'Nursing education and social policy in the 1990's : a mis-alliance?'

Abstract

The concept of partnership is widely used in current social policy and in relation to a devolution of social services. The term has different interpretations and connotations depending on the ideology, political views or social values held by the participants. Some of these interpretations are briefly examined as examples of what appear to be a congenial and even beneficent intent but on closer examination and within the context of devolution, are restrictive and in the issue of nursing education, hostile to the concept of partnership as an applied philosophy in nursing practice. The current free market reform is driven by an extreme form of capitalist monetary ideology referred to as the Libertarian Right or the New Right. (1) Concepts used by the advocates of New Right philosophy in addressing social policy change tend to be couched in monetarist terms, which has the consequence of disregarding the validity of other interpretions or usage, and is open to mis-interpretation, for they are not inter-changeable. 'Partnership' is only one example. As Gerald Grace has pointed out, the constant use of a particular form of language which attempts to naturalise an ideological position within policy discourse facilitates an assimilation of that very position. (2) The use of the term' partnership' as it is advanced in social policy has not the same meaning as it is applied in nursing education.