Nursing Students’ Expectations of Effective Nurse Educators: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Background: Nurse educators prepare nursing students for safe, competent, ethical and compassionate practice. Understanding what students expect of them can inform the quality of nursing education. Aim: This narrative review synthesizes published evidence on nursing students’ expectations of effective nurse educators across four domains: teaching competence, educator–student relationships, clinical supervision and professional role modelling. Method: A structured literature search and thematic synthesis were used to integrate qualitative, quantitative, intervention and review evidence, together with international and Sri Lankan sources. The paper reports no new data collected from students. Findings: The literature indicates that students value educators who combine subject and clinical expertise with clear, active and well-assessed teaching; who are respectful, approachable, caring and psychologically safe; who provide purposeful clinical supervision and balanced, actionable feedback; and who demonstrate in their own conduct the professional values they teach. The four domains are analytically distinct but operate interdependently: relationships enable learning and feedback, teaching competence gives supervision its content, and role modelling is expressed through all three. Sri Lankan evidence highlights supervision capacity, hierarchical feedback culture and professional recognition as contextual influences. Implications: Nurse educator preparation and professional development should extend beyond clinical expertise to pedagogy, communication, feedback, supervision and role modelling.