Drawing on three discursive modes in learning disability nurse education

SummaryThis article presents ideas generated by a qualitative study exploring the complexities of the social construction of learning disability/intellectual disability. The ideas are based upon a larger doctoral study which investigated the social construction of learning disability as seen through the discourses and discursive devices used by nurse teachers in classroom teaching in particular during story telling activities to students. The investigations centred upon the stories and were supported by subsequent interviews with the teachers and observations of teaching sessions. The findings highlight three discursive devices which I call discursivemodes used in the social construction of learning disability/intellectual disability by nurse educators and help to explain the personal and professional tensions experienced by nurses faced with the dominant discourses of today.