Sue Prosser

Illustrating the ethical dimensions of action research.

Introduction Lecturer practitioner (LP) roles are no longer new in the United Kingdom (UK), having been established initially in the 1980s to overcome the theory/practice gap in nursing (Lathlean 1992). Teachers were seen as being far removed from practice, while practitioners did not know about the theoretical elements that might inform their work (Cave 1994). This perceived situation was widely regarded as a ‘problematic, even embarrassing sign of failure within education, practice and research’ in nursing, which it was essential to rectify (Rafferty et al 1996). Furthermore, as Lathlean (1992) discusses, a long history of ‘ideological differences between school and service’ meant that students were illprepared for the reality of work after qualification. The current political climate and policy context are favourable for higher education institutions and trusts seeking to strengthen the links between service and education (Fairbrother 2000, Waters 1999). There are explicit calls from government to expand the number of LPs in order to support pre-registration students. For example, the Department of Health (1999) calls for a strengthening of pre-registration education and training, with better teacher support a priority. However, there are several problems with the role. Although introduced to bridge the theory-practice gap (Hewison and Wildman 1996), some LPs do not see this as their primary role (Lathlean 1992, McCrea et al 1998), or do not actually work with pre-registration students (Fairbrother