MENTOR PASSPORT	
to support the triennial review	
	
This record will provide evidence of the following:	
	I	Mentor Preparation	
	II	Update and Maintenance of mentor Qualifications	
	
	Name:			
	Name of placement area:			
	Trust:			
	Dates:			
	From:		To:			

INTRODUCTION
The role of the clinical is vital in nursing and midwifery education.  Research into mentorship has shown just how much mentors contribute to student learning and development.  Without the continued contribution of mentors the education of new nurses and midwives would cease.  This new Mentor Passport is a step forward in strengthening that role and acknowledging its development towards expertise.
Mentorship happens in practice placements and these are audited annually.  The Practice Placement Audit tool requires mentors to be able to demonstrate evidence of keeping up to date with mentorship issues.  Learning Environment Managers will be required to verify that mentors in their area have demonstrated evidence of updating, which will then be recorded in the live register in the Practice Placement Audit.  This process will happen annually.  Your Mentor Passport will therefore be required for audit purposes: please keep it in a safe place. 
How will a mentor demonstrate evidence of updating on mentorship issues?
By completing their Mentor Passport.
What is the Mentor Passport?
This is a booklet which each mentor will own.  Within the booklet, the mentor will record what she/he has done to keep up to date with mentorship issues for a three year period.  The booklet gives a number of examples of updating activities/opportunities which may be recorded.
To whom will you show the Mentor Passport for verification?
The person will generally be your Learning Environment Manager but each Trust may decide on the appropriate named person(s).
When will you need to do this?
Annually - when the Practice Placement Audit is done.
Triennially - at the triennial review of mentors.
It can also be included for discussion when your professional development review takes place e.g. IPR, PREP.
What kind of record is kept of this in the Practice Placement Audit?
The audit requires the learning environment manager and link lecturer to confirm that all mentors in that clinical area have demonstrated evidence of being updated. This list of mentors forms the Live Register of mentors for that clinical area.  The list is kept within the audit and reviewed annually.

Why do we need to keep the Live Register?
Because the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) stipulates that a live list of mentors who are up to date on mentorship issues should be kept; this list makes up the Live Register.  The NMC will therefore require us to show evidence that we are meeting this stipulation.  The Mentor Passport shows that mentors are maintaining and developing their knowledge, skills and competence as a mentor through regular updating.
EVIDENCE OF MENTOR UPDATING IS ALSO REQUIRED FOR:
Your NMC Revalidation requirements
Evidence of your continuing mentorship development may be recorded as part of 
NMC Revalidation requirements.  You should have discussed these with your manager during your Individual Performance Review process. Your Mentor Passport should be kept within your Professional Profile for future reference.
If we wish to attract high calibre people into nursing and midwifery it is not enough to know that we provide high calibre education.  We must be able to provide evidence of this.  For mentors this means saying how you have prepared for that role, saying how you update yourself and recording that you have done so once per year.
I.	PREPARATION FOR MENTORSHIP
a)	Attendance at approved programmes to obtain the mentor qualification
The following programmes are approved as preparation for mentorship:
•	Mentor Preparation Programme from September 2007
•	Mentor Preparation Programme from September 2001
•	English National Board Course 997/8 (prior to 2001)
Name(s) of course/programme undertaken:	

	
Date of completion:		
b)	Recognition of prior learning
A variety of other courses, study days and work experience also contribute to mentor preparation and qualification.  Examples of these are City and Guilds 730, Vocational Assessor Awards D32 and D33, other teaching modules, mentor study days etc. and work experience.
You should map your prior learning to the new outcomes for mentors and then the placement provider will decide if they meet the requirements and that you can be placed on the local mentor register.  If they decide that they do not then you should request accreditation of prior learning (APEL) against an NMC approved mentor preparation programme, following which you may be required to undertake a shortened preparation programme.  If you are a midwife, you would also need to meet the additional requirements for sign-off mentors.
Approved educational institutions such as Sheffield Hallam University can use their own (APEL) processes to map prior learning from other qualifications or work experience.  You may then be required to undertake any further education identified to ensure that you meet the NMC standard for mentorship.  The nature of such education may be academic, work-based or a combination of both.
If you wish to have any prior learning to be accredited please contact the module leader of the mentor module at Sheffield Hallam University.
II. UPDATE AND MAINTENANCE OF MENTOR QUALIFICATIONS 
Mentors must demonstrate their knowledge, skills and competence on an ongoing basis (NMC 2008:11).  Your mentoring experience and practice will be reviewed every three years (triennial review) to ensure that only those who continue to meet the mentor requirements remain on the local register of mentors (NMC 2008:12).  You must have evidence of having:
1.	Mentored at least two students with due regard (extenuating circumstances permitting) within the three year period
2.	Participated in annual mentor updating
3.	Attended employer's mandatory training
4.	Explored as a group activity the validity and reliability of judgements made when assessing practice in challenging circumstances
5.	Mapped ongoing development in your role against the current NMC standards
The following activities are suggested to assist you to collect the evidence to demonstrate that you have met the requirements of the NMC at the triennial review.
NMC REQUIREMENT	SUGGESTED ACTIVITY FOR COLLECTION OF EVIDENCE	
1.  Mentored two students in three years	Written reflective accounts of mentoring episodes	
2.  Annual updating	Complete one page describing the type of update you have undertaken	
3.  Exploration of assessing practice in challenging circumstances, e.g. a student who is not making expected progress	Written reflective account of the group discussion	
4.  Mapped ongoing development against current NMC standards	The evidence for this can be drawn from your day to day mentoring activities and any activity/activities you carry out for your annual update.  Please use the general mapping tool within the mentor update package.	

