Why have fitness to study and practise procedures?
Being fit to study and practise is important because it means that you are well enough and demonstrating the right behaviours to achieve your potential and be successful on your course.
We will help you to do this by creating a learning environment which is supportive but prepares you for real-world employment.
This means that we will check that you are doing what you can to support your own learning and are attending your placements and demonstrating professional values.
Your achievements matter to you and us.
What should I expect and what can we expect of me?
We understand that going through a fitness to study or fitness to practise process will be difficult for you. However, we will deal with you in a fair and sensitive way. We handle your case confidentially and the only people who will know about your circumstances will be those who need to know. We will share with you all of the information we are using to reach a decision and give you every opportunity to tell us your side and how you are feeling. Sometimes, if you are already registered with a professional body, we may need to tell them about a decision we have reached. However, we will always tell you when we are doing this.
We will always try to work with you to resolve the issues, but we have a responsibility to you, other students and staff and any members of the public involved in your training. This means that sometimes we have to make tough decisions. This might be because;
- You are not well enough to learn properly at this time
- Your behaviour is affecting the learning of others
- You are not able to practise safely
- A criminal conviction means that you will not get a job in the profession you are training for, or be able to register with a professional body.
We know that this is a difficult time for you, and you may be concerned about the outcome of these procedures, but we expect you to be honest and respect those dealing with your situation and we will treat you in the same way.
You will not be able to make a complaint about the Fitness to Practise or Fitness to Study processes whilst you are going through them. However, we will always listen and support you through the process. If you need to make a complaint, you can do this after.
Reasonable Adjustments
If you have a disability you can request that a reasonable adjustment is made to prevent you from being disadvantaged. Please let us know as soon as possible if this applies to you.
All meetings undertaken within this procedure can be held digitally.
Support During the Procedure
We know that this can be a difficult period and we want to make sure that you have the support you need. You can access our Money & Guidance Advisors by e-mailing student-support@staffs.ac.uk at any point during the procedure.
You may wish to bring a fellow student or Students' Union representative to any meeting during the procedures. The rules for representation in the Fitness to Practise Procedure are set out in the section Support During the Procedure.
Trusted Contacts
When you come to study with us, we will ask you to tell us who your trusted contact is. Your trusted contact may be a parent, carer, or another trusted adult who you would like to be contacted if required. It’s really important that this is someone who we can contact if something happens to you, or if we have serious concerns about your safety. We need to know if there are any changes to who you want us to contact, and you can make changes at any time through your eVision portal.
We always prefer to speak to you directly about you and your studies. If we need to speak to someone else about this, such as family, carers or someone else you trust, we would always want to get your agreement first. However, exceptionally we might have concerns about you that are serious enough that we’d want to speak to a trusted contact without needing to get your agreement in advance. This might because there are serious concerns about your safety or mental health, or because we are unable to get your permission due to ill health.
If we think we might need to contact a trusted contact, we will ask the University’s safeguarding leads to make a risk-based decision, considering your best interests. We will always explain to you afterwards why we made the decision to speak to your trusted contact.
What if I am arrested or the Police are investigating me?
If you are arrested or are being investigated by the Police, you must tell the University straight away.The University may decide that a Temporary Suspension is the right thing to do, for example if we are concerned about your safety or the safety of others, or if the offence would impact on the reputation of the University.The University will not investigate your case while the Police are. We will wait for the outcome of the Police investigation or court case before deciding what to do. However, if the case is taking a long time, and you are not able to move on with your course, you may need to take a Break in Study. Once the outcome of your legal case is known, the University might decide to take action against you, even if the Police do not.