You are assessed in two ways.
These two assessment methods have been designed to complement each other and give a broader picture of your ability.
The theory behind assessment in the pre-registration year is broadly based on Miller’s Triangle, which is used to describe levels of competence. It starts at the bottom and works upwards, and every step is a building block towards the next level.
Level 1: The first level is ‘knows’, or demonstrating that you know something.
Level 2: The next level is ‘knows how’, or applying your knowledge to show that you know what it is for. So ‘knows how’ is tested in written examinations such as tests in MPharm or OSPAP courses.
Level 3: The next level is ‘shows how’, that is, you should be able to show how something is done. This is often in a simulated environment such as a classroom.
Level 4: The last level in the process is ‘does’, when you have moved beyond ‘showing how’ to ‘doing’. You are able to routinely do it in a reliable and safe way in a real environment such as a pharmacy.
An example of this process is dispensing. As a pre-registration pharmacist, you will have already completed the first two stages. You will begin at level 3 able to ‘show how’ to dispense a prescription. But this may have been on a limited number of occasions in pharmacy practice classes or in an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE).
Your pre-registration year really focuses on this last step in the process, progressing from ‘shows how’ to ‘does’ – from the classroom to the real world. Under supervision as a trainee, you will be expected to repeatedly, accurately and safely dispense in a pharmacy.
The earlier steps are often based on logic and are easy to plan. But this last step demands thorough analysis of how you can incorporate a skill into an everyday situation and remain able to reflect on it as a learning experience. The ‘does’ situations are real, time pressured and can be complex.
Don’t worry if you only have a handful of the performance standards signed off at the week-13 stage. It is likely that your tutor will be monitoring your performance for both consistency and your ability to adapt your skills and behaviours appropriately to a range of different situations.
Your tutor will still sign your progress report as satisfactory if you have met their expectations for this stage of training.
If you do get an unsatisfactory progress report at any stage you should:
The performance standards are a list of 76 performance outcomes which must be signed off by your pre-registration tutor.
There are three units of performance standards, covering:
The standards are statements of what the GPhC expects you to be able to do and how you should behave if you are to register as a pharmacist. You must meet the standards consistently in order to be assessed as competent in them.
You will find more information in the Performance standards section.
These are the outcomes that pre-registration trainees are expected to either know how to do, show how to do, or do competently to meet the level expected of a newly-registered pharmacist. They are linked to the units of the performance standard that they are most likely to demonstrate, but they may apply to other units too. You will find the outcomes (from section 10 of the education standards) in the Performance standards section.
Performance standards have to be met ‘in an appropriate way’ or ‘appropriately’. Your pre-registration tutor is responsible for using their professional judgement to decide whether a particular action or behaviour is acceptable.
If you do not meet a standard to the satisfaction of your tutor, they should explain to you why this is so. If you don’t understand or agree with their evaluation, you should ask them for more information.
You should develop your competence by:
We encourage you to keep a learning log of daily activities and significant events. You can use this later to create:
See the section below on recording your progress for more information.
Satisfactorily performing an activity just once is unlikely to prove your competence. You must demonstrate your competence consistently, in a variety of circumstances, to the standard expected of a newly registered pharmacist.
Your tutor is responsible for judging whether you have reached the necessary level of competence. This judgement should be evidence based and not a subjective decision. It should be supported by written and observed examples. If you do not agree with a judgement, ask your tutor for specific examples of your practice to clarify why they made it.
Your tutor should also assess whether you have the knowledge that you will need to demonstrate in the registration assessment, as you will need to have this knowledge to practise competently. This is part of the ongoing monitoring of your performance and should be done by open questioning such as:
Once you have achieved a performance standard to the level required of a newly registered pharmacist, your tutor can sign it off. They do this on the assessment summary form.
Once you have achieved a standard you no longer need to collect evidence about it. But you will still be expected to demonstrate competence in practice. Your tutor may, if they have a good reason, reverse their decision if your performance becomes unsatisfactory in a performance standard you have already achieved.
If you have more than one tutor during your training, the expectations of each tutor could be different- which could lead to different opinions of your overall performance.
The tutor who signs off your final declaration ultimately takes responsibility for the overall decision that you are competent.
If you change tutors during the year, it is reasonable for a new tutor to ask you to provide further evidence to confirm that you meet any standards that have previously been signed off. This will help to make sure that they are able to make an informed decision.
Where there is a joint tutoring arrangement in place, or a planned handover of responsibility, we would expect the tutors to communicate with each other to inform their assessment decisions.
Feedback tells you how you are progressing. It can be good motivation to focus on things you have performed well. It can also be developmental – getting feedback about what you need to achieve or something that you need to improve. It may be an area that needs you to take ownership of tasks and decision-making processes.
As part of a constructive feedback process you should remember the following:
Most of these ideas depend on you and your tutor working together, so you both need to be committed to them. If you feel something isn’t happening in the way it should, be sure to talk to your tutor about it.
When issues crop up in the workplace, it is important that you try to sort these out locally and as soon as you can. However difficult a problem may seem, the experience of recognising, managing and resolving it can benefit you. It will help you develop the skills to manage the difficulties that you are bound to face during your future practice. You can manage and resolve problems between you and your tutor, and benefit from the experience.
If you feel a problem between you and your tutor is impossible for you to solve, you should first try to get help from a more experienced colleague or a senior manager. If there is a pre-registration manager, ask them for guidance. In some organisations you can get support from the regional or national pre-registration coordinators. It is important to tell them about any significant issues.
