What factors contribute to practice educators failing to fail pre-registration undergraduate students in the practice setting? A systematic review of the literature

Gardner, Paula ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5865-0458 and Augustus, Jo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0518-7866 (2025) What factors contribute to practice educators failing to fail pre-registration undergraduate students in the practice setting? A systematic review of the literature. Research in Post-Compulsory Education .

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Abstract

Despite practice supervision in paramedicine contributing to 50% of undergraduate programmes, there is currently no national mentorship framework in place. With the issue of failure to fail reported within other disciplines, there is limited research around this phenomenon in the field of paramedicine. To explore the factors that contribute to failure to fail undergraduate students in the practice setting to identify the implications for paramedic mentorship. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify primary qualitative research. Articles with a range of study designs were identified and included within the review. A total of 2,368 records were retrieved following the search. Seventy-six full article screens were conducted which resulted in 11 high-quality articles for inclusion within the study. The systematic review identified a variety of multifactorial challenges faced by mentors. These can be broadly categorised into three main themes: emotional impact, external pressures, and inconsistency. Many of the challenges related to the mentors’ lack of self-confidence in making accurate assessments of competence. Given the multifactorial challenges faced by mentors, failing to fail, ongoing training and support from HEI’s may reduce some of the challenges and standardise mentorship within the profession. Nationally, implementing a framework for mentorship in paramedicine should be considered.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Research in Post-Compulsory Education
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis Group
ISSN:	1747-5112
Departments:	Institute of Health > Centre for Excellence in Paramedic Practice
Additional Information:	Paula Gardner, Principal Lecturer in Paramedic Apprenticeships; Jo Augustus, Principal Lecturer in Mental Health Specialist Knowledge, both of the University of Cumbria, UK. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
Depositing User:	Insight Administrator
SWORD Depositor:	Insight Administrator
Date Deposited:	11 Jun 2025 10:52
Last Modified:	12 Jun 2025 08:00
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/8911

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