How we quality assure nursing, midwifery and nursing associate education

There are currently around 900 approved education programmes at over 80 approved education institutions (AEIs).

Quality assurance (QA) is the process we follow to make sure that the education programmes for nurses, midwives and nursing associates meet the standards needed to prepare them to join our register. 

We quality assure education by approving programmes and monitoring those programmes.

This process is set out in our QA framework.

QA framework for education

Our quality assurance (QA) framework (Cymraeg) explains our approach to QA and the roles everyone plays in its delivery. This version came into effect on 17 August 2020.

We also publish a quality assurance handbook which sets out the detail of our processes and the evidence that you (and your practice learning partners) will need to provide to demonstrate that you meet our standards.

What has changed under our new framework

We've updated our QA framework to reflect our new education standards.

In our new QA framework, we've also: 

• introduced a new four-stage 'gateway process' for approving new education programmes
• changed what we call people who will undertake QA activity on our behalf to ‘QA visitor’
• changed how we'll report on our QA activity

Helpful resources

Watch our webinar on how to gain programme approval for educators, institutions, practice placement partners and anyone who is interested in student learning. 

Watch our webinar on the annual self-assessment report (ASR) where we share themes and feedback from the 2019-2020 ASR. Download the webinar slides.

Download our pre-2018 QA framework (Cymraeg)