Improving Student Support in Professional Placement Learning: Findings from the South West Peninsula Pilot of a New English National Placement Quality Assurance and Enhancement Process

Abstract

English stakeholder collaboration has resulted in a new quality assurance process for non-medical health and social care placement providers and higher education institutions. This study aimed to discover the impact on student support that taking part in a pilot had on participating placement areas. Using a questionnaire survey with longitudinal followup one year later, we found that placement staff valued the opportunity to review and improve student support practices. This was still in evidence a year later where the pilot was described as giving the opportunity to provide evidence of aspects of student support practice; communicating and changing or developing aspects of that practice. Benefits accrued from interdisciplinary working in sharing and collaborating with other professions and organisations. Such activity could enhance clinical support staff activities and facilitate strategic partnerships between placement providers and higher education institutions.

Improving student support using Placement Development Teams: staff and student perceptions

“…Joint roles are unlikely to be straightforward to implement and can place considerable burden on postholders, as is clear from the UK literature and to be effective their rationale and purpose needs to be explicit from the beginning (Williamson 2004). Arguably, student support activities are enhanced where structures do make explicit the requirements for good support (Williamson et al. 2008).…”

Managing capacity issues in clinical placements for pre‐registration nurses

“…A pilot of these proposals found that placement areas valued the opportunity to review student support practices which facilitated their improvement; provide documentary evidence of aspects of their practices; and to communicate this widely. Benefits also accrued from interdisciplinary working in sharing and collaborating with other professions and organisations (Williamson et al. 2008).…”