10. Testing times
Matter for discussion submitted by the RCN Practice Education Forum
That this meeting of RCN Congress discusses alternatives to the continuing assessment of pre-registration students
Report on this discussion
Lynn Tibble bought this matter for discussion, to discuss the alternatives to the continuing assessment of pre-registration students.
Delegates heard that the attrition rate of students leaving courses and those who plagiarise their assignments is on the increase due to the pressure that some students find themselves under as assignment and work placements often collide.
Several delegates called for a more cohesive national assessment or national curriculum to allow students to be able to move around the country more freely and to introduce a national aim. It was argued, that when this has happened in the past, it didn’t work and that as times change, nursing education needs to keep abreast of general feeling within the student community.
Many delegates said that the problem wasn’t actually continuous assessment – in fact there were several calls about the virtues of this way of assessing students, it was more how the continuous assessment was implemented that caused the problem.
In her right to reply, Lynn recognised that the implementation was in fact the issue and concluded by saying “perhaps we’ll get it right one day.”
Background
Pre-registration nursing programmes are made up of 50 per cent theory and 50 per cent practice. As a result, nursing students spend half of their three year pre-registration programme in the practice environment and half within the higher education setting. Assessment takes into account both of these elements; in order to be able to apply for admission to the register held by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), students must satisfactorily meet the assessment requirements in both theory and practice. The NMC is currently taking the lead in a review of pre-registration nursing as one of the priority areas in the UK-wide Modernising nursing careers (Department of Health et al., 2006) consultation.
On the commencement of Project 2000 it became a requirement that all pre-registration courses should be taught and assessed at higher education diploma level. The standards set in 1997 for the approval of higher education institutions and programmes stated that ‘the assessment of learning of theory and practice is a continuous process culminating in the judgment of achievement’ (English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting, 1997). This heralded the move from a more formalised end-of-year examination to the adoption of a much wider range of assessment methods to measure student achievement. Nursing students now undergo continuous assessment over the three year programme. As a result, the completion of assignments may not always be aligned to practice placement or deferred re-sits, and students may be required to submit multiple pieces of work simultaneously. In addition, the definition of continuous assessment is interpreted differently by universities throughout the UK
All health care professionals play a vital role in ensuring that students are capable of functioning as safe and competent practitioners within the care setting until their point of qualification as a registered nurse. Responsibility for assessing students, and ensuring they are fit for purpose and practice as competent registered professionals at the point of exit from the programme, is therefore a shared responsibility.
References and further reading
Department of Health, Scottish Executive, Department of Health Social Services and Public Safety and Welsh Assembly (2006) Modernising nursing careers: setting the direction, London: DH. Available from: www.dh.gov.uk/en/publicationsandstatistics
English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (1997) Standards for the approval of higher education institutions and programmes, London: ENB.
Fordham A (2005) Using a competency based approach in nurse education, Nursing Standard, 19 (31), pp. 41-48.
Nursing and Midwifery Council (2004) Standards of proficiency for pre-registration nursing education, London: NMC. Available from:
www.nmc-uk.org/aArticle.aspx?ArticleID=1658 (accessed 30 January 2008) (Internet).