"THE WALL!"

THE TROUBLE WITH STUDENTS & THE THEORY-PRACTICE GAP!

In the article entitled "Now and Then - the trouble with students, in the June 2008 issue of Paediatric Nursing (20,5,12), the author discussed the enduring problem of 'the theory-practice gap' and reflected, helpfully, on the history of the clinical nurse teacher role, which has long since vanished. The article implies that Nursing blundered into the theory-practice gap haplessly, rather than it being a considered decision, taken consciously by the movers and shakers of the nursing profession at the time.

I recall one of my RGN tutors in the early 1980's at St James' University Hospital in Leeds lamenting the fact that the school of nursing was set back from the hospital and not an integral part of the building.

When I returned to "Jimmy's" in the late 1980's to do my paediatric course, our tutor took the opposite view. She thought that a physical gap was essential to create good practice. In fact, she advocated building a wall between the school and the hospital and having a separate entrance.

This tutor was instrumental in setting up up the paediatric branch of what was then known as 'Project 2000'. She, and presumably her generation of nurse leaders, were determined to recreate the Nursing profession along an entirely new model. Any suggestion we made were treated with with scorn despite the fact that we were already qualified nurses with several years' clinical experience. The attitude was that our clinical experience would 'contaminate' the new students with bad practices. In her view it was essential to break that cycle.

Nurse education was not perfect prior to 'Project 2000' , but student nurses were valued members of the clinical team; today's students do not have that sense of belonging and lose out in terms of clinical practice which is actually where theory and reality meet. When I completed my third year I was ready to be in charge of a surgical ward on nights as my first job as a staff nurse; today's students do not have that confidence.

The 'theory-practice gap' did not come about by the law of unintended consequences, it was the ideologically driven rejection of clinical experience that created that rift.

WESLEY OWEN & the decline of High Street Christian Book Retailing in the UK.

I can't say that I am entirely surprised by the demise of "Wesley Owen" but I was taken aback by "Borders" recent difficulties.

Each Autumn I visit the centre of Leeds to do some Christmas shopping - even though I moved to London nearly 19 years ago I still think that the shopping is better in my adoptive home town; it has everything from Harvey Nichols to a cheap & cheerful market, and every brand in between all in a pedestrianised area.

When I first moved to Leeds from Bradford to start my nurse training at St James' Hospital in the early 1980's the main Christian book retailer in town was 'Scripture Union' with a shop in King Edward Street in the heart of the retail district. I visited 'SU' almost on a weekly basis and built up a collection of books, some of which have stood the test of time and I still have them on my bookshelf.

'SU' subsequently became purely a publishing company and the shops were taken over by Wesley Owen. In Leeds the shop relocated to the other side of The Headrow (Leeds' equivalent of Oxford St!) and away from the main shopping centre.

Each year I would make a point of going into Wesley Owen and this has become my bellweather on the Christian retail scene for what it is worth. What has struck me quite forcefully in recent times is how little floor space is actually given over to books! There was a very large 'greetings card' section and a large area for music and DVDs, a sizeable space for religious knick-knacks and "art"; easily less than half the shop was for books (maybe 40% max if you include childrens books and sunday school material). They had staples like Bibles and a selection of BST commentaries (fair enough!) but I was confused by the section headings - under "Doctrine & Theology" they had books like 'The Shack'!

Readers of this blog will know that I do not rate 'The Shack' and yet even so I would not argue that this book should not be in a Christian bookshop - I do, however, have a problem with it being in that section of a Christian bookshop! The book I was looking for, John Dickson's "Sneaking Suspicion", an evangelistic book, was ostensibly to be found in the children's area an assistant informed us! Overall the selection of books on offer were, in my opinion, "lightweight" at best.

Some have argued that Christians should get out there and support shops like Wesley Owen because they are a witness to the Gospel on the high street. To which I have to say "how can I support them if they don't sell what I want to buy?"

I buy a lot of Christian books but as I've grown older I tend to buy weightier, thoughtful books and publications I will continue to refer to - not the pop paperbacks on offer at Wesley Owen. The stuff generally on sale will date very quickly and most Evangelicals will rapidly out grow this stuff - or, more worringly, the new believer will become very disillusioned with the brand of Christianity on sale there and will move on to other things entirely as they mature.

I also visited 'Borders' in Leeds the morning that company announced that it was going into liquidation. I loved 'Borders' as a book shop because it offered a wide range of unusual books and it had a great DVD section which included a lot of 'world cinema'. On this visit I noticed that it too was selling more pop books and the cinema section had also shifted down market. No doubt they had good commercial reasons for doing this but can a high street store really compete head to head with the internet and supermarkets? Such stores need to have a unique selling point. Surely it should have tried to retain its niche as an up-market bookstore that was a joy to visit and browse around!

