Standards for student supervision and assessment

Our standards for student supervision and assessment have been in effect since 28 January 2019.

They set out our expectations for the learning, support and supervision of students in the practice environment. As well as setting 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.

Why are our standards important

Our standards aim to give approved education institutions and practice learning partners the flexibility to develop creative approaches to education. And at the same time still being accountable for the local delivery and management of approved programmes in line with our standards.

Our standards framework

The structure of our standards follow the students journey through their education:

• 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.

How to use our education standards

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

 Part three will depend on the programme being taught: 

Reading these together will provide you with 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.

Find out more about using our standards for student supervision and assessment here.

How these standards were developed

For the past few years we've been developing these standards with input from stakeholders across the UK.

We put our proposals to consultation in summer 2017. We listened closely to the feedback we recieved and made positive changes to the standards as a result.  

Find out more about how the standards were developed.