A narrative inquiry into the experience of a practical nursing graduate with private tutoring

Abstract

Disability studies are an established area of scholarship in education and this has been my passion for the last decade. Students living with disabilities in healthcare profession education (including nursing, personal support, occupational and physical therapy), as well as the use of professional tutors as an educational support among this population, is under researched. Throughout my practice as a professional health sciences tutor, I have wondered how this population of students experiences both one to one tutoring over time and educational accommodations. In this Narrative Inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000), my co-participant and I go on a journey together to explore how a graduate from an Ontario Registered Practical Nursing program with a diagnosed disability impacting her learning experienced individualized tutoring. Through a series of five semi-structured narrative interviews and self-reflection, the co-participant’s story was re-constructed and analyzed using the Narrative Inquiry three-dimensional space (temporality, sociality, and place). This Narrative Inquiry highlights the temporal connections of life events and how social conditions mutually shape and change personal conditions. Four narrative threads: barriers to access, stigmatization, individuality in education, and paradoxical conflicts among caring professions. It also highlights the importance of reflective practice, barrier-free inclusive education, and the need for further research into tutoring practice, education and policy. Tutors must establish a relationship that allows for exploration of context and building of a contextually-meaningful program, one in which learning is fostered.