Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

Facilitating Learning and

Assessment in Practice
Project Module for BSc Awards
Post Qualifying Framework

Buddy Pack
2007/2008

Level 3/M

Module No: UZURAR-20-3

Module Leader: Sue Davis
A Buddy Pack

Thank you for agreeing to be a Buddy to your colleague hoping to become a sign-
off mentor. As an experienced sign-off mentor yourself you are able to provide
support and feedback to a peer.

You are requested to complete a learning contract with your colleague to show
what is expected of yourself as a `Buddy’ and the requirements of the Mentor in
the process of achieving sign-off status.

Your colleague has a workbook of evidence to complete to demonstrate their

knowledge and skills as a sign off mentor. You have a copy of this workbook for
your information.

The NMC (2006) Standards to support learning and assessment in practice as a

sign off mentor are included in this pack to remind you of your responsibilities and
the expectations and accountability for achieving this role for the mentor.

Learning contract between Buddy and Mentor

The contract should demonstrate a commitment between both parties to
provide support and evidence that leads to the assessment of at least 3 sign
off mentor activities over a period of time ideally between three and six
months maximum.

Evidence of achievement of this contract should be within the Mentor’s activity

diary.

Buddy signature: ………………………………………..

Name (please print): …………………………………… Date: ………………….

Mentor signature: ……………………………………….

Name (please print): …………………………………… Date: …………………..

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In order to become a sign-off mentor the NMC (2006) Standards, criteria 2.1.3
state that the Mentor must have met the stage 2 standards of a mentor and been
supervised on at least three occasions for signing off proficiency at the end of a
final placement; and additionally:

Has clinical currency and capability in their field of practice.

Is on the local register of mentors
Has a working knowledge of current student programme requirements,
practice assessment strategies and relevant changes in the education
and practice for the students being assessed.
Understands the NMC registration requirements and the contributions
they make to meet these requirements.
Understands their accountability to the NMC to pass or fail the student in
meeting the proficiency requirements at the end of the nursing or
midwifery programme.

As a buddy, your role is to support and directly supervise the mentor on three
occasions as (s) he performs the sign off role with students in their area of
practice. You are required to give support and feedback on this process to the
mentor and to sign their workbook when you feel the standards have been met.

There are review forms in the sign off mentor handbook for you to give the mentor
feedback on their performance and achievements. Please use these forms as
often as you feel necessary to support the mentor. There are further copies of the
form on the Practice Support Network at http://hsc.uwe.ac.uk/practicesupport/

If you have anything you wish to discuss or need some support yourself the
academic team on the Facilitating Learning and Assessment in Practice Module
are there to help. You can contact the following for advice:

Sue Davis: Module Leader susan.davis@uwe.ac.uk

Chris Stevens christine.stevens@uwe.ac.uk
Dorenda Mackie dorenda.mackie@uwe.ac.uk

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DISTANCE LEARNING HANDBOOK

Practice and Professional

Standards for

Sign-off Mentor

2007/2008

LEVEL 2/3/M

Susan Davis

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 CONTENTS

Page

Introduction 3

Professional Standards 3

Evidencing the Standards 4

Activities Diary 4

Indicative reading 5

Assessment /Submission Dates 8

Appendices

1 Standards for Achievement 9

Feedback from Progress Meeting 15

Assessing in Practice Review Form 16

2 Log sheet 17

Information 19

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome to PRACTICE AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR SIGN-OFF

MENTORS.

This pack has been specifically designed for students seeking to gain “sign-off” status. It
builds on learning achieved through undertaking the module: “Facilitating Learning and
Assessment in Practice “ modules or previous teaching, assessing and mentorship
modules.

This pack is based upon independent study and record keeping and plays a central role in
helping students to synthesise learning and professional development and to relate their
practice to professional standards. You will collect evidence and maintain a portfolio to
demonstrate that you have met the Nursing and Midwifery Council Standards for Sign-off
Mentors (NMC 2006) You will need a “buddy” who will discuss and `sign-off’ the
evidence of the three assessed assessments in practice.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

These are Standards set by the NMC (See: Standards to support learning and assessment in
practice, NMC 2006), that have to be achieved in order to gain registration as a mentor.

For midwives undertaking this unit as part of unit 9 Your learning will be further
enhanced through a workshop which will enable you to explore key aspects of the role of a
sign-off mentor and you will be allocated an academic tutor to sign-off standards which
are achieved.

