This paper is based on a research about professionalism and competencies of nurse teachers and it issupported on a theoretical framework, which focuses on the need for education, research and on the new roles of teachers (Estrela, 2001; Gewirtz et al. 2009), resulting from the paradigm change in higher education. In addition it is based on several studies, including those of Davis et al. (2005) and Krisman-Scott et al. (1998), which carried out an in-depth search to clarify the roles of nurse educators, discovering essential competencies for these professionals which were later included as criteria for training in advanced training courses in nursing.

In the literature on nursing education, a typologyof nurse educators’ competencies standards has emerged by the Australian Nurse Teachers Society (1998), reinforcing the joint work of these professionals with their peers in terms of the development of research, production and dissemination, through the development of your work in national and international networks. In another context, the research of Benner (2001) based on the competencies of nurses through the development of various stages of proficiency required for nursing practice, has provided input for the development of the roles of teachers.

Competencies in nursing education have also been redefined in a number of European countries to develop the consolidation of specific skills for nurse educators, at the level of pedagogic activity, research and dissemination of knowledge (FINE, 2007).

In Portugal it has been recognized that within higher education there is now a new role that the teacher is called upon to fulfil, with a professional profile which incorporates traditional skills (teaching and research) with other new wide-ranging competencies (Graça, 2008). The emergence of multifaceted competence and knowledge areas is based on work across a variety of academic and scientific areas (education, health) within dialectic between conceptual knowledge and experience, that is guided by areas of multidisciplinary research, to define the roles of nurse educators and integrating nurse teaching competencies (Costa, 2006).

In Portuguese law, the duties of nursing teachers that form part of the regulatory framework are outlined in the professional statutes for higher education teaching staff. In this regard, the objective is to identify the changes perceived by nurse teachers in terms of their views on their roles and teaching practices. The main research question is the following: Which model of professionalism underlies the detectable roles and responsibilities, as indicated through the discourses of nurse teachers and observation of some pedagogical practices?

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