Supporting students in practice

Placement providers play a key role in supporting students, with guidance from CCCU to ensure high-quality learning experiences, effective supervision, and professional development.

Regulatory roles - Nursing

The Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment (SSSA, NMC 2023) set out how Nursing students are supported, supervised, and assessed in practice.

Practice assessor

A practice assessor must be a registered nurse with appropriate equivalent experience for the student’s field of practice. They are responsible for assessing and confirming the student’s achievement of practice learning objectives within practice learning experiences. The Practice assessor is allocated by practice, and Nursing students should have one Practice assessor for each placement.

Practice supervisor

A practice supervisor can be any registered health and social care professional working in a practice environment. They are responsible for supporting, supervising and guiding students learning in the practice learning environment. The practice supervisor is allocated by practice and nursing students should have at least one practice supervisor for each placement.

Practice Supervisor activities and resources can be accessed by other non-NMC registered professionals to help them prepare for their role supervising Nursing and Nursing Associate students.

Academic assessor

An academic assessor must be a registered nurse with appropriate equivalent experience for the student’s field of practice. They are responsible for confirming the student’s achievement of proficiencies and programme outcomes in the academic environment for each part of the course. The academic assessor works collaboratively with the practice assessor to make recommendations for student progression, and supports the student and practice team if concerns are raised about progress and development. The academic assessor is allocated by the university. Students will have one academic assessor for each part of the course.

Supernumerary and protected learning time

Students in practice must be supported to learn and practice safely (NMC, 2023). It is essential to ensure that student's supernumerary status is protected during their practice hours. Nursing Associates should also benefit from protected learning time within their workplace.

How to achieve supernumerary status:

Ensure students are not included in workforce numbers.
Allow students to follow and experience the patient journey/care pathway.
Access to learning opportunities in other settings and with other members of the multidisciplinary team.
Allocate students a negotiated workload that is within their scope of practice and meets their required learning needs.

Regulatory roles - Allied health professionals

Practice educator

A Practice educator is a registered professional who is responsible for a learner’s education during their practice-based learning. They provide clinical support, education, training, and assessment through different levels of interaction with the learner. They must have relevant knowledge, skills and experience to support safe and effective learning and be on the relevant part of the register.

Support roles in practice

There are various roles in practice supporting the learner experience. Each large organisation usually has an education lead, and each practice area has a designated person that leads on and manages the student experience. These are mostly known as the student education link/NMC nominated person, or student co-ordinator.

Support roles in the University

Placement Lead	Each course has a placement lead who manages the placement allocation, identifies and develops placement opportunities, and provides leadership for the effective delivery of practice learning across the student's course and professional discipline. They are the main point of contact with regards to all aspects of practice learning. They also provide placement preparation and feedback review sessions for student groups.
Placement Link Tutors	For Allied Health Professionals (AHP) courses, practice areas are allocated a placement link tutor. This is a member of the academic course team who is the contact person, supporter and advisor for a group of students and their practice educators/mentors, prior to and during the time of the placement.
Clinical Links	For Nursing courses, practice areas are allocated a clinical link. This is a member of the academic team from the School of Nursing who monitors and enhances the placement experience for both students and those supporting them in practice.
Personal Academic Tutor	For both Nursing and AHP courses, students are allocated a personal academic tutor. This is a named member of academic staff from the student’s course of study who is responsible for providing pastoral support, and works in partnership with the student to help them succeed in their studies. They will help the student with personal development, signpost to appropriate support services and identify skills that they may need for future employability.