Academic Journal
Epistemological leadership in nursing education.
| Τίτλος: | Epistemological leadership in nursing education. |
|---|---|
| Συγγραφείς: | Clarke KA; School of Health, University of the Sunshine Coast, 90 Sippy Downs Drive, Sippy Downs, QLD 4556, Australia. Electronic address: KClarke@usc.edu.au. |
| Πηγή: | Nurse education in practice [Nurse Educ Pract] 2026 Aug; Vol. 95, pp. 104934. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jul 27. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Elsevier Ltd Country of Publication: Scotland NLM ID: 101090848 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1873-5223 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14715953 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Nurse Educ Pract Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: [Edinburgh] : Elsevier Ltd. Original Publication: [Edinburgh] : Churchill Livingstone |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Curriculum*/trends , Leadership* , Knowledge*, Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate/methods ; Humans ; Australia ; Academia |
| Περίληψη: | Aim: To propose epistemological leadership as a framework for understanding how curriculum decisions shape knowledge architecture and professional formation in nursing education. Background: Curriculum design in nursing education is often treated as a technical task of selecting content, organising courses and meeting accreditation requirements. This framing can obscure the epistemological work of curriculum design in determining what knowledge is treated as central, durable and professionally legitimate. Design: Discussion paper. Methods: A conceptual analysis was undertaken, drawing on curriculum, leadership and nursing education scholarship. The argument is illustrated through the redesign of an undergraduate nursing program in an Australian university context. Results: Epistemological leadership is enacted through three interdependent modes: cognitive enactment, which makes knowledge commitments explicit and translates them into curriculum architecture; relational enactment, which builds shared understanding and coordination across distributed teams; and political enactment, which secures legitimacy and durability within regulatory and institutional systems. The illustrative case shows how mental health, trauma-informed care, clinical reasoning and integrated bioscience can be positioned as longitudinal architectural commitments rather than isolated content areas. Conclusions: Epistemological leadership helps explain how curricula move beyond fragmented content coverage toward coherent professional formation while remaining accountable to standards, competency expectations and patient safety. Although illustrated through an Australian program redesign, the framework is intended to support analysis of curriculum architecture across diverse international nursing education contexts. (Crown Copyright © 2026. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of Competing Interest The author declares no conflicts of interest. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Curriculum architecture; Curriculum design; Epistemological leadership; Governance; Nursing education; Professional identity |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260730 Date Completed: 20260828 Latest Revision: 20260828 |
| Update Code: | 20260829 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.nepr.2026.104934 |
| PMID: | 42531628 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1873-5223 |
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| DOI: | 10.1016/j.nepr.2026.104934 |