Practice support for Midwifery
This page provides an overview of the differing roles in supporting our student midwives undertaking the BSc Hons Midwifery course in clinical practice settings. If you are interested in taking more of an active role in student learning and assessment you will be able to find details about our role preparation opportunities, the documentation we use to assess students in practice and the placement support we offer.
Practice Supervisor (PS)
Practice supervisors must be registered with a professional regulator such as the NMC, GMC or HCPC. The practice supervisor can be a registered health and social care professional working in a practice environment. They have been prepared and supported to take up their role and have up-to–date knowledge and experience relevant to the student they are supervising.
All nurses and midwives in any practice learning environment should be able to act as a practice supervisor. Health and social care professionals who are not registered with a professional regulator cannot be practice supervisors.
If you are keen to support Pre-registration Midwifery student's learning in practice, you will need to complete some training in preparation for this role that comprises of ½ day eLearning and ½ day workshop.
Practice Assessor (PA)
Being a Practice Assessor is an important role in determining pre-registration midwifery student's competence to be a Registered Midwife. To be a Practice Assessor you will have expressed a keen interest to your manager and/or have been nominated by your Trust or organisation to attend a programme of preparation. This preparation is set out against the new NMC (2018) Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment and comprises of one day eLearning activity and one day workshop, to find out more information please see attached flyer.
Academic Assessors (AA)
Academic assessors will be employed by the University and will be working towards or have completed a PG Cert Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (or equivalent) and/or Higher Education Academy Fellowship. Academic assessors will also be involved in the delivery of the programme for which they are acting as an academic assessor. They will therefore have a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the requirements of the programme. All nursing and midwifery academics are required to contribute to the support of student’s completing practice learning experiences.
AA’s monitor the progress of their allocated student across theory and practice learning settings. This information forms part of discussions between PA and AA. The role of assessing a student for progression is the responsibility of the AA and PA, working together.
Placement Support
We offer our students a range of placements predominantly across the counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire with additional placement opportunities in neighbouring counties. The Placement Support Team - nursing, midwifery, and allied health (PLAST) with placement partners to plan, arrange and record student placements across several different courses within two of the university schools: The School of Nursing and Midwifery, and the School of Allied Health and Community. The PLAST Placement Support pages contain contact information and instructions on accessing the placement allocations software, ARC.
Each of our placement areas are supported by Practice Facilitators or Educators (PF’s) these are staff who are employed by the practice placement organisations and work closely with our University staff to ensure that students are supported during their practice learning experiences by appropriately prepared staff.
Midwifery Ongoing Record of Achievement (MORA) Information
NMC Standards Midwifery Hub
To help support educators, students, employers, supervisors, assessors and others to understand the new standards the NMC have launched a new standards web hub. It contains supporting information and materials on the new standards including recorded webinars, scenarios and leaflets, to help people understand the new standards.
Please access the NMC website to view this very useful information
Report a concern
Placement staff or students with any concerns about a student’s welfare, standards of care or factors affecting learning during placement, can escalate concerns using our report a concern portal. If you are raising a concern, please be assured that we are committed to addressing all concerns in a respectful and professional manner. Commendations, compliments and areas of good practice can also be reported via the tool. We welcome all positive feedback for our students that supports their professional development and standards of professional care.