Our year in registration survey, now in its fourth year, aims to gather insight about how students’ education and training prepares them for practice
It’s important we understand the experiences of those undertaking education and training programmes to become a health and care professional, so we can ensure good quality education in line with our public protection remit. We’re also interested in the experience of new registrants during their first year in practice, so we can contribute to conversations about support.
One of the ways we’re doing this is via our year in registration survey. We asked those who completed UK programmes in 2023 a series of questions and for feedback where improvements could be made of.
Some key insights we gathered from the data are:
- In previous years, ‘supportive’ and ‘challenging’ were the most frequently quoted words respondents reported associating with their programme. This year, the responses have changed. Where ‘supportive’ continues to be a frequently used word, other frequent positive words are ‘thorough’ and ‘valuable’. This is positive because this suggests an improvement in the perceived quality and effectiveness of their programmes.
- Most respondents agreed their programme prepared them for practice (78%).
- Although the respondents (70%) acknowledged the importance of interprofessional education, 8% reported not engaging with other professional groups. This is an area that HCPC will aim to address because this is an essential requirements of delivery of approved programmes.
- There has been an improvement in the number of registrants who reported they had engaged with service users. This is an improvement from the previous three years which suggest that efforts to enhance service user involvement are having a beneficial impact.
- There is a strong consensus (average 80% agreement) among registrants that their practice-based learning effectively supported their development of necessary skills and knowledge for transitioning into professional practice. Respondents reported they were clear about the requirements they need to meet in practice-based learning to progress in their programme. This indicates a positive perception of the programme's structure and its role in preparing students for their professional careers.
- We asked registrants about preceptorship support for the second time in through this survey. The feedback analysis revealed mixed preceptorship experiences, with some respondents feeling supported while others faced challenges due to a lack of structure and support, particularly in the initial months.
- Some respondents felt unsupported, particularly during the initial months, leading to stress and negative impacts on mental health. There were also reports of inconsistent support and training, with some respondents feeling inadequately prepared for their roles. 28% of respondents reported not having a structured learning period on entering practice, which is a 6% improvement from last year’s findings. This shows that there has been an increase in the number of new registrants who received preceptorship support during their transition into practice.
- 27% reported that their preceptorship training period was 1-3 months or less. This echoes the findings of last year’s survey.
- While there is a high level of agreement (67%) among respondents regarding the alignment of academic work with learning objectives, this agreement is slightly lower than in 2023. We noted how challenges in securing adequate staffing for education providers may have contributed to the decline in agreement levels. This suggests that staffing levels within education providers is an area that HCPC needs to continue monitoring.
- We introduced questions about Artificial Intelligence (AI) in this year’s survey. The key findings from our analysis is that many respondents have not have had significant interaction with AI during their studies.
Some limitations to the results include the survey not being compulsory and lower response rates from some professions.
You can read the full report below.
What next?
We have used these findings in our performance review process, where we ask providers to reflect on specific areas. We will continue to seek feedback from those who have completed HCPC-approved programmes, to inform the focus of our quality assurance work in education.
Read the report
Key findings from previous surveys
