CHAPTER 2. Mentoring and the NMC
Chapter Aims
The purpose of this chapter is to gain an understanding of the Standards to Support Learning and Assessment in Practice set by the NMC for mentorship. After reading this chapter you will be able to:
• Identify the key points relating to mentorship in the NMC’s Standards.
• Undertake a self-assessment of your knowledge, skills and competence against the NMC’s developmental framework for mentors and develop an action plan to address any deficiencies.
• Develop a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate you meet the NMC’s standards for mentors.
The NMC standards for learning and assessment in practice
The NMC published their Standards to Support Learning and Assessment in Practice in August 2006 which became mandatory in September 2007. This means that all mentors must meet the requirements set out in these standards in order to support and assess students on programmes which lead to registration or a recordable qualification on the NMC register. It should be noted that the NMC republished the standards again in July 2008 with some minor amendments. The main changes were the addition of annexes, which were copies of circulars sent out by the NMC between 2006 and 2008, clarifying areas which had caused confusion or concern for mentors, placement providers and universities about:
• specialist practice qualifications
• the Practice Teacher standard
• applying due regard
• sign-off mentors and/or practice teachers
• guidance for small-scale service providers in relation to the standards
• the ongoing achievement record.
The 2008 standards were also updated to reflect wider policy changes, for example around equality and diversity. These standards can be downloaded from the NMC website www.nmc-uk.org and you are strongly recommended to download a copy if you are a mentor or about to become one.
The standards are set by the NMC in consultation with nurses, midwives, employers, the public and universities and are reviewed every five years. At the time that these standards were being reviewed, the NMC was also consulting on fitness to practice at the point of registration. Both consultations highlighted concerns about the quality of the support students receive in practice and led to a set of standards that are far more prescriptive than we have seen before and have specific requirements for mentors, practice teachers and teachers. While this chapter will focus on the NMC’s requirements relating to mentors, you can read more about the requirements for practice teachers and teachers by reading the standards.
What are the standards?
The standards describe a single developmental framework for mentors, practice teachers and teachers with outcomes for each role. The outcomes are grouped under eight domains for each stage:
1. Establishing effective working relationships.
2. Facilitation of learning.
3. Assessment and accountability.
4. Evaluation of learning.
5. Create an environment for learning.
6. Context of practice.
7. Evidence-based practice.
8. Leadership.
Each of the domains is underpinned by five principles that you can view in Box 2.1.
Box 2.1
Underpinning principles for the NMC developmental framework
The underpinning principles for supporting learning and assessment in practice for any student undertaking an NMC approved programme leading to registration or a qualification that is recordable on the register are that nurses and midwives who make judgements about whether a student has achieved the required standards of proficiency for safe and effective practice must:
(a) be on the same part or sub-part of the register as that which the student is intending to enter;
(b) have developed their own knowledge, skills and competency beyond that of registration through CPD – either formal or experiential learning – as appropriate to their support role;
(c) hold professional qualifications at an appropriate level to support and assess the students they mentor/teach, i.e. professional qualifications equal to, or at a higher level than, the students they are supporting and assessing and;
(d) have been prepared for their role to support and assess learning and met NMC defined outcomes. Also, that such outcomes have been achieved in practice and, where relevant, in academic settings, including abilities to support interprofessional learning. In addition:
(e) Nurses and midwives who have completed an NMC approved teacher preparation programme may record their qualification on the NMC register. Other teaching qualifications may be assessed against the NMC teacher outcomes through the NMC accreditation route.
(NMC, 2008, p16)
There are four stages to the framework and you can enter or exit the framework at any stage, you do not have to achieve one stage to get to the next (apart from stage one which applies to all registered nurses and midwives prior to entering stages 2, 3 or 4). The NMC expects that the majority of nurses and midwives will become a mentor (stage two) and it is likely that most will stop there. Each of the four stages is outlined in Table 2.1.
| Stage | Role | Required if you wish to: | Where recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| One | Nurse or Midwife | Facilitate students and others to develop their competence | N/A |
| Two | Mentor | Support and assess pre-registration nursing/midwifery students | Local Register of Mentors |
| Three | Practice Teacher | Support and assess specialist community public health students | Local Register of Practice Teachers |
| Four | Teacher | Be based in Higher Education and support learning and assessment of students on NMC approved programmes and often a prerequisite for lecturer practitioner/practice educator roles | NMC Register (requires a fee) |
In addition to the developmental framework the NMC standards also introduced some new requirements which we will also look at in this chapter:
• how to become a mentor
• the local register of mentors
• sign-off mentors
• due regard.
