Negotiating supernumerary status: a new twist in the hidden curriculum in nursing?

Helen Allan, Centre for Research in Nursing & Midwifery Education, University of Surrey

In this paper, using data from a national mixed methods study, I discuss student nurses’ experiences of negotiating the hidden curriculum in clinical practice in the context of supernumerary status. The data were collected in four sites using fieldwork in clinical practice as well as interviews and an on-line survey. The sites were located in England and included clinical areas in NHS trusts as well as academic settings in universities. The findings discussed in this paper are drawn from the qualitative fieldwork and interviews and were analysed thematically. The findings suggest that student nurses are still expected by trained staff to work while they learn; and that on registration, they expect and are expected to be competent to work immediately as registered nurses. These expectations are at odds with those of academic nurses and lead to a lack of integration of theory and practice which shapes the hidden curriculum which in turn forms the context in which students have to learn to negotiate their status as supernumerary students in practice. Students have to learn within a disintegrated learning context in which opposing values of learning exist.

Key words: Hidden curriculum; nurse education; student nurses; mentors; supernumerary status

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