In keeping with our aim to learn from data and research, we have analysed information and data from our interactions with the education and training sector in the 2020-21 academic year.
You can access the full report here, and we have picked out some key findings in this article.
For the first time, we did not see growth for approved programmes within the professions we have continued to regulate.
However, professions which have historically struggled to recruit new learners (chiropodists / podiatrists, orthoptist, and prosthetists / orthotists) have either maintained or increased programme numbers.
We have also seen closing programmes in the paramedic profession replaced with new Degree level programmes, following our requirement that paramedic training must be delivered at this level.
We have continued to work with stakeholders across the UK on understanding and supporting workforce needs. The HCPC has not been a driver for the closing of provision, and there are limited conclusions we can reach based on the reduction in programme numbers in some professions.
We have reached outcomes of our processes more quickly, which is of benefit to providers particularly when introducing new provision, with four out of five assessments reaching conclusion within four months of the visit date.
We have taken these finding and built in successes into our new quality assurance model, which launched in September 2021.