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Practice Assessors / Practice Supervisors

Gaining practice experience is one of the most important aspects in preparing students for registration with a professional regulatory body such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) or Health and Care Profession Council (HCPC.) These bodies set out standards of education for pre-registration health professional programmes to ensure pre-registration students are fit for practice at the point of registration.  These standards must be met by University and Practice placement providers.

Nursing and Midwifery Practice Assessors / Practice Supervisors

For nursing and midwifery pre–registration students, the NMC requires that placement providers meet some specific standards:

  • Every student must have a named practice assessor / practice supervisor * for each period of practice learning.

*A practice assessor / practice supervisor is a registered nurse or midwife who meets the current NMC Standards and who facilitates learning, and supervises and assesses students in the practice setting. They are responsible and accountable for:

  • Organising and co-ordinating student learning activities in practice.
  • Supervising students in learning situations and providing them with constructive feedback on their achievements.
  • Setting and monitoring achievement of realistic learning objectives.
  • Assessing total performance – including skills, attitudes and behaviours.
  • Providing evidence as required by programme providers of student achievement or lack of achievement.
  • Liaising with others (e.g. practice assessors / practice supervisors, practice facilitators, academic assessors, programme leaders) to provide feedback, identify any concerns about the student’s performance and agree action as appropriate.

The current NMC 2018 Standards for practice learning, Standards Framework for Nursing and Midwifery Education in 2018 describe the knowledge and skills practice assessors / practice supervisors need to apply in practice when they support and assess pre-registration students undertaking NMC approved programmes.