Congruency of educational beliefs and practices among nursing educators compared to congruency of educational beliefs and practices among faculty in teacher education

During the past few years nursing education has discussed the merits and necessity of curriculum revolution. Theorists suggest that a humanizing learning environment can promote professional nursing, and congruency between learning theory and educational practice can enhance teaching effectiveness.; The purpose of this survey research was to determine which educational belief system, behaviorism, humanism, or cognitive field theory, is the most prevalent among nursing educators and education faculty in small community colleges in rural Missouri Additionally the study sought to clarify the degree of the congruency between educators' educational theory beliefs and their beliefs about educational practices. The conceptual framework for this research combined cognitive dissonance theory with the nursing theory of Peplau as applied to education.; The study utilized a tool developed by Dobson, Dobson, and Kessinger in 1980. This 138 question tool was designed to indicate a respondent's preference for one of three learning theories: (a) behaviorism, (b) cognitive field theory, and (c) humanism. The tool also measured the congruency between teachers' theoretical educational beliefs and their beliefs about educational practices.; This tool was sent to two community colleges in Missouri that offer an associate degree nursing program. At those two schools 24 educators were available during the time frame for conducting the study. Responses were received from 20 educators, representing an 83% response rate. Data analysis determined that 90% of the sample population scored highest agreement with Cognitive Field Theory beliefs and 70% scored highest agreement with Cognitive Field Theory practice beliefs. Additionally 70% of the sample population scored congruency between their highest belief and practice area. Of that 70%, 55% were congruent across all areas of belief, highest, middle, and lowest.; Because education authorities recognize the importance of educational beliefs and practices to teaching performance and student outcomes, the results of this study have implications for the future of nursing education. These findings help clarify the educational beliefs and practices of the current nursing faculty, and can guide nursing administrators in meeting the challenges of the curriculum revolution in the future.