BU Research Blog

Dr Susan Way (CMMPH) and four other collaborating UK universities (Plymouth, Greenwich, Suffolk and Anglia Ruskin) have been researching grading of practice in pre-registration midwifery education. The report is now published and can be viewed via this link

The research, ‘National Grading of Practice in Pre-registration Midwifery Project’ was undertaken on behalf of the Lead Midwife for Education UK Executive – a group of experienced midwives representing the Approved Education Institutions in the UK which deliver midwifery programmes leading to Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) registration. The project sought to identify and remedy some of the variations in grading clinical practice in pre-qualifying midwifery programmes across the UK. The project was set up in such a way that it will have resonance with a variety of healthcare programmes, and the suggested framework and rubrics that were developed have the potential to be transferable.

The research comprised of three phases:

Phase one: scoping study – Fisher M., Bower H., Chenery-Morris S., Jackson J. and Way S., 2017. A scoping study to explore the application and impact of grading practice in pre-registration midwifery programmes across the United Kingdom, Nurse Education in Practice  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2016.01.007

Phase two: development of core principles – Fisher M., Way S., Chenery-Morris S., Jackson J. and Bower H. 2017 Core principles to reduce current variations that exist in grading of midwifery practice in the United Kingdom, Nurse Education in Practice. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2017.02.006

Phase three: developing a set of generic grading criteria (article in progress).

The research team are currently in the process of developing a Practice Assessment Toolkit, drawing from the findings from this study. On completion the toolkit will be uploaded onto the project website.