Background: This article explores the use of a practice development approach to support nursing students’ engagement in learning partnerships in clinical practice settings.

Aim: To reflect, using the model proposed by Rolfe and colleagues (2001), on the development of ‘PLATO’ – an educational tool to help nursing students explore their role in building learning partnerships in clinical settings.

Conclusion: A practice development approach to clinical learning partnerships can support an effective learning culture. As a result, nursing students can gain greater empowerment and take increased responsibility for their learning.

Implications for practice:

• Facilitating learning partnerships with students is important for achieving person-centred care
• Partnership working provides opportunities for true collaboration and for learning with and from our students
• Developing collaborative spaces can facilitate nursing students to reflect in and on their practice

This article by Claire Hamshire and Kirsten Jack is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License.