NOPT Consultation on

Practice Educator Professional Standards for Social Work

Dear colleague,

NOPT wishes to continue to support the maintenance of high standards of practice education by undertaking a consultation of NOPT members and of the wider social work community, to find out how the PEPSSW are currently being implemented. We would therefore welcome any comments from yourselves about the implementation of the PEPSSW in your area. (All responses will be anonymised).

We wish to hear any comments or ideas which you feel are relevant but youmay also wish to include comment on the following questions:

  1. What training and assessment opportunities are being offered in your area to develop new practice educators?
  1. What training and assessment opportunities are being offered in your area to help ‘upgrade’ existing practice supervisors and practice educators, in order to meet the Stage 1 and Stage 2 PEPSSW?
  1. What forms of assessment evidence are currently being required in order to demonstrate achievement of Stage 1 and 2 learning outcomes (i.e. completion of assignments, presentations, portfolios, 1, 2 or 3 direct observations etc.)?
  1. Do these assessment requirements appear to be in accordance with the PEPSSW requirements? Are there any inconsistencies?
  1. All PE’s training for Stage 1 or Stage 2, should be supported by a mentor who has already reached stage 2 or equivalent. Is this happening?
  1. Who is currently being employed to undertake the role of assessor or mentor for PE candidates? For example, are they all PTA or GSCC, PQ Higher Specialist Award holders? (N.B. Only those PQ, HSA courses that also meet the PEPS observation of practice assessment requirements are regarded as equivalent to Stage 2).
  1. Is this role being undertaken ‘in house’ by social care agencies themselves?If not, what rate of pay is being offered for independent workers undertaking some or all aspects of the PE assessment and mentoring process?
  1. What pay, or other form of recognition (workload relief or honorarium for example), is being offered for undertaking the specialist role of a PE or of a PE mentor/assessor?
  1. What timescale is currently being adopted for completion of Stage 1 or progression from Stage 1 to Stage 2 (currently expected to be achieved within 3 years)?How is ‘working towards’ the Stage 1 and 2 learning outcomes, currently being interpreted in practice?
  1. What arrangements are currently in place for accreditation of prior learning (APL/ APEL)?
  1. What arrangements are in place for supporting and tracking the Continuing Profession Development (CPD) of practice educators?How will the region ensure that Practice Educators ‘maintain currency’ through taking full responsibility for a social work student at least once in every 2 years?
  1. What region of the country do you currently work in i.e. north east, north west, midlands, south east, south west etc.
  1. If you wish to provide your name and /or email contact please add this here. Also please indicate if you would be interested in receiving further contact from NOPT.

You may also email any comments that you wish to make to .

NOPT will collate the key themes arising nationally and summarise these into a report that can be fedback to NOPT members and accessed via the NOPT website. We hope this will influence future developments for practice education.

The consultation will remain open until the end of December 2013, in order to gather as much feedback as possible.

Many thanks for taking the time to offer your comments and ideas.