The College has extended the Accreditation of Practice Placement Educators (APPLE) scheme to recognise the role of support workers involved in the practice placement education of occupational therapy students, in educating and developing the occupational therapy professionals of the future
The APPLE (Support) scheme has been developed in order to enable support workers to apply for their contribution and involvement in the education of occupational therapy students to be recognised nationally.
The new APPLE (Support) scheme is based on 5 learning outcomes
The Practice Placement Support Educator (PPSE) should provide evidence that s/he is able to:
Follow these six easy steps to becoming accredited through the APPLE (Support) scheme
Step 1 - Read through the APPLE (Support) Guidance and decide which route to accreditation you are going to apply for accreditation through. The learning outcomes of the APPLE (Support) scheme have been mapped to the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) and COTs Support Worker Framework.
Step 2 – Three Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are running the pilot scheme; University of Derby, York St John University and the University of Northampton. Contact the relevant HEI for further information and dates of forthcoming courses.
Step 3 - The experiential application form can be downloaded and should be completed and submitted with the supporting evidence as described in the guidance, and addressed to the Practice Placement Tutor at the relevant HEI. If you are applying for accreditation through the programme route, you should attend the taught course and submit the cover sheet with any work submitted for assessment.
Step 4 - The HEI will assess your application for the experiential route, or the assessment from the taught course and will provide you with feedback and the outcome of accreditation. Once you have met the learning outcomes of the APPLE (Support) scheme, the HEI will enter your details onto the APPLE database, which will confirm your accredited status. You will be automatically notified of your login details to the database, which is accessible at:
Step 5 - You should login to the APPLE database and check that your details are correct. It is your responsibility to ensure that your personal and employment details are kept up to date. We will use these details to contact you towards the end of the 5 year accreditation period to remind you to apply for re-accreditation. Through the APPLE database, you can print off a copy of your APPLE (Support) certificate, or request one on certificate paper from the College by clicking on the relevant link.
Step 6 - Accreditation is valid for a five year period. Towards the end of your period of accreditation you will receive an automatic notification from the College reminding you that you are required to apply for re-accreditation. Details regarding the re-accreditation process will be available shortly from this web page.
Information for Practice Placement Tutors at HEIs
HEIs running both APPLE and APPLE (Support) schemes may offer joint learning opportunities. Learning outcomes are generic and designed so other health and social care professions could adopt them into their practice. Both the experiential and programme route to accredited status will require the PPSE to demonstrate how all the learning outcomes have been achieved.
The accreditation period is for 5 years, in line with the APPLE scheme, at the end of which it is the responsibility of the Practice Placement Support Educator (PPSE) to demonstrate their continuing competence through the completion of a re-accreditation application form which details their involvement with students’ education. This would normally require their participation in the practice education of at least one student per year, except where there are extenuating circumstances that have prevented them from doing so eg leave of absence.
An assessment sheet for HEIs marking applications for the APPLE (Support) experiential route is also available to download:
For further information contact: Clair Parkin Education Officer (Quality Assurance and Guidance) Clair.Parkin@cot.co.uk Telephone 020 7450 2344