Becoming a mentor
In order to become a mentor you need to meet the requirements set out in the standards. This can be achieved in a number of ways depending on whether you already hold a mentor qualification or are about to set out on the path to become a mentor.
Since September 2007 the only route to becoming a mentor is by undertaking an NMC-approved mentor preparation programme delivered by a university. While each university is likely to call their programme by a different name it has to meet specific standards set by the NMC and it has to be approved by the NMC as meeting those standards. Before becoming a mentor you have to have been registered for at least one year. Figure 2.1 is a flow diagram that may help you to determine whether you are a mentor or not.
 |
| Figure 2.1 How to become a mentor |
If you already have a mentor qualification
Mentors who have completed a previously recognized mentorship programme prior to September 2007 can still be mentors as long as they are on the mentor register. Examples of courses which are usually recognized are:
• ENB 997 or 998
• a mentorship course run at your university between April 2002 and August 2007
• City and Guilds 730/7307
• Certificate in Education
• BSc Specialist Practitioner where teaching and assessing was also included.
If none of the above applies to you and you have been acting as a mentor then the NMC advises that you should map your qualification and experience against the current mentor standards and identify if there are any outcomes that your qualification (or the experience you have had as a mentor) have not met. These deficiencies need to be met through continuing professional development. See the end of this chapter for a simple tool to map your qualification and experience against with suggested activities you can undertake to meet any deficiencies.
In July 2009 the NMC advised that after 1 September 2009 if you hold one of the qualifications listed above but have not yet been on a mentor register then you must either undertake an NMC approved mentor preparation programme or demonstrate that you have met the outcomes through the Accreditation of Prior and (Experiential) Learning (AP(E)L) process at a university. This only applies if you have never been entered into a register (e.g. you may have taken a break from nursing or worked abroad or worked in an area that did not take students) and so although you held a mentor qualification you had not been practising as a mentor.
Once you have successfully completed your mentorship programme you must inform your employer so that they can place you on their local register of mentors. At this point you are allowed to mentor students. The NMC does not require you to inform them as it is your employer’s responsibility to hold the register of mentors not the NMCs.
Nurses who are on Part 2 of the NMC register (formerly called Enrolled Nurses) can act as a mentor to a student as long as they have a mentor qualification and are on a mentor register.
The local mentor register
In order to be a mentor you must be entered onto a local register of mentors. It is the responsibility of the placement provider to set up and maintain this register unless they are what the NMC refer to as a small placement provider. A small placement provider would be somewhere like a nursing home or a small independent hospital. In these cases it is the responsibility of the university to maintain the register of mentors. The NMC does not state what information should be kept on the register; however, in Table 2.2 are some of the headings that may be used to compile a local register of mentors and the reasons why they are needed. Don’t worry about due regard and sign-off mentors as we will look at these later in the chapter.
| Headings in Register | Why needed |
|---|---|
| The mentor’s name | |
| Professional qualification(s) | To ensure due regard is applied |
| Mentorship qualification and when obtained | Proof you have met NMC requirements to be entered onto the register |
| Date of last mentor update | All mentors are required by the NMC to update annually |
| Whether a sign-off mentor | Mentors who are also sign-off mentors must be annotated on the register |
| Date of last triennial review | All mentors are required to be reviewed every three years to ensure that they continue to meet the NMC’s requirements |
The reason for a mentor register is to allow both the placement provider and the university to reassure themselves that there are sufficient mentors who meet the NMC requirements as set out in the standards to support the students being placed within each practice placement. The register is shared with the university at least twice a year.
Staying on the live register of mentors
Once on the register you become what the NMC refers to as a live mentor. However, in order to stay a live mentor and therefore remain on the mentor register you are required to meet certain criteria which are:
• to update annually
• to mentor at least two students over a three-year period
• to participate in a triennial review to demonstrate that you continue to meet the NMC’s requirements as set out in the standards.
You have a responsibility to ensure that the person who holds the local register of mentors where you work is kept informed of the following:
• when you attend updates
• what type of update you attended
• any changes that may impact on your role (e.g. taking maternity leave, changing your place of work within the organization) so that they can update the register accordingly.
Stay updated, free articles. Join our Telegram channel
Full access? Get Clinical Tree
