need for those nurses who select phenomenological methodology to become more critically aware of its limitations, dilemmas and problems in order that it can be used in a creative and rigorous manner. These researchers have found that using a phenomenological process has provided a route to explore methodological issues that have received scant attention in the British nursing research literature. It is our intention to address and report on these concerns.
Correspondence
David Holloway, School of Education and English, University of Portsmouth, Furze Lane, Southsea, Hampshire PO4 8LW, United Kingdom.
EXPERIENTIAL TEACHING AND LEARNING
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