Becoming a nurse: pedagogical care and professional formation in a concept-based curriculum

OBJECTIVES: To explore how students navigate the emotional, relational, and structural dimensions of learning the nursing profession within a concept-based curriculum (CBC). METHODS: Guided by Husserlian phenomenology and Wenger's Social Theory of Learning, van Manen's hermeneutic approach informed conversational interviews with eight final-year nursing students. FINDINGS: Becoming a nurse emerged as a process fueled by reciprocity of care and marked by personal transformation, reflected in evolving experiences of personhood, understanding, and growth. Five experiential structures shaped the learner's lifeworld: Being Evaluated, The Cohort Thing, Educational Choice, Experiencing Nursing, and The Presentation of Nursing. IMPLICATIONS FOR AN INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE: As CBCs expand, pedagogical care is central to nurse formation across contexts. The experiential structures offer a lens for educators and academic leaders to examine how learning environments shape professional identity. CONCLUSIONS: Learning the nursing profession is a process of formation, revealing nursing education as a site of meaning-making and professional becoming.