Workshop on Subject-based Nursing Education Held at CONSBN

September 19^th, 2025

On September 18, a workshop was held at the College of Nursing, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar (CONSBN) with the objective of analyzing the current situation and developing an action plan for introducing subject-based nursing education.

A total of 17 participants attended the workshop, including principals and Master Trainers (MTs) from the nursing colleges in Mymensingh, Sylhet, Barishal, and Gazipur, as well as from the host institution CONSBN. Members of the committees at CONSBN also participated.

The concept of “subject-based” nursing education—divided into specialized fields such as pediatric nursing and psychiatric nursing—has not yet become widespread in Bangladesh. As a result, it is common practice for principals to assign subjects to faculty members regardless of their academic or clinical specialization. Although the number of young instructors with degrees in specialized fields has been increasing in recent years, many colleges still rely on experienced faculty members to teach based on their practical experience, often without fully utilizing the specific expertise of newer staff. In many cases, faculty members either lack a clear subject specialization or have not defined one.
Given this situation, it is essential to raise awareness of subject-based nursing education among principals and faculty members and to develop a subject-based teaching structure that makes effective use of the existing human resources at each college.

During the workshop, a Japanese expert provided an overview of the significance of subject-based nursing education, along with case studies. This was followed by presentations from the first two target colleges, CONSBN and Mymensingh Nursing College (MNC), both of which have already begun preparing for implementation. In the second half of the session, MTs from Sylhet, Barishal, and Gazipur nursing colleges conducted an analysis of their faculty members' academic backgrounds and discussed possible subject assignment plans. Drawing on the case examples, they shared their ideas for introducing subject-based teaching methods that suit the specific contexts of their own institutions.

Through this workshop, each college was able to define concrete actions to take going forward. It also became clear that teaching loads are unevenly distributed among faculty members at all institutions, with some instructors bearing a particularly heavy burden. The introduction of subject-based teaching was identified as a promising approach to help address these imbalances.
The project is also supporting the initiation and implementation of faculty development (FD) training^*1 at each college. This workshop is positioned as a joint FD training among several target colleges. As the first two target colleges played a leading role during the workshop, it became a good practice example of FD training and knowledge sharing. It is expected to further stimulate efforts and activities aimed at transitioning toward more specialized, subject-based nursing education in the future.

^*1 Faculty Development (FD): Practical methods for developing the teaching skills of college and university teachers. Institutional initiatives to encourage teachers to improve and enhance the content and methodology of their teaching.