Säde-Pirkko Nissilä1, Liisa Ukkola2 
(1. School of Vocational Teacher Education, Oulu University of Applied Sciences; 2. Oulu Diakonia College)

 

Abstract: The present research deals with the curriculum development process realized in the practical nurse education in Oulu Diakonia College. The curriculum has been developed since the middle of the 1990s into a competence-based curriculum. The process has been spurred by the necessity to produce exams and knowledge to meet the needs of work life. The purpose was to design a program which included compulsory entrepreneurship education. It was implemented through cooperative learning and planning processes among the teaching staff.
When preparing the new theme, the staff and students were engaged in the process. The teachers defined and shared common aims, defined their mental models, assessed their personal competences and decided what to learn more. They used team work to share the ideas and conceptions. They examined their plans to make them conform to those of the foundation (ODI). They brought their conceptions and experiential knowledge to their joint efforts. The students evaluated the changes.
In the beginning the staff members had diverse attitudes to the change: some understood its importance at once, others needed more time for it. The process resulted in transformative learning experiences: both the staff members and the school organization were changed. The students valued the entrepreneurship education high, and many of them chose optional entrepreneurship courses in addition to the compulsory ones.

 

Key words: attitude, community learning, cooperation, transformation