MSc Advanced Leadership for Professional Practice (Nursing)

Year of entry: 2025

Course unit details:
Academic Accreditation of Continued Professional Development (CPD)

Course unit fact file
Unit code NURS61450
Credit rating 15
Unit level FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree
Teaching period(s) Variable teaching patterns
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

Participants will be expected to collate and document a clear record of their continued Professional Development (CPD) hours. This is then verified by providing a signature from their manager. They will be required to submit critical reflections on how the ‘Professional Development’ has influenced their professional practice. The reflections will be mapped to the participant's professional code NMC, GMC, HCPC, or Social Work England Standards. The code will be used as a framework in which to position their critical reflection of the CPD activity which needs to be linked to improved patient care or improved staff/student education or support. The reflections will be marked using  FHEQ level 7criteria.  

Aims

This unit aims to

  • Enable any health or social care practitioner to critically reflect and synthesise their experiences and demonstrate their advanced learning and  professional development, equivalent to Masters level competencies. 
  • Promote the practitioner’s ability to demonstrate safe and competent Masters level competence in line with their own professional regulatory body’s code of practice (e.g. NMC, GMC, HCPC).
  • Provide health or social care practitioners with an opportunity to demonstrate their advanced  learning and that their continued professional development and practice experiences have enabled them to improve patient/ service user experience, and/or improve staff and/or student education or support.
  • Provide practitioners with a forum in which to demonstrate their critical, analytical, synthesis and advanced practice-based skills by articulating an academic rationale for why they are able to practice at Masters Level by application of Continued Professional Development into an academic framework.

Teaching and learning methods

Online asynchronous resources

Online synchronous workshops

Workshop one: what's critical reflection and how does this link to your profession code?

Workshop two: how does continued professional development improve our professional practice?

Workshop three: Reflective Account of Practice and mapping exercise

 

One to one assignment support

Knowledge and understanding

  • Recognise and critically discuss the importance of CPD development in accordance with their own Professional Code and Standards.  
  • Critically assess the value of learned information from relevant CPD elements in relation to their own professional practice.
  • Explain how new knowledge and advanced understanding gained from CPD engagement will influence their own future practice.

Intellectual skills

  • Apply critical understanding and original thought to illustrate how professional development is aligned to their own professional code and standards.  
  • Critically evaluate and synthesis their own professional development opportunities and consider how these have positively improved patient/ client experience, and/or improve staff and/or student education/support.
  • Critically appraise and synthesis their own academic and professional performance and consider how this can be further developed.

Practical skills

  • Create and collate a critically reflective record of CPD learning which provides evidence of achievement and advanced knowledge.
  • Apply reflective skills, analysis, and original thought to demonstrate continuing professional development.

Transferable skills and personal qualities

  • Communicate their own ideas effectively within a variety of contexts.  
  • Participate in identification of individual learning needs and develop strategies to meet those needs.
  • Promote independent learning through critically appraising and synthesising the evidence that supports practice.

Assessment methods

Formative draft or critical reflection - 500 words

CPD activity captured and verified by the learner’s manager plus two linked critical reflections - 3500 word equivalent (100%)

Recommended reading

  • Bolton, G. and Delderfield, R. (2018) Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development 5th Ed. London Sage
  • Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). Reflection: Turning experience into learning. London: Kogan Page
  • Moore, T. (2013). Critical thinking: Seven definitions in search of a concept. Studies in Higher Education, 38(4), pp.506-522.
  • Wallace, M., and Wray, A. (2016). Critical reading and writing for postgraduates. London Sage.
  • Wyse, D., and Cowan, K. (2017). The good writing guide for education students. Sage.

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Demonstration 45
eAssessment 30
Tutorials 7
Independent study hours
Independent study 68

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Mark Cole Unit coordinator

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