University teachers' perceptions of readiness for flipped classroom pedagogy in undergraduate nursing education: A qualitative study.

Background: Flipped classroom pedagogy is an innovative blended teaching-learning method. Prevailing evidence about flipped classroom pedagogy shows it is an effective and beneficial teaching method from the students' perspective. There is a dearth of evidence about teachers' perceptions of the flipped classroom and its implementation in low-resourced educational contexts.

Purpose: To assess the university teachers' perceptions of readiness for adopting flipped classroom pedagogy in the Sri Lankan undergraduate nursing education context.

Methods: An exploratory qualitative study using focus group discussions was conducted in three public universities in Sri Lanka. The participants were 24 university teachers who were involved in undergraduate nursing education programmes in Sri Lanka. Four focus group interviews were conducted. Data were transcribed and analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

Results: Four themes emerged. Three themes explained the teachers' perceptions of readiness for implementing flipped classrooms: educational technology, acceptability of the flipped classroom pedagogy, and the educational environment. A further theme refers to future requirements for implementing the flipped classroom.

Conclusions: The study revealed teachers' readiness to use flipped classroom pedagogy. Nevertheless, limited resources and existing teacher-centric practice were identified as challenges to implement the flipped classroom.