Nursing education leadership strengths in South Africa: an exploratory study

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 Numerous multifaceted issues continue to pose a serious challenge to the success of nursing education and training worldwide. In South Africa, distinct situations, such as the transitioning of public nursing colleges to higher education to be part of a unified higher education system, amplify the problems faced by nursing education leaders. To unravel these complexities, an exploration of South Africa’s existing nursing education leadership strengths was undertaken. 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 To describe the leadership competencies deemed as an existing leadership strength in a challenged and transforming South African nursing education context. 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 As part of a larger study, embedded in social constructionism, an exploration of the country’s existing nursing education leadership strengths was conducted with the purposefully selected nursing education leadership experts. Qualitative, descriptive, and contextual data yielded by the ten participants were analysed using thematic analysis. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 Four main themes emerged namely, leadership competencies; governance, leadership, legislation, and policy; staff development as well as community engagement. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 The authors propose that the described leadership competencies offered by the nursing education leadership experts as the existing nursing education leadership strengths in the country be considered as a foundational basis to navigate emergent challenges in wider contexts.