| Course | NUR 6043 Fostering Clinical Judgment Through Curriculum and Evaluation |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 4 |
| Paper type | Professional values formation plan |
| Length | 1,180 words, about 4 pages plus title and reference pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | American College of Education |
| Program | Ed.S. in Nursing Education |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NUR 6043 Module 4
What Students Learn When No One Is Teaching: Professional Value Formation Across a BSN Program, the Hidden Curriculum on the Units and a Plan to Measure Values at Entry, Midpoint and Graduation
Student Name
American College of Education
NUR6043: Fostering Clinical Judgment Through Curriculum and Evaluation
Module 4 Assignment
Instructor Name
September 30, 2030
What the Reflections Showed
Every semester, students in our program write a short reflection on a professional issue they encountered in clinical practice. Last spring, reading 40 reflections from the third semester to prepare for this paper, I found that 23 described behavior by nurses that students saw as unprofessional: speaking about patients disrespectfully at the station, documenting care before it was given, ignoring a call light because the patient was "difficult" and, in two cases, a nurse telling a student not to report a medication error. Several students wrote that they had been taught one thing in class and seen another on the unit, and three wrote that they were beginning to think the classroom version was unrealistic. The pattern matches research in a concept-based curriculum, where analysis of students' written reflections identified two core concepts: appreciation for professional values and disillusionment with unprofessional behaviors (Elliott, 2017). Our students are forming professional values, and much of the forming is happening where no faculty member is present.
Values, Identity and the Hidden Curriculum
Professional values are the standards that guide a nurse's conduct, such as advocacy, honesty, respect for persons and accountability, codified for nursing in the American Nurses Association's code of ethics. They are one part of a larger concept. A concept analysis of professional identity drawing on 60 studies from health and related professions identified its attributes as skills and functions; knowledge, values and ethics; personal identity; group identity; and the influence of the context of care (Fitzgerald, 2020). The last attribute explains what the reflections show: values are formed in context, and the clinical unit is a powerful context.
Hafferty and Franks (1994), writing about medical education, distinguished the formal curriculum, what is stated and taught, from the hidden curriculum, the lessons conveyed through the structure and culture of the institution, and argued that ethics teaching in the formal curriculum is undermined when the hidden curriculum teaches something else. Their analysis transfers directly to nursing. When a nurse tells a student not to report an error, the student learns more about the profession in thirty seconds than in a semester of lectures on accountability. A values thread that addresses only the formal curriculum will lose to the hidden one.
A Values Thread Across Four Semesters
The thread works on the formal and hidden curricula together. Semester one: naming the values. In the fundamentals course, students study the code of ethics through short cases and write a personal statement of the values they bring to nursing. They also learn a simple way to respond when they see something that conflicts with those values: note it, discuss it with the clinical instructor the same day and decide together what, if anything, to do. Semester two: seeing the gap. Clinical post-conferences include a weekly segment, ten minutes long, in which students describe, without names, a moment on the unit that tested a value, and the group discusses what a nurse committed to that value would have done. The purpose is to make the hidden curriculum visible and discussable rather than absorbed silently. Semester three: acting on values. Students practice speaking up in simulation, including a scenario in which a staff nurse asks the student to document a task not yet done, using a structured script. The semester's reflection asks students to describe a time they acted, or chose not to act, on a value and why. Semester four: owning the values. In the capstone, students revise their semester-one values statement in light of what they have seen, and discuss it with their preceptor, who is asked to share how they have kept or struggled to keep their own values in practice.
Working on the Hidden Curriculum Directly
The program cannot control the culture of partner units, but it is not powerless. Three steps are within reach. First, clinical instructor preparation: instructors will be trained to recognize and debrief values conflicts and to protect students who raise concerns, since a student who reports an error and is then treated as a problem learns that reporting is dangerous. Second, feedback to partners: with students' permission and without identifying individuals, the program will share themes from the reflections with partner nurse managers each year, framed as observations about what students are learning, not as complaints. Several managers have told me they would want to know. Third, choosing preceptors: in the capstone, the program will ask partners to assign preceptors who are recognized for professional conduct, and will give preceptors a brief orientation to the program's values thread, since the capstone preceptor is often the model a new graduate carries into practice.
Faculty Are Part of the Hidden Curriculum
It would be convenient to locate the hidden curriculum entirely on partner units, but faculty teach values by how they behave as well. Students notice when an instructor arrives late to clinical but penalizes lateness, speaks about a struggling student in front of others, changes a grading rule after an examination or dismisses a question about a unit practice because it is awkward to answer. Each is a small lesson in what the profession tolerates. The thread therefore asks three things of faculty. First, consistency between what faculty require of students and what they model: punctuality, respectful language about patients and colleagues, and honesty about their own mistakes. An instructor who says in post-conference that they once made a medication error and reported it teaches accountability more powerfully than a lecture. Second, a willingness to discuss uncomfortable observations honestly. When a student describes a nurse documenting ahead, the instructor should neither defend the practice nor condemn the nurse, but help the student think through the value at stake and the options available. Third, protection. Faculty must make it safe for students to raise concerns about faculty behavior as well as staff behavior, through a route that does not depend on the faculty member in question. The program's end-of-course evaluation will add one question on whether the instructor modeled the professional values taught in the course.
