This page summarises our findings from reviewing education providers and programmes in recent years.
It provides our view on programme management, including our regulatory requirements, and what we commonly see in programme delivery.
This information should be considered by education providers when developing new and existing programmes linked to this area.
Our threshold requirements
- programmes must be effectively managed (SET 3.2);
- there is a person in place holding overall professional responsibility for each programme, who is appropriately qualified and experienced and, unless other arrangements are appropriate, on the relevant part of the Register (SET 3.3);
- there is an adequate number of appropriately qualified and experienced staff in place to deliver an effective programme (SET 3.9);
- subject areas are delivered by educators with relevant specialist knowledge and expertise (SET 3.10);
- an effective programme must be in place to ensure the continuing professional and academic development of educators appropriate to their role in the programme (SET 3.10);
- there is an adequate number of appropriately qualified and experienced staff involved in practice-based learning (SET 5.5);
- those staff have relevant knowledge, skills and experience to support safe and effective learning and, unless other arrangements are appropriate, must be on the relevant part of the Register (SET 5.6); and
- those staff undertake regular training which is appropriate to their role, learners’ needs and the delivery of the learning outcomes of the programme (SET 5.7).
- there is effective management and clear responsibility for programmes;
- there is an appropriate person in place who holds overall professional responsibility for programmes, and that the education provider has a mechanism for ensuring this role is filled on an ongoing basis; and
- effective staffing arrangements are in place to deliver programmes, including in practice settings.
Summary reflections
Policies and processes were in place to ensure programmes are effectively managed, such as management structures and clear articulation of the roles and responsibilities of all involved.
Education providers consider staffing requirements for their programmes on an ongoing basis, and were aware of the challenges in this area, often driven by the availability of academic staff across professional areas, and resourcing challenges within the education sector.
Despite these challenges, we are confident that education providers either resourced or had robust plans in place to resource their programmes for learner capacity. They considered how they would use existing staff, recruited new staff, and filled gaps in expertise with visiting or guest lecturers. There are also mechanisms in place to develop new and existing staff to deliver effective programmes.
Education providers have mechanisms in place to set out requirements for practice educators, to ensure they are able to effectively support learners. These include the audit mechanisms that apply to practice-based learning including areas to actively consider the staffing of practice-based learning. These mechanisms are appropriate to ensure learners are supported by appropriately qualified and experienced practice educators in practice-based learning.
Education providers recognised the challenges in this area, and that they had a role to play in driving up numbers of practice educators to support increases in learner numbers in the sector.
Education provider approaches
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Policies and processes are in place to ensure programmes are effectively managed, such as management structures and clear articulation of the roles and responsibilities of all involved.
Education providers recognise that our standard about professional responsibility for the programme is not just about the person in place at the time of assessment, but also how they ensure an appropriate person would be in place in the future, with any personnel changes. Normally, this is delivered through a clear job description, and management structures which ensure the role is essential and would be recruited to with changes in personnel. -
All education providers set out how they deliver continuing professional development (CPD) for their staff. Normally this included staff gaining formal teaching qualifications where staff did not already have them, and protected time for research.
When proposing new programmes, education providers frequently provide:- an overall staffing plan;
- curriculum vitae (CVs) which showed the knowledge, skills and experience of staff and educators;
- an understanding about the academic learning to be delivered;
- which staff members would deliver that learning; and
- the proposed number of learners.
Taken together, these enable us to make judgements about the number of staff for the number of learners, and whether subject matter experts were available and utilised appropriately.
Some education providers outline how they use visiting or guest lecturers to deliver key or specialised content. Visiting lecturers tend to be those contracted for an agreed number of hours per academic year. Guest lecturers tend to be asked to deliver a small number of academic sessions on their specialism. These topics and visiting lecturers could change year on year depending on new developments in the profession or due to their availability.
Where education providers added programmes in the same profession, they normally outline how existing staff would be utilised across existing and new programmes. In these cases, education providers evidence how these staff would undertake increased or different workload associated with a new programme and an increase in the number of learners, where this was applicable. Some education providers recruited, or planned to recruit, more staff to ensure effective delivery, assessment, and support for programmes. In these cases, education providers discussed the training and induction processes in place to ensure new staff could appropriately contribute for the start of the programme. -
Practice-based learning quality mechanisms, which include initial approval and regular audits of practice-based learning, consider the number of practice educators available to support learners, and how those individuals need to be qualified to do this effectively.
Education providers occasionally provide us with curriculum vitae (CVs) which showed the knowledge, skills and experience of practice educators. In other instances, they outline how they used CVs as part of their processes for determining capacity and suitability.
There is initial and refresher training provided to their practice educators, to ensure practice educators understand the expectations of their role, are clear about the learning outcomes and objectives for the programme or specific placement, and the processes and lines of communication in place. This information is often outlined in programme documentation, like practice educator handbooks.
Some professional bodies deliver specific training for practice educators, and some education providers require practice educators to undertake this training. In these cases, education providers also provide programme specific information through training and / or documentation. This is important, because although there are common skills required for practice educators, a key aspect of their preparation is knowledge and understanding of the specific programme, including what learners need to achieve in specific situations.
For degree apprenticeship programmes, employers are the main practice education provider, and learners are employees. For these programmes, contracts are in place between the education provider and employers to cover all aspects of the programme, for example admissions and support for the learner or employee. These contracts also include a requirement for the employer to ensure an adequate number of appropriately trained, skilled and experienced, individuals to act as practice educators.
Current sector focus and challenges
There are problems with the supply of academic staff across several HCPC professions, and this issue is compounded by increases in learner numbers and number of programmes in the sector. Education providers were aware of this problem and had strategies in place to develop academic staff numbers. These included seconding practice staff, enabling new academic staff to gain formal teaching qualifications, and delivering administrative support staff to free up academics’ time to focus on programme delivery and learner assessment.
Some education providers also consider how they can contribute to the pipeline of practice educations, for example by providing training for potential practice educators. This was often when the education provider recognised there were insufficient numbers, or individuals wanted to learn more about the role before becoming a practice educator.