A study examined the relationships between teaching, support, supervision, and role modeling in clinical areas in nursing education courses within the context of Britain's Project 2000, an educational reform initiative. The main data sources were semistructured interviews with a total of 53 students, 37 practitioners, and 15 tutors in 3 nurse education centers and case studies conducted in 3 adult branch centers and 3 mental health branch centers. It was widely reported that the helping roles adopted by practitioners and tutorial staff were often understood in different ways, not systematically assigned, and relegated according to competing demands. Most practitioners wanted greater clarification of their different roles, greater familiarity with the Project 2000 curriculum, and training in assessment. Students wanted longer placements and more contact with practitioners. Assessment of students' practice was deemed problematic. Tutorial staff played an insignificant role in assessing practice, and no intentional role modeling was reported. Learning objectives were not always regarded as realistic, and tutors complained that not all practitioners commanded the knowledge necessary for working with the students. Appendixes include the following: tables detailing respondents' responses and characteristics; study timetable; interview schedules/guides; fragment of verbatim transcript of one interview; and observation protocol. Contains 139 references.) (MN)