The Principles

1. Selection

1.1  Selection should be for the profession of pharmacy, in all its aspects.

1.2  Selection criteria should be fit for purpose, proportional, inclusive and facilitate equal opportunities

1.3  Education providers should publish information about their admission procedures, including guidance about the basis on which places will be offered and details of selection criteria and processes

1.4  Those responsible for selection should have an appropriate range of expertise and knowledge. All those involved in selecting applicants should be trained to apply guidelines about entry requirements consistently and fairly and to follow best practice.

2. Curriculum

2.1  The purpose of pharmacy education is to produce capable professional practitioners and, to this end, should be capability based

2.2  Curricula should allow students to achieve the learning objectives set

2.3  Pharmacy education must accept the permanence of change, therefore
curricula and delivery should be flexible and fit for purpose

2.4  Learning objectives must be subject to regular updating and should reflect advances and developments in pharmacy practice, pharmaceutical science and the needs of patients, the public and society

2.5  The culture of continuing professional development should be embedded in all pharmacy education

2.6  Explicit learning objectives should be set for education so that it is clear what is required of those undertaking education in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values

2.7  Where applicable these objectives should be appropriate for changes to registration status, such as initial registration or annotation of specialist or advanced practice status

2.8  The methods used to set goals should be transparent, in the public domain and developed with appropriate input from practitioners, patients and the public.

3. Assessment
3.1  Assessments should evaluate capability and should use an appropriate diet of methods

3.2  The diet should be designed to assess the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that contribute to capability

3.3  Assessments should take the needs of patients and the public into account
3.4  Assessments should be appropriate in content and approach, be valid, reliable, evidence-based and must benchmark well against best practice in other settings and other countries
3.5  Those carrying out assessments should be fully trained, capable and fit for purpose, and should receive regular feedback on their capability
3.6  There should be processes in place to allow those being assessed to give feedback and to appeal.

4. Fitness to practise
4.1  Those engaged in pharmacy education should be fit to practise
4.2  Fitness to practise should be assured by providers of education and to that end they should have procedures to:
• identify as early as possible those whose performance, conduct or health may put patients, colleagues or themselves at risk
• provide those being trained with advice, extra training and support as and when appropriate
• take steps to prevent unsuitable people from progressing to the next stage towards becoming a registrant, or, if already registrants, to notify the Society of any fitness to practise concerns
4.3  The Society has a role to play in supporting providers of education as they exercise their role as assurers of fitness to practise.

5. Teaching
5.1  All registered pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are required under the Society’s Code of Ethics to support colleagues and students in developing their professional capability in a manner appropriate to their circumstances
5.2  Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians with responsibilities for teaching (in its broadest sense), providing supervision and mentoring should gain and develop appropriate knowledge, skills, attitudes and values which underpin those roles
5.3  Teaching should take the needs of patients and the public into account.

6. Resources
6.1  Education programmes must be appropriately resourced to enable those undertaking them to achieve their learning objectives
6.2  People are just as important as financial and physical resources
6.3  Those providing pharmacy education and CPD should set aside time for students and registrants to enable them to meet their learning objectives
6.4  Adequate resources should be available to allow supervisors and mentors to focus on providing appraisal and assessment.

7. Quality
The quality referred to in this section refers to the quality enhancement and assurance of education and CPD.
Assurance
7.1  Quality assurance processes must be rigorous, evidence based, both internal and external, to ensure that standards are being maintained, curricula are continually reviewed and good practice is being shared
7.2  Processes must be valid - they should measure what they intend to
measure - and reliable - they should produce consistent and accurate results
7.3  There must be a clear statement of quality assurance responsibility and accountability for the different aspects of provision. Those responsible for quality assurance must demonstrate an appropriate range of expertise and knowledge. There must be separation of functions between providers and their external quality assurers
7.4  External quality assurance should confirm the validity of processes and outcomes of internal quality assurance and build upon them
7.5 Quality assurance should be transparent
7.6 Quality assurance processes should be efficient, effective and proportional, taking account of the costs and the effectiveness of the programmes as well as the process itself
7.7  Where appropriate, approved quality assurance systems operated by other bodies should be recognised
Enhancement
7.8  Quality assurance systems should be reflexive and responsive to feedback
7.9  Those undergoing education must be able to provide feedback on their education for it to be improved
7.10  The outcomes of quality assurance should be made available to allow the sharing of good practice.

8. Devolution
8.1  The principles set out in this document are intended to be universal, and as such should be capable of application in all the countries of Great Britain and in the various contexts that devolution has brought about.
8.2  The principles should be equally relevant in the contexts of, for example:
• the different educational structures of the countries of Great Britain
• different qualification frameworks
• different fee and student support structures and
• various health, education and other policy differences stemming from the contrasting legislative and policy frameworks of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly