As part of their programme of study, students are required to undertake a minimum of 1,800 hours of hands-on, practical experience in a veterinary practice. The veterinary practice must be an RCVS approved Training and Assessment Practice (TP) or Auxiliary TP (aTP).
All placement students are on unpaid placements, so you are not expected to pay the student a wage, including any benefits in lieu of payment.
There are primarily two types of student placements, both of which are unpaid:
Day Release Placements
Students attend college for one day per week and spend the other four days on placement in veterinary practice.
Block Placements
Students spend blocks of time in college and blocks of time on placement in veterinary practice. Placement blocks can last between eight and eighteen weeks in length. The nature of the block programme means that practices can potentially have a student continuously throughout the academic year if wanted by having students at different stages of their training.
If offering a placement to a student sounds like something you would like to be involved in, there are a few key points you need to know:
01 – Training Practice Support
Your practice must be an RCVS approved TP or aTP in order to train student veterinary nurses. If you are not already an approved Training Practice we can help support you through the process. Please contact our TP support team by calling 01480 422060 or emailing: admin@caw.ac.uk.
02 – Free Clinical Coach Training
You must have an MRCVS or RVN who is happy to be the student’s clinical coach. Again, if you do not have a clinical coach in your practice we could provide FREE clinical coach training!
Want to find out more? Call our Placement Liaison Team on 01480 422060 or request a call back.