The Nursing Education in Denmark : Reform Efforts, Recruitment Patterns and Basic Habitual Orientations

The dissertation examines the recruitment to the nursing education in Denmark from 1850 but with emphasis on the years 1988-2001 during which a major reform was conceived and implemented. Pursuant to that reform, in 2001 the nursing education was given the status of a Bachelor’s Degree Program in Nursing. The aim of the dissertation is to determine the effects – if any – of this development on the recruitment profile and on the objective position of the nursing education in the field of advanced education in Denmark and whether there are polarizations and/or regularities in young peoples’ approach to the nursing education homologous with socio-cultural constellations. The dissertation draws theoretical inspiration from sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, with emphasis on Bourdieu’s reproduction theory and praxeology. The empirical basis for the dissertation consists of formal documents defining the nursing education since the first law on authorized nurses was passed in 1933 until The Executive Order regarding the nursing education in 2001. These documents form the basis for an objectifying analysis of the institutional, structural and education policy conditions that historically formed the framework for the shaping and content of the nursing educations. The historical background contributes to a contextualization of the analyses carried out concerning changes in recruitment patterns and students’ social positioning since nursing was established as an occupation. The analysis of recruitment patterns builds mainly on a survey carried out in 2004/5 covering a class of students from five nursing schools in Denmark (a third of the total population). The dissertation shows that the 2000/2001 reform did not lead to a fundamental change in ranking in the academic hierarchy. Although social recruitment to the nursing profession moved “upward”, seen over a longer period, the analyses showed that the nursing education as a whole, also after the 2001 reform, mainly attracted young women from “lower” positions in the social space than those from which university students were recruited. The dissertation furthermore shows how students’ social background and acquired dispositions can generate a basic habitual orientation that may have a determining influence on the way they orient themselves in relation to the education and occupation