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 1 September 2018.
We also publish a QA handbook with our external QA delivery partner, Mott MacDonald, 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
Webinar to support programme approval
We held a webinar on 4 September 2018 on how institutions and programmes can be jointly approved under our new QA framework.
You can watch a recording of the webinar which will be useful for educators, practice placement partners or anyone who has an interest in student learning.
Pre-2018 QA framework
Download our pre-2018 QA framework (Cymraeg)