Numerous factors in today’s health care environment make nursing education a critical priority and challenge. Changes are needed in order to provide quality education, and nursing education must drive this change instead of trying to keep pace. This study aims to evaluate nurse educators’ experience of their current role and future challenges within nursing education in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. A qualitative, explorative study was used by means of four focus-group interviews with 18 participants in Scandinavia. The data were processed using content analysis to identify several relevant themes. This study revealed four themes that feature the role complexity and challenges faced by nurse educators: role complexity, the tension between academia and practice, the ideal role as a nurse educator, and future challenges within nursing education.