Standards for student supervision and assessment

Standards for supervision and assessment

 Our new Standards for student supervision and assessment (Cymraeg) have been in effect since 28 January 2019 and set out our expectations for the learning, support and supervision of students in the practice environment.

They also set out how students are assessed for theory and practice learning.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for, feel free to email us.

This document is available in a print friendly version (Cymraeg).

Why these standards matter

These standards aim to give approved education institutions (AEIs) and practice learning partners the flexibility to develop creative approaches to education, while still being accountable for the local delivery and management of approved programmes in line with our standards.

The student journey

The structure of the standards follow the student journey:

Effective practice learning
Find out what needs to be in place to deliver safe and effective learning experiences for nursing and midwifery students in practice.

Supervision of students
Read about the principles of student supervision in the practice environment and the role of the practice supervisor.

Assessment of students and confirmation of proficiency
Understand what we require from educators who are assessing and confirming students’ practice and academic achievement. In this section we also describe the roles of the practice assessor and academic assessor.

Using the standards

It's important to read these standards along with the other parts of Realising professionalism: Standards for education and training:

 Future nurse: Standards of proficiency for registered nurses and Standards for pre-registration nursing programmes.

Reading them together provides a complete picture of:

  • what nurses, midwives and nursing associates need to know and be able to do, by the time they register with us
  • our expectations of education institutions and their practice learning partners for delivering NMC-approved programmes for nurses, midwives and nursing associates.

Supporting information

We've developed some supporting information on our standards for student supervision and assessment to help with the implementation of the new standards.

This supporting information relates to all standards that deal with student supervision and assessment. It's not a series of standards that must be met, but will offer examples of how our standards may be implemented.

Webinar recordings

As part of our work supporting education institutions and practice learning partners to implement our new education standards, we've run a series of webinars exploring specific themes people have told us they’d like more information about.

Watch a recording of our webinar on the roles of the practice and academic assessor. You can also view the slides that were presented in the session.

Answering your questions

For the past two years we have been developing these standards with input from stakeholders across the UK. We put our proposals to consultation in summer 2017 and listened closely to the feedback we received. Find out more about how the standards were developed.

You’ll need to be aware of the new roles of practice supervisor and practice assessor and, where relevant prepare yourself to become one. These roles will replace the current mentor and sign off mentor roles. Your employer and your partner education institution(s) will decide who will be the supervisors and assessors. They’ll also determine the appropriate preparation and ongoing support you’ll need if you should become a nominated supervisor and/or assessor.

We will not be setting standards for, or approving education programmes to support these new roles as we did for mentor and education roles.

If you are going to be a supervisor and/or an assessor, you’ll find our supporting information below useful.

Supporting information on standards for student supervision and assessment

Simulated assessment can provide an educationally valuable way to demonstrate proficiency and provides students with the opportunity to assessed in a safe environment and should be used in a proportionate way.

Most skills should be demonstrated in a practice setting, but if opportunities to demonstrate some skills are limited, then by exception, some procedures may be demonstrated in simulation.

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