Measuring Values Formation
Values are hard to measure, but a validated instrument exists. The Nurses Professional Values Scale-Revised is a 26-item instrument derived from the code of ethics; in a psychometric study with 782 students and nurses, it showed a five-factor structure, internal consistency reliability for the factors between 0.70 and 0.85 and a total scale alpha of 0.92 (Weis & Schank, 2009). Students will complete it at entry, at the end of the second semester and at graduation. A rise in scores, particularly between the second semester and graduation, when exposure to the hidden curriculum is greatest, would suggest that the thread is working; a fall would be a warning. Because a self-report scale can reflect what students think they should say, the scale will be read alongside the reflections, which will be analyzed each year for the balance of appreciation and disillusionment, and alongside clinical instructors' reports of students raising concerns.
References
Elliott, A. M. (2017). Professional values competency evaluation for students enrolled in a concept-based curriculum. Journal of Nursing Education, 56(1), 12-21. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20161219-04
Fitzgerald, A. (2020). Professional identity: A concept analysis. Nursing Forum, 55(3), 447-472. https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12450
Hafferty, F. W., & Franks, R. (1994). The hidden curriculum, ethics teaching, and the structure of medical education. Academic Medicine, 69(11), 861-871. https://doi.org/10.1097/00001888-199411000-00001
Weis, D., & Schank, M. J. (2009). Development and psychometric evaluation of the Nurses Professional Values Scale-Revised. Journal of Nursing Measurement, 17(3), 221-231. https://doi.org/10.1891/1061-3749.17.3.221
Reading the NUR 6043 Module 4 instructions
Professional values are the focus of NUR 6043 Module 4 in many sections, which ask how a whole program forms values and identity. Expect to describe evidence of how students currently learn values, define professional values, identity and the hidden curriculum from sources, design a thread across the program, address the informal lessons of clinical settings and plan how formation will be measured. Many sections ask for a validated instrument. A values formation plan usually fills five pages. Canvas states whether student reflections or other program data may be used and which instrument, if any, is required. Some instructors also ask for the reflection prompts students will use each semester.
Inside the NUR 6043 Module 4 example
The plan opens with the program's own evidence: student reflections counted for themes, such as watching nurses skip hand hygiene or speak dismissively about patients, linked to a published study. The definitions section explains professional values and identity from a concept analysis and the hidden curriculum from its originator. The thread section moves through four semesters: naming values, seeing gaps between values and practice, acting on values and owning a professional identity, each with activities. A section works on the hidden curriculum directly, through clinical instructor preparation, debriefing of what students saw and feedback to partner units. A section turns the analysis on faculty behavior. The measurement section chooses a validated scale with its evidence, times it at four points and triangulates with reflections.
Where the points sit in the NUR 6043 Module 4 rubric
Values formation plans are graded on evidence, design and measurement. Evidence credit requires the program's own data, counted and described. Definition marks reward concepts from primary sources. The thread row rewards progression across semesters with activities that fit each stage. Graders give substantial credit for practical work on the hidden curriculum, including faculty behavior. The measurement row usually decides the top band: a validated instrument with psychometric evidence, timed meaningfully and combined with qualitative data. APA 7 completes the grade. A validated scale given at four points, combined with reflections, shows formation over time rather than a snapshot. Turning the hidden curriculum analysis on faculty behavior earns credit for honesty.
NUR 6043 Module 4 help from the desk
Values papers most often list the ANA Code's values and add an ethics lecture. Another frequent weakness is ignoring what students learn on clinical units, which often outweighs classroom teaching. Students also measure values once at graduation. Gather what students actually see. Name the hidden curriculum and work on it. Prepare clinical instructors to debrief what students observe. Hold faculty to the same values. Measure at several points with a validated scale and reflections. If your focus is professional identity in an RN to BSN or graduate program, the desk can prepare a values formation plan for it. Count themes in reflections; do not rely on impressions.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official American College of Education document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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- NUR 6033 Module 2: Simulation Scenario Design
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NUR 6043 Module 4 questions, answered
What is the hidden curriculum?
The lessons students learn from the culture and structure of their educational and clinical settings, which may differ from what the formal curriculum teaches.
How can professional values be measured?
Validated instruments such as the Nurses Professional Values Scale-Revised, given at several points in the program, combined with qualitative evidence such as students' reflections.
Where can I find a free NUR 6043 Module 4 sample paper?
Above, free: the professional values formation plan for NUR 6043 Module 4, organized as "What the Reflections Showed", "Working on the Hidden Curriculum Directly" and "Measuring Values Formation".
How do I help students who see poor practice on clinical units?
Make space in debriefing to name what they saw, discuss why it happens and what a professional response would be, and let instructors pass concerns to unit leaders through an agreed route.
When should professional values be measured in a nursing program?
At entry, at the midpoint, before graduation and, if possible, after the first year of practice. Repeated measures show formation over time rather than a single snapshot.