Investigating the fundamental levels of a signature pedagogy in nursing education: A scoping review.

Background: A signature pedagogy is a unique approach that provides a blueprint for curricular decision-making, as it reflects how we teach (surface structures), why we teach (deep structures), and what we believe are vital concepts or values all learners should embody (implicit structures).

Objective: To investigate what is known from the existing literature about a signature pedagogy to support undergraduate nursing education.

Design: This scoping review adopted Arksey and O'Malley's framework to guide the analysis of data. Two electronic databases were used to explore studies on educational strategies, content, and values published in Arabic, English, Filipino, French, Portuguese, and Spanish between 1972 and 2022.

Results: A total of 258 articles were included in this review. The analysis revealed that the majority of articles were at the surface (n = 189), followed by the deep (n = 123), with the least number examining the implicit level (n = 90) associated with signature pedagogy levels. Results reflect a limited focus on implicit level; the core concepts and values that all learners should understand and grasp for their future practice to construct their professional identity and engage in healthcare transformation.

Conclusions: The findings from this scoping review, should not be an isolated movement within nursing education. The first step is to engage in discourse amongst all stakeholders, educational and healthcare nurse leaders, regarding the state of the profession. As a profession we need to understand what is the preferred future of nursing and what are the necessary educational processes to ensure the profession is actualizing their mandate. A call to action to develop a unique signature pedagogy should provide synergy between education and practice to enhance learner's competencies as a future professional.