| Changes in health care call for greater numbers of registered nurses prepared at the baccalaureate level. Despite 30 years of attention to educational mobility, only 33 percent of Kentucky nurses hold this degree. The continuation of barriers to educational mobility may be the result of ideologies about nursing education, which are present among nursing faculty.;This study identifies the presence of nursing education ideologies among associate degree, baccalaureate, and inter-program nurse faculty in Kentucky. These nursing education ideologies, which include, Technical - Professional Schism, Institutional Chauvinism, Class and Cultural Bias, Authoritarian Education and Theory vs. Practice, were conceptualized from the literature and explained using Paulo Freire's theory of oppressed group behaviors. Also, the extent to which, age, basic nursing education, highest degree earned, years of clinical practice experience, and years of teaching experience influenced the presence of these ideologies was explored. A self-designed survey collected data from 203 full-time registered nursing faculty in Kentucky. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a one-way ANOVA and Pearson's Product Moment Correlation.;Findings indicated that nursing faculty held varying nursing education ideologies. Type of nursing faculty affected the presence of the Technical - Professional Schism, Institutional Chauvinism and Class Bias Ideologies. Basic nursing education affected the presence the Institutional Chauvinism Ideology. Highest degree earned affected the presence of the Technical - Professional Schism and Institutional Chauvinism Ideologies. Age was positively and significantly correlated with the presence of the Technical Professional Schism Ideology. Age and years of teaching experience were negatively and significantly correlated with the presence of the Authoritarian Education Ideologies. No relationship existed between years of clinical practice and the presence of nursing education ideologies.;Nursing education ideologies exist and affect nursing education through the expression of oppressed group behaviors, which construct barriers for registered nurses seeking additional education. These ideologies surround the issue regarding what is the preferred educational level for registered nursing and lead to oppressed group behaviors. Changing this reality requires an identification and acceptance by nursing faculty of the role these ideologies play in the teaching/learning process. |