The workshops will introduce you to the pack and its content. A progress review meeting
with your buddy will be used to discuss your evidence and to sign-off your standards when
achieved.

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EVIDENCING THE STANDARDS

Evidence that you have achieved the standards must be produced and `signed-off ’ by your
buddy . You will be able to collect evidence from a range of sources eg. Mentoring
students and supporting mentors in practice, assessments that you have undertaken and
learning strategies you may have helped to design and implement. The same evidence
may be used to support more than one standard.

You will be expected to maintain a portfolio that is organised into numbered sections to
allow for cross referencing. It should be Understandable to others and allow for additions
to be made.

If you are collecting evidence from the workplace it must be supported with a signature
certifying in writing that the documentation is authentic. Your allocated buddy must sign-
off the three assessments undertaken by you in practice (assessing the assessor).

ALL standards must be ‘signed off’ as achieved for Sign-off Status and must be submitted
to an educational lead for registration within the trust.

ACTIVITIES DIARY

You will be expected to keep a log (appendix 2) of your activities and this can include
your ‘brief’ reflections. The evidence is a record of performance of learning activities in
practice which cannot be represented by other documentation. It is an opportunity to
reflect briefly on what you have achieved and how you wish to develop. Entries should be
dated.

This pack complies with the Module Specification for:-

Facilitating learning and assessment in practice

UZURAR-20-3
University of the West of England

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 GUIDELINES FOR READING

You may wish to buy one of the following books on mentoring and assessing
related to your practice area :-

Jarvis, P. Gibson, S. (1997) The Teacher Practitioner and Mentor, 2nd Ed. Nelson Thornes:
Cheltenham.

Kenworthy, N. Nicklin, P. (2000) Teaching and Assessing in Nursing Practice: an experiential

approach. 3rd Ed. Bailliere Tindall: Edinburgh.

Quinn, F.M .Hughes SJ (2007) Quinn’s Principles and Practice of Nurse Education.
5th Ed. Nelson Thornes:Cheltenham.

The following resources are available free on the Internet, and are essential
reading for this module:-

DOH, ENB (2001) Placements in focus - guidance for education in practice for health care
professions. Access via http://www.nmc-uk.org/aArticle.aspx?ArticleID=1695

DOH, ENB (2001) Preparation of Mentors and Teachers: A new framework of guidance.
Access via http://www.nmc-uk.org/aArticle.aspx?ArticleID=1695

NMC (2006) Standards to support learning and assessment in practice: NMC Standards for
mentors, practice teachers and teachers. Access via
http://www.nmc-uk.org/aArticle.aspx?ArticleID=1658

There are also copies of some key articles and book chapters available in the
`Digital Collections’ area of the UWE Library website.
In this collection you will find articles and book chapters that relate to facilitating
learning as well as assessing. To access the “Digital Collections” go to the following
website :
http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/catalogue/hypelogin.htm

Log in with your UWE ID card number and Library PIN.

Note: if you don’t know your Library PIN you can request it to be sent to your UWE
email account from the following website :
http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/catalogue/idpin.htm

Once logged in to Digital Collections – Click on “UWE”, Click on “Teaching and

learning support materials”, Click on “HSC Health and Social Care”, scroll down the
list to find the “Teaching and Assessing” folder – click on it, click on the
“Recommended reading” to open up the list of chapters / articles. Simply click on the
item you now want to open and read. Note: if you have pop-ups blocked on your PC
then the articles won’t open – see http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/catalogue/popup-

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info.htm for information on disabling pop-up blockers.

UWE on-line: If you are part of a community on UWE on-line you can also
access the library digital collection material from here.
The journals listed below are available electronically via the Library Catalogue
and frequently have relevant articles in them:-

Examples of electronic journals are:

Nurse Education Today
Advances in Nursing
British Medical Journal
Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health
Radiography
Nursing Standard.

To access these journals go to the UWE Library Catalogue :

http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/catalogue

If there is a yellow box on the right of the screen “I’m from UWE” then click this first and
then click on the green arrow prompt on the next screen.
Choose any campus from the list to enter the catalogue.
Choose “Journal Title Search” in the box on the right of the screen.
Type in the title of the journal that you want to find and click on “Search Catalogue”.

