Teaching professional practice, in the sense of the ability to make sound choices in accordance with what is regarded as expected professional conduct within a discipline, is an important part of the development of future professional practitioners. It concerns the teaching of not only relevant theory but also the explicit and implicit dos and don’ts of professional practice. The teaching of professional skills has gradually shifted from traditional apprenticeship approaches to simulation-based training methods. The role of professional educators, as experienced practitioners, is important in optimizing the use of simulations to bridge the gap between theory and practice. As practices and knowledge exchange differ across professions, this article compares three professional fields to explore teachers’ perspectives on what constitutes good professional practice, and how these perspectives shape their choices in simulation-based training. Comparing the qualities that teachers highlight and their choices in terms of practical training (including the choice of technologies) provides a promising angle for better understanding disciplinary presumptions and propositions regarding simulation-based training. This research was conducted through semi-structured interviews with nine teachers from three Nordic bachelor-level professional education programs in maritime science, nursing science, and biomedical laboratory science. Drawing on practice-based and sociomaterial theories, the analysis highlights the close relationship between the professional qualities that teachers prioritize and their choices of training content and mediums. The findings offer insights into the role of teachers as ‘translators’ of intricate relationships embedded in professional practices. They illustrate how teachers work to adapt these practices into sociomaterial, simulation-based training environments that are aligned with learning objectives, educational practices, professional trajectories, and the expected standards of their respective fields. © The Author(s) 2025.
Author Keywords
Index Keywords
