Tripartite assessment of learners during practice placements in midwifery pre‐registration programmes

Purpose – The School of Nursing and Midwifery at De Montfort University has been consistently successful in producing student midwives who are, by the end of their chosen programme, fit for practice, purpose and award according to the DMU. This paper aims to investigate this claim.Design/methodology/approach – The paper looks at De Montfort University where an innovative tripartite assessment process has been developed to support midwifery students in practice. This involves the student, his/her personal tutor and his/her clinical midwife mentor. All three are involved in the planning of appropriate learning experiences to facilitate the student in meeting the clinical learning outcomes, utilising a personal professional portfolio.Findings – The paper finds that the close working relationships between the placement providers and the university have improved the assessment of practice and enhanced the student experience. Clinical midwife mentors have commented on how well the tripartite approach works and ...