How Does the Entry-Level Nursing Exam Influence Curricula, Professional Identity Formation, and the Care of the Population?

Quality Advancement in Nursing Education Avancées en formation infirmière 12(3) | 1Le français suit.Canadian student leaders' reflections on nursing education, current and future, are the focus of the interview in this issue of Quality Advancement in Nursing Education -Avancées en formation infirmière.Their vision and views correspond with the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing's (2022) National Nursing Education Framework domains of knowledge, research skills and critical inquiry, and leadership.These domains are the hallmarks of baccalaureate program quality.The students call our attention to how we define and assess practice readiness with new nursing graduates.As educators, we grapple with how to enable the preparation of graduates for their safe and competent nursing practice, including their leadership and their promotion of equity, justice, inclusion, and health, across the spectrum of practice settings, amid challenges to increase enrolment.We now ask if these global competencies required for professional and interprofessional practice in the context of everchanging population health and health systems receive due attention in curricula if summative assessments do not include them.Critical questions are surging regarding students' learning and development of global competencies through curriculum processes in schools of nursing and those assessed through a "national" exam; regarding the impact of external learning assessment on nursing curricula; and regarding the fit of what is assessed in an external exam with professional identity formation, the health needs of communities, and national social trends (Pepin & Duncan, 2026)."In designing the curriculum, faculty and other members of the design team determine level goals or outcomes/competencies; nursing courses; … course sequencing; relationships between and among courses; delivery methods; and associated policies" (Iwasiw et al., 2020, p. 33).Assessment of expected outcomes is a powerful determinant of all elements of curricula in the same way that evaluation standards are determinants of nursing education programs-faculty qualifications, philosophical foundations, pedagogical approaches, course concepts, and emphases.