The purpose of this accreditation framework is not to award academic credits, but to accredit activities relevant to midwifery practice that midwives have undertaken as part of their professional development/lifelong learning in order to meet their PREP requirements.
This framework will be a benchmark for midwives and providers of continuing professional development (CPD) programmes, which can be used as a marker when considering the hallmarks of an effective programme.
It is anticipated that the programmes accredited by The Royal College of Midwives Trust (RCMT) will:
Organisation
The organisation or team submitting the application for accreditation must provide evidence of their experience of providing CPD for midwives or other professional groups. This would be a profile of the organisation/team, which would include the CV of the course/programme leader. A report of the programme quality assurance mechanisms must be submitted. If the proposed programme is new, then the mechanism for assuring quality must be identified.
The programme should demonstrate through its aims and learning outcomes that there is a commitment to personal and professional development of the individual and thereby enhancement of professional midwifery practice.
The rationale or core theme of the programme should be clearly identified. It should demonstrate robust links between education and practice and be relevant to midwifery practice.
The length of the programme and the number of proposed hours of study/development must be clearly identified.
The designation of speakers on the programme should be specified and where appropriate include at least one midwife.
The focus of quality assurance of the programme should be the learning experience of the participant. This would be evidenced through the information collated from course leader and participant evaluation. To this end each programme must provide evidence of a robust evaluation strategy that highlights the implications of the programme for practice and the personal development of the participant.
Participants
The reflection and development activities of the participants must be clearly identified.
Setting personal objectives or encouragement for course participants to continue their professional education should be indicated.
If participants are to be selected for the programmes a copy of the selection criteria should be submitted.
Programmes which are planned with an inter-professional focus ideally should have a minimum of 25% midwives.
Institutions/ teams applying to have their programmes accredited will be required to submit the following:
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Name and address of the organisation/team;
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Name and job titles of the programme leader/co-ordination team;
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Content, structure and organisation of the proposed CPD programme;
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The aim and learning outcomes of the proposed programme;
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An outline of teaching and learning strategies;
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Evidence of internal and external quality assurance;
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Proposed date/s of the programme;
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Evidence of relevance to midwifery practice;
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Financial arrangements e.g. funding/sponsorship/cost.
The RCMT Accreditation Board will review the information supplied.
A fee is levied for accreditation. The fee takes into consideration the type and size of organization applying for accreditation.
For further information, please contact Gail Johnson.
The RCMT Accreditation Board will be responsible for the quality assurance of the accreditation process.
The Board will review the applications and match them against the criteria for accreditation.
Accreditation of a programme will be for a maximum of three years.
Each accredited programme will submit an annual report, which reflects the participants experience through the course evaluations and the course leader report.
Individual members of the Accreditation Board will during the period of a programme’s accreditation observe the programme delivery.
The Accreditation Board will keep records of all of its meetings, which will be open to scrutiny.
Accreditation will be withdrawn from an organisation or team if at any period during the three years they the fall outside the criteria agreed for granting of RCMT accreditation.
A list of the courses accredited by the RCMT will be placed on the RCM website and in the RCM Midwives Journal.
Providers of accredited programmes will not be able to use any of the RCM logos, but will be able to State that the programme had been accredited by RCM.
A database of all accredited programmes will be kept by the RCMT.
Aim of the Accreditation Board
The board is to quality assure all programmes which are accredited through RCMT Professional Development/ Lifelong learning process.
Key tasks
The key tasks are:
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To review all programmes submitted for accreditation;
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To recommend a programme for accreditation after the review;
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To monitor the quality of the programmes during their period of accreditation;
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To bring to the attention of the RCMT programmes which are inappropriately claiming RCMT Professional Development Accreditation.
Membership of the Accreditation Board
The Accreditation Board will be made up of the following members:
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An LSA officer;
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A supervisor of midwives;
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Two clinical midwives;
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A head of midwifery services;
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An educationalist from an Higher Education Institution (HEI);
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A member of RCM Council;
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An educationalist from the RCM Trust.
The Board may have co-opted members if an area of special expertise is required.
Staffing
The staff of the Learning, Research and Professional Development Department of the RCM will service the Board.
Meetings
The Board will meet four times per year.
If a programme is submitted for accreditation, which is a once-only event in between meetings, an electronic review will take place. The Chair of the Board will notify the servicing secretary to the Board of the decision. The decision will be on the agenda of the next meeting so that the process and the outcome are documented.
Reporting
The Accreditation Board will produce an annual report, which will presented to the Board of Trustees of the RCM Trust and to Council of the RCM through the General Secretary.
For further information contact Gail Johnson by email (gail.johnson@rcm.org.uk) or phone (020 7312 3466).
