The nurse associate trainee deserves a HOTSHOT education: a reflective signature pedagogical approach

Recently concerns were raised at the 2017 National Trainee Nurse Associate Conference. The Associate Nurse Work-based Learning Signature Pedagogy creates constructive alignment to the work based learning units of the nurse associate programme and addresses these concerns. Attempts to locate a pedagogic approach for high quality learning and skill development proved unsuccessful. Further exploration of Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy and Anderson & Karthwohl (2001) adaption of Bloom’s taxonomy failed to align with Bigg’s (1999) model of constructive alignment and lead to the creation of the Higher Order Thinking and the Skills of Higher Order Thinking (HOTSHOT) taxonomy which redefines Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). Additionally, a move away from Socratic dialogue to reflection enabled the evolution of the signature pedagogy framework into a reflective signature pedagogy framework. The Associate Nurse Work-based Learning Signature Pedagogy offers a solution to the concerns raised based upon robust pedagogical theory.