If 'Borders' can't succeed on the high street by shifting down market Wesley Owen stands no chance! Surely the way to go is to become a specialist up-market book shop with a particular niche on the high street? But it seems to me that Wesley Owen has lost its soul.

We couldn't find the book I went in to buy - so the assistant very helpfully gave us the web address of an internet book retailer who did stock it! Need I say more?


Post Script dated 6-Jan-2010.
I gather that some of the Wesley Owen stores have been taken over by an Australian company called Koorang and these stores will continue to trade under the WO brand. Some other stores have been taken over by CLC. There remains a large number of WO shops, as yet, without a buyer including the one in Leeds.

MALHAM.

According to Bill Bryson, American travel
writer, wit and honourary Yorkshireman
"Malhamdale is the finest place there is
until I have died and seen heaven
(assuming they let me at least have a
glance), but until that day comes, it will
certainly do."

Malham is one of those haunts you find
yourself returning to time after time and
yet never tire of. I first came here nearly
thirty years ago and have visited it regularly
ever since- especially during the time I lived
in Leeds. The A65 was always the "Road to
Adventure"! And some wonderful friends
shared that route with me back then.

After an incredibly busy week away in Nairobi
I needed some time out, so Helen & I stayed
in a B&B in Malham, North Yorkshire, for a
couple of nights.

Yesterday we climbed up Gordale Scar, walked
up to Malham Tarn and returned via 'Dry
Valley' to Malham Cove. The waterfall at
Gordale was in full flood after the recent
rain and I got thoroughly drenched by the
spray as we climbed the central buttress.
Fortunately the weather was kind and I
dried out on the walk above. Each component
of this walk is so different revealing one
aspect after another to this amazing
landscape; waterfalls, canyons, open
water, limestone paving and fantastic
views. In his pictorial guide 'Walks in
Limestone Country' A. Wainwright
says, "Dry Valley leads to the
dangerous brink of the precipice
above Malham Cove. The quickest way
down (a great time saver) is to fall
over the edge but, instead of doing this,
cross the limestone pavement on the
right to a stile, whence a path winds
down to the Cove."

The scenery around Malham is hard
to describe; its Yorkshire's equivalent to
the Grand Canyon! The white limestone
seemingly stretching for miles seems
unearthly. I have often felt that I could
be on another planet in such an eerie
landscape. (Having recently re-subscribed
to 'Astronomy Now' magazine: isn't it weird
how "artists impressions" of the surface of
Mars always include a Pen-Y-Ghent
lookalike?!) Maybe that's why I love this
countryside - my grandfather loved to come
here too.

It will be a sad day when I can no longer
climb up Gordale Scar.

St JAMES' UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, LEEDS [aka "Jimmy's"]. 1981-85. It is almost exactly twenty five years ago that I started my nurse training at Jimmy's in Leeds. At the time it was [and perhaps still is] the largest teaching hospital in Europe. There was an active Nurses' Christian Fellowship [NCF] group there which I got involved with and later went on to help lead. Later in life I had the privilege to help re-launch a group for Christian nurses called "Christian Nurses & Midwives" [CNM] but that's another story...check out http://www.cnm.org.uk/ if you're interested! I recall one funny incident as a student there; I was working on a ward and it was lunchtime. I was merrily serving out meals from a food trolley when one of the qualified staff sidled up to me and whispered in my ear that I was doing a great job but that she couldn't quite understand why I was ladeling chocolate sauce for the dessert onto the roast beef! I was so embarrassed! Of course, there were difficult experiences too. My most chilling memory was to watch someone die of bleeding oesophageal varices. Yet I look back on my time at "Jimmy's" with a lot of fond memories - the whole experience was very formative. Nurse training then was [and perhaps still is] one way of "putting an old head on young shoulders"! And the friends I made were an enormous support and help - more so than I probably credited them with at the time. We also had some great adventures together exploring The Dales, The Peaks and The Lakes. I made some wonderful friends there - people who proved better friends to me than I ever was to them. ---------------------------------------------------------- tagline: Peter Swift. St James's University Hospital. Leeds. 1981. 1982. 1983. 1984. 1985. School of Nursing. RGN. Student Nurse. Staff Nurse. RSCN. Nurse Training. NCF. Nurses' Christian Fellowship. ----------------------------------------------------------