Any journal available electronically will have “Electronic Journal” in brackets after its title.
You can access full text articles from these journals on the Internet, simply click “Connect to
resource” button to the right of the screen along from the title of the journal - this will take you
directly to the journal on the Internet. You will need your UWE network username and
password to log into these electronic journals off campus. Look out for the option to Log-in
with “Athens” – often in the top right corner of the screen.

There is a guide to accessing journal articles available on the Library website at :

http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/hea/docs/accessjournals.pdf

The following databases are very useful and allow you to search across a huge
range of journals to locate further relevant reading material for yourself:-

Examples are : (all of these are available via a single website called Ovid)
AMED
British Nursing Index
CINAHL
Embase
Maternity and Infant Care
Medline

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You can access these health and social care databases by going to the UWE Library
Service website:

http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/hea/databases.htm

Here you can scroll down a selection of databases and access them directly. Each database has
a description page and help materials available (including online tutorials to introduce you to
searching them).

Once into the databases use suggested key words such as:-

learning environment, group work, assessing, assessment, clinical supervision to find relevant
material.

The Library website has a wealth of support material available to support you in doing
literature searches for articles on the databases, including :

For a step by step guide to searching the Ovid health databases (British Nursing Index etc) see
:
http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/hea/docs/ovid.pdf

For online tutorials on using library resources and finding information see : (the “Finding
Journal Articles” section is particularly useful)
http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/general/otis/index.htm

For tips on putting together an effective search to use on the databases see:
http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/hea/docs/Tips_for_effective_searching.pdf

Useful Web sites:

www.dh.gov.uk Department of Health site
www.open.gov.uk Government site pertaining to all professions
www.dfe.gov.uk Department of Education
www.qaa.ac.uk Quality Assurance agency
www.nmc-uk.org Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visitors Council
www.sor.org Society of Radiographers
www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/tutorial/nurse/ Good tutorials for nurses, midwives and health visitors on us
the internet to find information.
www.hlsp.org/uk Health and Life Sciences Partnership
www.csp.org.uk– Physiotherapy

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 ASSESSMENT

This pack does not accrue academic credits unless part of the Facilitating Learning and
Assessment in practice module.

If completed as a single registered unit. This will be verified and a certificate of

achievement awarded.

For midwives and nurses commencing the Unit the Portfolio must be submitted by 2
pm on one of the following dates:

Commencing Unit Dates Submission Dates

September 2007 = 7th Jan 2008

January 2008 = 7th May 2008
April 2008 = 7th Aug 2008
August 2008 = 7th Dec 2008

For verification and the gaining of a certificate of achievement.

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 APPENDIX 1

STANDARDS ACHIEVEMENT RECORD (NMC STAGE 2 Sign-off Mentor )

Name: Self appraisal – Status of evidence:

Working towards = 1
Satisfactory evidence = 2
Date begun: Strong evidence = 3

Use the appropriate columns below to cross reference from your evidence file where the supporting evidence can be found. You will need to
present and discuss this evidence with your tutor during tutorials. Your tutor will sign-off each of the standards when you have satisfactorily
achieved them. You may present `oral’ evidence to demonstrate achievement of up to one third of the standards.

1. Establish effective working Progress Progress Progress Signature

relationships: Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3
1.1 Demonstrate an understanding of factors that
influence how students integrate into practice
settings.

1.2 Provide ongoing and constructive support to

facilitate transition from one learning environment to
another.

1.3 Have effective professional and Interprofessional

working relationships to support learning for entry to
the register and education at a level beyond initial
registration.

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2. Facilitation of learning: Progress Progress Progress Signature
Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3
2.1 Use knowledge of the student’s stage of learning
to select appropriate learning opportunities to meet
individual needs.
2.2 Facilitate the selection of appropriate learning
strategies to integrate learning from practice and
academic experiences.

2.3 Support students in critically reflecting upon

their learning experiences in order to enhance future
learning.

3. Assessment and accountability: Progress Progress Progress Signature

Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3
3.1 Foster professional growth, personal
development and accountability through support of
students in practice.

3.2 Demonstrate a breadth of understanding of

assessment strategies and ability to contribute to the
total assessment process as a part of the teaching
team.

3.3 Provide constructive feedback to students and

assist them in identifying future learning needs and
actions , managing failing students so that they may
enhance their performance and capabilities for safe
and effective practice or be able to understand their
failure and the implications of this their future.

3.4 Be accountable for confirming that students have

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met or not met the NMC competencies in practice
and as a sign-off mentor confirm in practice.

