Bridging the theory practice gap: an innovative approach to praxis in professional education

The notion of a ‘theorypractice gap’ in nursing has been the subject of debate for many years and is well documented in the nursing literature (Crane, 1991; Landers, 2000). McCaugherty (1991) explains the ‘gap’ using the symbolobject dichotomy as an analogy, that is the symbol such as a picture or an image is not the same as the actual object. Thus, what is taught in the classroom is not the same as that which is experienced in the clinical environment. Russell (1967) identifies the former as ‘knowledge by description’ and the latter, ‘knowledge by acquaintance’.