Humanist ideologyand nurse education. I. Humanist educational theory Michael Purdy

Nurse education is dominated by the humanist perspective and the educational theory that it generates. Following a brief description of the perspectiveʹs phenomenological foundations and definition of humanist ideology, humanist educational theory is illustrated in an outline of the key contributions of John Dewey, Carl Rogers, Malcolm Knowles and Paulo Freire. The article concludes by noting Freireʹs sociological challenge to the individualism of the humanist perspective. This challenge recognizes the ideological and social control role of education in securing the reproduction of power relations and leads to questioning the function of individualism and the interests that humanist ideology may serve.