4. Evaluation of learning: Progress Progress Progress Signature

Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3
4.1 Contribute to evaluation of student learning and
assessment experiences , proposing aspects for
change resulting from evaluation.

4.2 Participate in self and peer evaluation to

facilitate personal development and contribute to the
development of others.

5. Creating an environment for learning: Progress Progress Progress Signature

Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3
5.1 Support students to identify both learning needs
and experiences that are appropriate to their level of
learning.

5.2 Use a range of learning experiences , involving

patients clients, carers and the professional team, to
meet defined learning needs.

5.3 Identify aspects of the clearing environment

which can be enhanced negotiating with others to
make appropriate changes.

5.4 Act as a resources to facilitate personal and

professional.

Context of practice: Progress Progress Progress Signature

Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3
6.1 Contribute to the development of an environment

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in which effective practice is fostered, implemented,
evaluated and disseminated .

6.2 Set and maintain professional boundaries that are

sufficiently flexible for providing Interprofessional
care.

6.3 Initiate and respond to practice developments to

ensure safe and effective care is achieved and an
effective learning environment is maintained.

7.0 Evidence-based practice: Progress Progress Progress Signature

Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3
7.1 Identify and apply research and evidence based
practice to their area of practice.

7.2 Contribute to strategies to increase or review the

evidence base used to support practice.

7.3 Support students in applying an evidence base to

their own practice.

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8.0 Leadership Progress Progress Progress Signature
Meeting 1 Meeting 2 Meeting 3
8.1 Plan a series of learning experiences that will
meet students defined learning needs.

8.2 Be an advocate for students to support them

accessing learning opportunities that meet their
individual needs , involving a range of other
professionals patients, clients and carers.

8.3 Prioritise work to accommodate support of

students within their practice roles.

8.4 Provide feedback about the effectiveness of

learning and assessment in practice.

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 SIGN-OFF MENTOR

9. Sign-off criteria. Progress review Progress review Progress review Signature

meeting1 meeting 2 meeting 3
Knowledge of current programme requirements.

Knowledge of NMC registration requirements.

Clinical currency and capability.

Able to access proficiency requirements.

Been supervised on three occasion for signing off

proficiency by a sign-off mentor or practice teacher.

I confirm all the criteria for a sign-off mentor has been met: Signature of Learner: ………………………………………………............

I confirm all the criteria for a sign-off mentor has been met: Signature of Buddy: …………………………………………………………

Name (please print): ………………………………………………………….

I confirm all the criteria for a sign-off mentor has been met: Signature of Tutor: ………………………………………………………….

Name (please print): …………………………………………………………...

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 FEEDBACK FROM PROGRESS MEETING

Feedback from progress review 1 Action Plan

Feedback from progress review 2 Action Plan

Feedback from progress review 3 Action Plan

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 ASSESSING IN PRACTICE REVIEW FORM (you will require 3 of these)

STUDENT Name :

Date: Topic: Reviewer:

Topic area Comments

Preparation and planning
Aims and Learning outcomes.
Environment
Interpersonal skills

Assessment criteria relevant

Assessment methods/strategy used :

Appropriate to topic and learner/s
Timing and progression

Process
Relevant to topic
Questioning appropriate
Evidenced based
Feedback given
Leadership

Any other comments

Signature of Buddy: …………………………………………………… Buddy name (please print): …………………………………….

Signature of Learner: …………………………………………………

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 Appendix 2

LOG SHEET: RECORD OF TEACHING AND ASSESSING EXPERIENCE

Date and Experience Comments Signature Signature of sign-off mentor or

Time practice teacher

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 LOG SHEET: RECORD OF TEACHING AND ASSESSING EXPERIENCE - (cont’d)

Date and Experience Comments Signature Signature of sign-off mentor or

Time practice teacher

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 INFORMATION

If you wish to know more about the content of a module/short course, then please
access our web pages at:-

www.uwe.ac.uk/hsc

or

http:learntech.uwe.ac.uk/modules

Alternatively please contact our CPD office who will be happy to send you the
relevant information.

HSC.CPD@uwe.ac.uk

Post Basic Admissions - Celia Maber 0117 32 81161

Enrolment Office - 0117 32 81164

NB: Web addresses may change – if experiencing specific difficulties please check
the Faculty’s home page.

For further information:

Email: Susan.Davis@uwe.ac.uk
Tel: 0117 32 88639

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