Quality assurance
The engagement of all stakeholders - practice educators, students and placement tutors - is central to the UoN practice education quality assurance policies and procedures. Another important factor is triangulation of evidence (collected through a variety of mechanisms). The Quality and Safety Policy can be downloaded below.
One aspect of quality assurance procedures is the evaluation of practice education and aims to capture perceptions from the student, the practice educators and the placement tutors.
Student evaluation of placement:
All students who complete an A, B or C placement are requested to complete an online evaluation form on their return to the University. This placement evaluation consists of two parts. The first part is returned to the practice educator for comment using a standard proforma. The second part remains confidential to the University. It is appreciated that information given in this second section must be used sensitively and mindful of the context in which events may have occurred. This confidential element of the evaluation form has been discussed extensively at the Student Training Forum (STF) and the decision was made that this should remain. Where concerns arise, they will be discussed with the student concerned and the placement educator, aiming for a timely resolution. All student evaluation forms are reviewed at quality review meetings or more immediately should the severity of a concern warrant it.
The links to the right of this screen are provided for completion within the University-based placement debrief session only. They will be open for a limited time. Access will not be given outside of these sessions without prior arrangement:
Placement provider responses to student evaluation:
The first part of the student evaluation forms are emailed to the relevant practice educators for their responses to students' comments. Placement provider comments are reviewed at quality review meetings, or more immediately should the severity of a concern warrant it.
Placement tutor evaluations:
Each placement student is allocated a placement tutor who undertakes a pre- and post-placement tutorial with each of their tutees. The placement tutor will visit their B placement student at halfway (about 6 weeks into placement). By mutual agreement, this visit may be replaced by a telephone call, Skype or email contact when students are on C placement. Further visits are undertaken when required on A, B or C placements. The primary role of the placement tutor is to support the student on placement, and they may also identify general areas of either good practice or concern relating to general safety, quality and risk related to placement provision. This information is also reviewed at the quality review meeting (which happens in June/July and November/December each year), where action is agreed and then shared as appropriate at the Student Training Forum (STF). Evidence of good practice is also noted and may, for example, be showcased at the next STF.