Pedagogical competence of the precepting nurse Nursing is a praxis based profession; hence, the clinical practice which is part of the Nursing Education Programme is significant for the professional development of student nurses. In Sweden, during clinical practice, each student follows a registered nurse who acts as a preceptor. For registered nurses the competence to educate and precept is clearly stipulated by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. Precepting nurses are expected to function as teachers within Higher Education and consequently be able to create an academic learning environment during the clinical practice. However; earlier studies, internationally as well as national, have shown that preceptors lack postgraduate pedagogical education. In addition; the possibilities for practising nurses to take part in a programme for postgraduate pedagogical education varies in a national perspective. Furthermore; there is a lack of national guidelines concerning formal postgraduate pedagogical education for preceptors. The consequences might be varying quality in how nursing students are being taught professional skills and theoretical knowledge in the clinical setting. The overriding aim of the project is to describe pedagogical strategies and techniques as expressed by the pedagogical/non pedagogical educated precepting nurse. The specific aims are to describe 1) how nursing knowledge is being taught during clinical practice and 2) what factors precepting nurses perceive as being crucial for learning to take place and for development of competence in precepting. The project has an ethnographic approach; methods used are participant observations and interviews with precepting nurses, individually as well as on a focus group level. The relevance of the project is its possibility to illuminate pedagogical competence; vital for nurse preceptors acting as academic teachers in Higher Education. The result can then be utilized when planning for postgraduate pedagogical education, were pedagogical competence can be stressed as being an important part in developing the nursing profession. Keywords: nursing education, preceptor, teacher, pedagogical competence, clinical practice