All learning experiences should preserve the safety of people within them, including anyone receiving care, and students.
Learning experiences should enable students to meet their learning outcomes, achieve proficiency and work towards becoming independent, reflective practitioners within their chosen profession or area of practice.
The AEI, with its practice learning partners, is responsible for ensuring that students are provided with a range of learning opportunities and placements and that the ‘right’ learning is delivered across environments, including simulated practice learning environments.
Organising learning opportunities
Learning opportunities for students should be varied, giving them a chance to learn in different settings, caring for people with diverse needs. This may include, and is not limited to, learning opportunities within less traditional settings such as a research environment, care homes, nursing homes, food banks, schools, industrial settings or the prison service.
Learning can be organised in lots of different ways, for example, group or one to one supervised learning, providing direct care, simulated activity, shadowing and independent or self-directed outcomes focused learning.
Learning opportunities should be tailored to the student’s learning needs, their position within their programme, their learning outcomes, and any student needs including reasonable adjustments. More information can be found on this in the sections on practice supervision, indirect supervision and learning environments and experiences.
Providing opportunities to empower students
Students should also be given the opportunity to negotiate and collaboratively plan their own learning where possible, guiding their learning and identifying what is needed. When students are given these opportunities, the AEI with its practice learning partners, must consider, assess and mange or mitigate where required any risks in order to ensure the safety of people. This includes the student’s level of skill and competence, the activity, and the environment in which it is taking place.
Feedback and handover are also important aspects of a learning experience. Students must be given opportunities to challenge and improve their own practice and behaviour. They should receive constructive and timely feedback that is based on evidence and clearly identified outcomes. Practice supervisors and other professionals supporting students in practice must provide a clearly recorded handover to provide enough information for colleagues to provide continued support to students.
Student also have a responsibility to take advantage of the varied learning opportunities within and across environments, in order to work towards becoming a safe and independent practitioner. They should be empowered to do so by the AEI and their practice learning partners.
