Just deserts: Do students deserve a safe learning environment?

Abstract

This conceptual paper critically analyses the notion of safe learning environments in the context of the introduction of a safe learning environment charter within the National Health Service in England. The experience of nursing students within complex ecologies of practice learning is considered including the triggers and drivers for the charter including patient safety incidents, calls for positive learning cultures and the lived experiences of learners and trainees. The utility of clinical learning environments is explored through distributive justice to question the extent to which a safe learning environment can be regarded as a just desert. The authors conclude that professional identity formation is dependent on experiences that may be deemed unsafe and that the translation of a policy ideal into some clinical settings makes the elements of the charter difficult to standardise or implement, particularly when learners are regarded as having a shared responsibility for the charter.