On 25 January, Council approved the changes to our education programme standards for nursing and midwifery. These updated standards are a culmination of co-production work between the NMC and our subject matter expert groups, as well as from stakeholder responses collected during evidence gathering over the past two years.

Key changes include increasing flexibility around simulated learning for nurses, and giving education providers more independence to allow them to set more inclusive entry requirements to nursing and midwifery programmes. As well, for midwifery programmes, we have introduced a requirement for student midwives to experience alternative maternity providers. The aim of this requirement is to have a positive impact on care as it will give midwifery students more opportunities to experience differences in culture and leadership style. You can find a summary of all the changes made to the standards in our Council papers.

These updated standards will now need to be implemented by Approved Education Institutions (AEIs) over the next two years. We have produced some supporting information to go alongside these standards, as well as hosted a series of webinars to help explain what these changes mean for programmes.

You can find links to our updated standards below: