- An undergraduate course
in
Health and Social Care.
Mentorship and assessment in health and social care settings
- On this page
| Course facts | |
|---|---|
| About this course: | |
| Course code | K320 |
| Credits | 30 |
| OU Level | 3 |
| SCQF level | 10 |
| FHEQ level | 6 |
| Course work includes: | |
| 2 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| End-of-module assessment | |
| No residential school | |
This interprofessional mentorship course is for practitioners who support and assess learners in practice in health and/or social care settings. It will enable you to become a credible, effective, valued supporter of learning and an assessor of achievement in practice. You’ll undertake activities to develop mentoring commitment, confidence and competence – drawing directly on your own experience. You’ll need access to an appropriate practitioner to support your learning in practice.
Allied Health Professionals registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) will find this course particularly useful with its focus on professional portfolio development. This course is Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) approved (2012).
Modules at Level 3 assume that you are suitably prepared for study at this level. If you want to take a single module to satisfy your career development needs or pursue particular interests, you don’t need to start at Level 1 but you do need to have adequately prepared yourself for OU study in some other way. Check with our Student Registration & Enquiry Service to make sure that you are sufficiently prepared.
Register for the course
What you will study
The study materials use case studies and audio recordings of learners, practitioners and educators to illustrate the role of mentorship in supporting learning and performing assessment in health and social care environments. Toolkits help you to enhance your skills and knowledge in your evolving role as a mentor.
The learning activities relate the study materials to your practice to further develop understanding of educational issues of mentorship and experience of mentoring practice. The majority of the learning activities are to be completed in practice so you need to ensure you have access to students and/or colleagues who are in a learning situation. It is these practice activities that make up the five days protected learning time, these are clearly marked in the module material.
Online forums provide the opportunity to reflect on your experiences of mentoring and receive peer and tutor support. You will consider the effects of national and organisational policies and critically analyse standards underpinning mentoring practice.
The course is structured around three study blocks:
Block 1 Getting your Bearings enables you to examine the complexity and context of mentoring in practice. The activities direct you to critically evaluate your workplace as a learning environment that supports mentorship. It explores mentorship from the perspective of learners and discusses strategies to promote effective mentoring practice.
Block 2 Trying Things Out requires you to identify your mentorship learning needs and then put in place a development plan to direct your individual progress through the course. You will examine facilitation of learning and plan how learners can develop in practice and utilise the portfolio approach to learning. You will explore ‘teachable’, ‘assessable’ and ‘learning’ situations in practice, appropriate for learners.
Block 3 The Bigger Picture directs you to analyse the context and complexity of mentorship from a range of perspectives. This block addresses quality assurance, fitness for practice and assessment as an educo-legal process.
You will learn
When you have successfully completed the course, you will be able to:
- discuss teaching strategies and methods to facilitate learners to integrate learning from both academic and practice experiences
- apply the principles and methods of assessment to practice-based learning
- evaluate the values and ethical principles that underpin mentorship and assessment in health and social care settings
- critically analyse the practice environment to evaluate the opportunities for, and constraints on, effective support of learning and assessment in practice
- critically examine and plan ‘teachable’, ‘assessable’ and ‘learning’ situations in practice appropriate for individual learners
- analyse how mentorship and assessment are influenced by context
- select and evaluate theoretical concepts and evidence from different sources to present critical discussion, and apply these to mentorship and assessment practice
- develop and apply information literacy and ICT skills to identify, search for, critically evaluate and discuss information in complex contexts
- use a reflective approach to develop your practice through the identification of your learning needs, and evaluation of a personal development plan
- identify and evaluate the sources of support and feedback for mentorship
- critically reflect on establishing effective working relationships in practice to support mentorship
- recognise, record and communicate the skills and knowledge needed to achieve professional growth, personal development and accountability through mentorship and assessment
- engage in and reflect upon evaluation of learning of self, peers and learners to facilitate personal development, and contribute to the development of others
- nurses and midwives registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) will have the opportunity to rehearse supervised sign-off mentor skills on two occasions as per the NMC (2010) circular. The final supervised sign-off must be in practice with a real student on an NMC approved programme.
To ensure relevant statutory and professional body standards for mentorship and practice-based learning are addressed, this course has been mapped against the:
- NMC’s Standards to support learning and assessment in practice (2008) for mentors.
- College of Operating Department Practitioner ‘Standards, guidance and recommendations for mentors and practice placements’ (2009).
The K320 team monitor the external environment for emerging educo-legal requirements to ensure the module remains current.
Vocational relevance
The course emphasises the mentor’s integral and accountable role in the education, supervision and assessment of learners in health and social care settings.
The study materials enable you to critically evaluate mentorship in your practice setting from personal, organisational and practice contexts.
Entry
This is a Level 3 course. Level 3 courses build on study skills and subject knowledge acquired from studies at Levels 1 and 2. Study at Level 2 would put you in a strong position to enjoy the course and rise to its challenges through the study skills you have already developed. Its academic content engages you in your practice.
The Open University requires that NMC nurses or midwives seeking entry to their local mentor database/register demonstrate compliance with the NMC’s standards for Supporting Learning and Assessment in Practice (2008) by identifying themselves and stating which part of the register they are on. If you are a nurse or midwife you must have been on the NMC register for at least one year prior to starting this course.
All students must have access to a suitably qualified mentor to assess their practice against a set of competencies adapted from the NMC Supporting Learning and Assessment in Practice (2008).
If you are a nurse or midwife, the suitably qualified mentor must be an NMC registrant who has completed an NMC approved mentor qualification, has completed an update in the last year and has been subject to a triennial review. This mentor must be on the same part of the register as the student that they are supporting. You must also have access to learners within an audited environment undertaking NMC approved programmes.
If you are a NMC nurse/registrant or midwife, you must demonstrate competence and complete five days’ protected learning negotiated with your employer during the course.
If you are a midwife you will have achieved three opportunities to sign off midwifery competencies and if you are undertaking mentor preparation courses, you are also required to achieve sign-off mentor status by the end of the course.
These requirements will be verified by the qualified mentor that supports you in practice.
If you are not a nurse or midwife we recommended that you have access to learners from your own profession or from other professions.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Preparatory work
You will receive guidance of how to get started online in your first course mailing. This will provide you with information on using your computer for OU study and working with the Computing Guide. For example, it explains how to access and use your website and online discussion forums. If you have time before the course starts, you can work through this and explore all the online services available to you.
Regulations
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the Module Regulations and the Student Regulations which are available on our Essential documents website.
If you have a disability
Written transcripts of any audio components and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of printed material are available. Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader. Other alternative formats of the study materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
If you have particular study requirements please tell us as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Visit our Services for disabled students website for more information, including:
- help to determine your study requirements and how to request the support that you need
- Disabled Students' Allowances (DSAs)
- using a computer for OU study
- equipment and other support services that we offer
- examination arrangements
- how to contact us for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Study materials
What's included
Course books, other printed materials, audio CD. There are online tutor-group discussion forums where you can discuss course content and your student mentoring experiences as well as receive support.
You will have access to a website through which teaching and Library resources are available. Electronic versions of most of the printed study materials are also provided on the website.
You will need
A CD player.
Computing requirements
You will need a computer with internet access to study this course as it includes online activities, which you can access using a web browser.
- If you have purchased a new desktop or laptop computer since 2007 you should have no problems completing the online activities.
- If you’ve got a netbook, tablet or other mobile computing device check our Technical requirements section.
- If you use an Apple Mac you will need OS X 10.6 or later.
You can also visit the Technical requirements section for further computing information including the details of the support we provide.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who marks and provides detailed feedback on your written work (tutor-marked assignments (TMAs)) to support the development of your mentoring practice and is available online, or by phone, for advice and guidance. Your tutor has a group of about 16 students and participates in online discussion with the group, including online tutorials about study topics and how to study successfully.
Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.
You must also use the online eTMA system to submit Part 1 of the end-of-module assessment (EMA). Part 2 requires you to complete a Record of Achievement form, signed and verified by your mentor in practice and submitted in hard copy to the University.
Professional recognition
This course responds to the changing external context of professional standards in mentorship and assessment of learners in health and social care settings. The course is NMC approved and meets its Standards to support learning and assessment in practice (2008) for mentors.
It is the responsibility of nurses and midwives to meet the conditions specified in the Entry section in order to seek recognition as a mentor. Fulfilling these conditions is a requirement from the NMC and you will not be able to successfully complete this course and seek entry to your local mentor register if these are not met. Should you claim that you are a qualified mentor without fulfilling the requirements of the course you would be in contravention of the NMC Code (2008).
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in October 2013. We expect it to be available once a year, in October.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button.
Student Reviews
“I found Mentoring an interesting course to participate in, although was foiled by personal misgivings as to my own suitability ...”
Read more
Distance learning
The Open University is the world’s leading provider of flexible, high quality distance learning. Unlike other universities we are not campus based. You will study in a flexible way that works for you whether you’re at home, at work or on the move. As an OU student you’ll be supported throughout your studies – your tutor or study adviser will guide and advise you, offer detailed feedback on your assignments, and help with any study issues. Tuition might be in face-to-face groups, via online tutorials, or by phone.
For more information read Distance learning explained.
Undergraduate
| Course facts | |
|---|---|
| About this course: | |
| Course code | K320 |
| Credits | 30 |
| OU Level | 3 |
| SCQF level | 10 |
| FHEQ level | 6 |
| Course work includes: | |
| 2 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| End-of-module assessment | |
| No residential school | |
Your questions
Try our frequently asked questions.
Come and meet us at an event near you.
Or contact an adviser by Email or call +44(0) 845 300 60 90 +44(0) 845 366 60 35
Get a prospectus
Download ororder
Share
This PageThe University wishes to emphasise that, while every effort is made to regularly update this site, the material on it is subject to alteration or amendment in the light of changes in regulations or in policy or of financial or other necessity.