We want to continually improve our support for education providers in meeting our regulatory requirements, and delivering the best programmes they can. A key part of our work is making sure we understand the experience of those going through education programmes.
One of the ways we’re doing this is via our Year in Registration survey, which is aimed to gather insight about how education and training prepares graduates for practice.
In Autumn 2021, we asked questions of those who completed UK programmes in 2020, covering their transition from training to practice and asking where improvements could be made.
Obviously, this first survey wasn’t perfect. It was difficult to determine strong conclusions from the data, the respondents were self-selecting and response rates were low in some professions. However, we were able to gain some key insights.
Key findings
- Service user engagement and involvement in learning was not always well understood by respondents
- Respondents did not always recognise they were learning with and from other professions
- The vast majority (80%) of respondents valued practice-based learning as part of their education and training, and had good experience in practice-based learning
- The vast majority (77%) of respondents would recommend their programme to others
- The two most used words by respondents when describing their programme were ‘challenging’ and ‘supportive’. This is positive – nobody would expect a professional programme to be easy, and the support mechanisms put in place by providers are recognised by respondents
How we have used the findings
We have:
- Used this information (with the previous caveats) in our performance review process, asking providers to reflect on specific areas,
- Shared information with relevant professional bodies where they may find it useful to inform their work to improve the quality of training.
Building on the pilot
We are currently running a second survey with the same goals in mind, surveying registrants who completed UK programmes in 2021.
The information we have received has already been useful, but more responses can help us improve our offerings and gain a really accurate picture of how we can best support education providers to deliver high quality training.
This survey can be accessed here.