The evidence generated from activities 1, 2 and 3 are likely to fulfil the requirements of 4.

1.	The mentoring of two students in three years

As learning from experience is integral to professional development, demonstrate reflective learning in relation to your mentoring experience.

Each year choose an aspect of your mentoring practice which you wish to use in order to demonstrate reflective learning.  You may choose anything that was significant for you.  Examples of this are listed below:

Giving feedback to learner(s); facilitating learning during clinical practice; team mentoring/joint mentoring; developing action plans; problem(s) encountered and how you dealt with them; managing assessment e.g. using a particular assessment method etc.

The learning from this episode of mentoring can be mapped against some of the NMC standards.

Record a reflective account of an episode of mentoring annually.  You may either write on these pages or word process your reflection and insert the extra pages.

Student Cohort 
e.g. BSc September 2014	Dates of Placement 
e.g. 1/9/15 - 3/12/15	Comment 
e.g. 'my reflection on this mentoring experience completed in Mentor Passport' 	

			

			

Record your reflective account annually here:	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

Date:		

Record your reflective account annually here:	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

Date:		

Record your reflective account annually here:	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

	

Date:		

2.	Annual updating
As a mentor you need to be able to demonstrate current working knowledge and understanding of education, learning and assessment matters relating to:
	(a)	Local policies/guidelines
	(b)	National policies/guidelines
a.	Local policies/guidelines
	Any policies/guidelines which relate to:
(i)	the course/programme your learners are undertaking, particularly the assessment documentation which you are required to complete. Whenever modifications are made to this, you need to make sure that you understand the changes made and their implications for student learning and assessment.
(ii)	the role and responsibilities of those who provide direct or indirect support to students, for example, mentor, learning environment manager, link lecturer etc.
(iii)	the Practice Placement Audit.
(iv)	the Placement Charter and Link Lecturer Standards.
b.	National policies/guidelines
	Any policies/guidelines which relate to:
(i)	NMC Standards identifying the hallmarks of a quality practice placement.
(ii)	NMC Standards for mentors.
(iii)	Contemporary research relating to mentorship and the student experience, particularly those studies which include recommendations for practice in this area.
The following are examples of activities which should enable you to update your knowledge of local and national policies/guidelines.
Each year attend a ‘Mentor Update’ Session
These may take the form of:
•	an arranged group session facilitated by the Link Lecturer, Learning Environment Manager, Practice Learning Facilitator or equivalent
•	a one-to-one discussion with any of the above where local or national issues (or both) around mentorship and student support are explored
If the session/discussion you attend covers only local issues e.g. the students curriculum, you can use materials available from the Sheffield Hallam University Placement Information website and the NMC to ‘top up’ on the national issues guidelines which are also central to good practice. 
The following pages allow you to record annual evidence of updating.  This evidence can be mapped against some of the NMC standards.

Date:		
Type of update chosen: (delete where applicable)	
Either	1.	Attendance at a 'Mentor Update' facilitated by			
Or	2.	Reading/study of the Mentor Update Package			
Learning outcomes gained from the update	
	
Reflect on how the above will affect your practice as a mentor	
	
Signature of Facilitator of Mentor Update:			
Date:			
			
If updating via Mentor Update Package:			
Signature of Learning Environment Manager:			
Date:			

Date:		
Type of update chosen: (delete where applicable)	
Either	1.	Attendance at a 'Mentor Update' facilitated by			
Or	2.	Reading/study of the Mentor Update Package			
Learning outcomes gained from the update	
	
Reflect on how the above will affect your practice as a mentor	
	
Signature of Facilitator of Mentor Update:			
Date:			
			
If updating via Mentor Update Package:			
Signature of Learning Environment Manager:			
Date:			

3.	Exploration of assessing practice in challenging circumstances
This session may be convened and facilitated by any mentor.  The evidence of learning from this may be mapped against some of the NMC standards.
Name of person facilitating the session:			
Signature:			
Date:			
			
Give a brief description of the challenging circumstances	
	
How could validity of assessment have been affected?
What measures were proposed to achieve validity?	
	
How could reliability of assessment have been affected?
What measures were proposed to achieve validity?	

4.	Mapping of ongoing development against current NMC standards
The evidence for this can be drawn from your day-to-day mentoring activities and any of the activity/activities you have carried out in 1 to 3 above.
Please use the general mapping tool in the mentor update package.