Supporting Education and Learning in Practice Award

Nominees for the Supporting Education and Learning in Practice Award will be a Registered Nurse or Registered Midwife who has successfully attained the required preparation for supervisors and assessors in practice, and have been recognised as an outstanding supervisor and/or assessor/practice education facilitator in their field of practice. 

As a profession, nurses and midwives accept the responsibility for assuring the competence of its workforce to protect public safety, and the supervisor and assessor plays a central role as a gatekeeper in this process. Nursing students spend 50% and midwifery students spend between 50% and 60% of their programme learning in practice settings and it is therefore vital that they are appropriately supported.

About the Award:  This award will be made to an outstanding Registered Nurse or Registered Midwife who demonstrates an innate understanding of the importance of effective supervision and assessment of students, supporting high quality learning environments, acts as a role model to and invests in existing and aspiring supervisors/assessors, and who builds and maintains relationships to enable and support this essential role. The successful nominee will demonstrate innovative approaches to the supervisors/assessor role, promote new and/or refined models of supervision/assessment, disseminating innovative practice whilst overall contributing to developing leadership and an organisational culture to support practice-based education. 

Who can be nominated?

Nominees for the Supporting Education and Learning in Practice Award will be a Registered Nurse or Registered Midwife who has successfully attained the required preparation for supervisors and assessors.

Diversity in nominees is encouraged to reflect the workforce in Wales.

Criteria

• Able to demonstrate that their work is commensurate with national policy and strategy within health and social care
• Through effective leadership can demonstrate a positive contribution to an innovative development that has made a difference to those receiving supervision and assessment and therefore, people receiving care
• Use of a credible evidence-base and / or are developing an evidence base to under pin their work for the project for which they are being nominated
• Able to demonstrate a safe governance framework for the service or innovation being described for which they are being nominated
• Able to clearly demonstrate the benefits the work has had for patients, clients, families and colleagues
• Through service evaluation, patient involvement and / or other means, is able to demonstrate a positive impact 
• Show commitment to and passion for the nursing or midwifery profession, going the “extra mile” demonstrating a “can do” positive attitude
• Able to demonstrate a positive impact on the clinical practice, confidence and professionalism of the individual being supervised/ assessed.

What makes a winning entry? - top tips to make you nomination stand out from the crowd!

Please read the nomination guidance note before beginning your submission. 

We also have short video guides available: The Basics; Making your application shine; and Patient nominations. You can watch all guidance videos on our RCN Wales Youtube Channel

• Tell us why you are nominating this person by using the full 500-word limit for your submission. The more detailed you are the better so make full use of the word count given to you!
• Start with their success: What’s the headline? What are you proud of? Start with the attention-grabbing success to hook the judges immediately 
• When writing your 500 words, please refer to the award criteria for the category you are nominating for and hit each point mentioned by providing solid evidence. that way, you’ll increase your chances of your nomination being shortlisted!
• Please tell us specifically how your nominee has gone over and above the requirements of their role, and/or how they have made significant contributions to their field of work.
• Lastly but not least, check your spelling and grammar! Professionalism and care are equally as important in your nominations! Spell out any acronyms to be as clear to the judges as possible, don’t make any assumptions that they know what you’re talking about!

We also encourage patient nominations; we want to hear about how your experience of excellent nursing care has touched your lives. This could be yourself, a family member or someone who is making a difference in your local community!  Contact RCN Wales if you would like help in choosing a category to nominate. NurseoftheYearAwards@rcn.org.uk

Diversity in nominees is encouraged to reflect the workforce in Wales across all areas of nursing; Independent Health and Social Care Sector, Third Sector, NHS, or Local Authority.