Abstract

BONO SANTOS, Enrique; GONZALEZ DE HARO, Mª Dolores  and  LOPEZ SANTOS, Mª Valle. Development of  free configuration credits in the curriculum of the Nursign College of the University of Huelva. Index Enferm [online]. 2004, vol.13, n.44-45, pp.14-17. ISSN 1699-5988.

TYPE OF STUDY: qualitative, bases on the analysis of social speech of teaching staff and student body at the Nursing College of the University of Huelva about the development of Free Configuration credits in the curriculum leading to obtain the Nursing degree. OBJETIVE: to know the attitudes, believes, expectations and experiences of the educational community of the Nursing College of the University of Huela in relation to the development of the Free Configuration credits. FELLOWS AND METHOD: semi-structured interviews and discussion groups were carried out by the students and teaching staff. MAIN RESULTS: the analisys of the different social discourses reveals that the development of Free Configuration Credits in the Nursing Curriculum does not fulfil its formative global objective, revealing, therefore, a strong contradiction between the Free Configuration philosophy and  what it is put into practice. The main figures in this formative process see it as an extra curriculum burden. CONCLUSIONS: the Free Configuration does not achieve the objective of global education which was pursued when it was introduced in the Nursing Curriculum. The general feeling of discomfort caused by the Free Configuration seems to be aggravated by the already extensive Nursing Curriculum, raising questions, not only about the specific learning  curve, but also the social function of the University.