An exploratory study into the experience of part-time nurse teachers compared to full-time nurse teachers

The part-time labour force, in nursing as elsewhere, is often unacknowledged, or conveniently assumed to have lesser commitment than the full-time labour force (Davies 1990). aper reports the findings of anethnographic study of five part-time nurse teachers and five full-time nurse teachers, which explored whether organisational and other constraints experienced by five part-time nurse teachers at one college of nursing, were the same for full-time nurse teachers. ajor themes emerged from the findings. Three constraints were identified by both part-time and full-time members, and they were related to issues of communication networks, valuing colleagues, and the results of coercive psychological contracts. The full-time teachers experienced these constraints but apparently to a lesser degree. The fourth theme was related to part-time teachers only. They identified that the flexibility of part-time hours enabled them to make compromises between their professional and other roles. sults of this study suggest that there is a need for part-time and full-time nurse teachers to work together in a collaborative manner, so that they are able to negotiate local working arrangements.