Academic practice partnerships

This chapter focuses on the kinds of partnerships that help sustain effective clinical learning environments. This is timely, given the increasing emphasis on the importance of partnership working in the UK, with the Nursing and Midwifery Council requiring greater transparency of how all partners work together to prepare learners for registration under new education standards. The chapter highlights some of the factors and processes that influence partnership working for students in practice. Participants in both focus groups highlighted the need for more support for those staff that is responsible for learning and assessment in practice. Academics are seen to bring expertise about the programme content, the students themselves and how to negotiate difficult or challenging issues related to teaching and assessment in practice. The foundation of academic-practice partnerships is effective communication and this will be particularly important with the implementation of the new professional roles for assessment.