Pathways to fitness for practice: National Vocational Qualifications as a foundation of competence in nurse education

Nurse education is currently undergoing major change. This article seeks to examine how National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) are contributing to the future of nurse education. Criticisms of Project 2000 (P2K) include failure of the programme to produce nurses who are ‘fit for practice’ at the point of registration. A major criticism was that there is not enough skills-based training included. Following a recent report, recommendations were made which included a move to introduce a competence-based approach in nurse education. This approach is becoming more evident in both pre- and post-registration nurse education. A mapping exercise demonstrated that many of the UKCC competencies for pre-registration nurse education could be mapped to care NVQs. The article concludes that the positive aspects of care NVQs and P2K education should be embraced to enable programmes of nurse education to prepare nurses who are ‘fit for practice’.