The changing face of student nurse education and training programmes

The debate regarding entry to nursing has often centred on the struggle between the needs of the profession, that is to say, what nursing wants from its registered practitioners, and past and present governments’ directives surrounding ‘widening participation’ for entry to nurse education and training programmes. This paper presents an overview of the changes that pre-registration nurse education and training has undergone from the influence of Florence Nightingale to university-based degree education for all student nurses.