Performance standards A3.1 to A3.5 say you must demonstrate your competence in defining problems, and evaluating options to resolve or manage them. This does not only mean managing problems relating to patient care. Skills in this area apply in other circumstances too.
Problems with your personal training can be complicated, as they may have several causes. It is therefore important for you to define the elements of your problem. Often, the problem can be mainly about employment issues that the GPhC (as the pharmacy regulator) can’t help with. But there are several organisations that will be able to help you with these types of problem.
Once you have planned how to deal with the employment aspects of your problem, you should consider any other aspects. Then see our guidance to help you decide whether it is appropriate to raise a concern with us.
If you would like to discuss an issue further, you can email a pre-registration training facilitator at prereg@pharmacyregulation.org.
You should produce a portfolio of evidence throughout your training period which includes copies of all your documentation and evidence to support your performance. We recommend you use the revalidation CPD recording resources on the main GPhC website, to help you prepare for future practice.
It is very important to keep an up-to-date working portfolio. If you had an unexpected change of circumstances, such as a period of absence or a move to a different training site, it would help you continue your training ‘seamlessly’.
We do not specify how much evidence you need to meet the satisfactory level of competence. Mainly, it is the quality not the quantity of the evidence that is most important. However, one piece of evidence would rarely be enough to demonstrate competence. There are some exceptions to this – for example, the first-aid certificate you need to achieve performance standard C2.10.
One piece of evidence might apply to several of the performance standards, and we expect this to be documented in the written evidence.
Make sure you can justify, if challenged, why you consider that the evidence demonstrates competence against the standards claimed. If a piece of evidence clearly demonstrates competence against standards that you may not have considered, your tutor should point this out to you.
As well as having your regular discussions, you and your tutor must carry out a formal progress review every 13 weeks. You must then fill in a progress report form. Your assessment summary should also be updated to show how much progress you have made towards demonstrating the performance standards.
Progress must be assessed as ‘satisfactory’ or ‘unsatisfactory’.
You should then agree an action plan for the next period of your training, based on:
If you cannot carry out your progress reviews at, or near, the time they are due, you should tell us. If the week-39 report cannot be done on time please contact us.
If you have a split, joint or sandwich placement, your final declaration must be signed at the end of that placement, at 26 weeks before you leave. This will tell us when you apply to register that your training at that site has been completed successfully. You can send us a change of training details form once you have started your second six-month placement, to ensure that we have the correct address for you.
You and your tutor should keep copies of all your reports as we may ask for them at any time. If your progress report is unsatisfactory at the 13- or 26-week stage, you must send it to us when it is completed. If your report is unsatisfactory please see section 5.2. of the manual.
Your tutor will make a final assessment of your competence via myGPhC. You can request that your tutor completes your final declaration from week 49 of your training, through your myGPhC account.
This form overrides all your other progress reports. When it is signed off, the GPhC knows that the tutor has decided you are ready to start work as a newly qualified pharmacist.
If you have more than one tutor, the tutor who signs off your final declaration takes ultimate responsibility for that decision.
Once the tutor signs the declaration, they are not able to revoke it. We expect that if one of the joint tutors has concerns about your performance, they discuss this with the other tutor, and that they both agree the most appropriate outcome before completing the declaration.
We would expect your tutor(s) to consider whether they think:
Tutors and trainees should always document any performance issues that have arisen throughout the year, as well as the meetings about them and actions taken to improve performance.
If a trainee has not met all the performance standards because of problems or slow progress and needs to have an extension to their training, this should have been identified and discussed before their entry to the registration assessment. You should also have told us about the proposed revised finish date using a change of training details form
Training can continue at the site for the length of time needed to achieve the required standard. But this needs to take into account the eight-year time limit from entry into the MPharm degree, or four years for OSPAP qualifications.
If an employer cannot extend the training period and the trainee has to relocate, they will usually need to spend at least six months in the new placement.
There are various types of observed evidence. Here are some examples:
This is when you take a formal assessment at the end of a set activity. This should be planned in advance and it assesses learning by awarding marks or – in this context – whether performance standards are signed off.
Examples could include:
This is when you take part in a reflective process, involving feedback, that assesses a set activity. It should be used as a platform for you to highlight good practice or areas for improvement.
Examples could include:
This is when you make an observation of a hypothetical situation. It could be based on an issue you have previously managed in practice, an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) or a role play during a study day.
Examples could include:
There are various types of written evidence. Here are some examples:
CPD entry – Continuing professional development is a key part of revalidation, which pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must carry out as part of their registration requirements. It helps them to keep their professional skills and knowledge up to date, to reflect on how to improve and to show how they provide the safe and effective care that patients and the public expect. There is more information about revalidation on our main website, and you can download forms (with guidance) to record CPD entries and share them with your tutor.
Witnessed accounts – You can write an account of how you carried out a task or managed a situation. You can have this verified by a witness that was present at the time, but who does not have responsibility for training or supervising your practice. A witnessed account can also be in the form of patient feedback.
Projects and assignments in the workplace – A classic example of this is that all trainees have to successfully engage in a quality-improvement process if they are to meet performance standard A4.8. Accredited certificates for internal and external learning events or a first-aid certificate would come into this category.
Documented workplace assessments – Examples could include:
These can be excellent examples for you to demonstrate when you have identified a clinical issue such as a drug interaction, and also allow you to write up how you resolved the issue.