Data Insights
Join our research project to turn practice assessment data into earlier action on student nurse attrition.
Data Insights from MyKnowledgeMap is a national data initiative helping universities spot emerging risk sooner, understand placement patterns more clearly, and act before disengagement becomes withdrawal.
Student nurse attrition is not a marginal issue. The Royal College of Nursing says the average student dropout rate in England has been 21% since the nursing bursary was scrapped, and it warned in late 2024 that more than 32,000 student nurses could leave courses by 2029 if the trend continues.
At the same time, universities and placement providers are already collecting rich signals about student experience, progression and support needs through electronic Practice Assessment Document (ePAD) workflows and practice assessments. Data Insights is designed to help turn that existing data into something more useful: timely, actionable intelligence for the people responsible for student success.
The warning signs are already there.
They’re just hard to see in time.
Course teams often know attrition is a risk, but the pattern can remain hidden until a student has already disengaged. Wider evidence points to a mix of pressures behind withdrawal, including financial strain, inconsistent support, placement challenges and service pressures, which makes early visibility especially valuable.
Introducing Data Insights
Data Insights is a new module within MyProgress that applies research-led predictive thinking to the data universities already hold in practice assessment records. Developed in collaboration with Dr. Siân Shaw of Anglia Ruskin University, whose work focuses on digital innovation in nursing education, the initiative is intended to help institutions identify patterns associated with attrition risk and placement experience earlier than traditional review cycles allow.
From hidden data to earlier support.
What Data Insights helps you do
SPOT EARLY SIGNS OF DISENGAGEMENT
Identify patterns that may indicate increased risk before issues escalate into withdrawal.
SEE PLACEMENT EXPERIENCE CLEARLY
Highlight emerging concerns linked to placement environments, supervision or student support.
INTERVENE
SOONER
Give course teams and practice partners evidence they can use to support students at the right moment.
REDUCE MANUAL REPORTING EFFORT
Surface insight from existing records without relying on time-consuming retrospective analysis.
Local patterns are easier to read when you can see the whole sector.
MyProgress supports over half of all student nurses in the UK and works with more than 40 partner institutions, giving the platform a uniquely broad view of placement and assessment data across the sector. That breadth matters because individual universities may see local patterns, but large-scale anonymised analysis can reveal trends that are harder to detect institution by institution.
Research partner
Grounded in research, not guesswork
Data Insights builds on research led by Dr. Siân Shaw at Anglia Ruskin University into electronic Practice Assessment Document data and student nurse attrition patterns. That matters because retention strategies are stronger when they are informed by evidence already captured in real educational workflows, rather than relying only on end-of-placement feedback or anecdotal concern.
"This project represents an important shift from reactive to preventative student support in nursing education. By using learning analytics from data already routinely collected within the ePAD, we have the opportunity to identify early signs of student struggle, improve placement experiences, and ultimately strengthen the future nursing workforce through timely, evidence-informed intervention."
Dr. Siân Shaw
Associate Professor of Digital Innovation in Nursing and co-lead of the Digital Health Research Group, Anglia Ruskin University
A sector challenge needs a sector response
This is not only about product capability. Student nurse attrition affects workforce supply, placement capacity and the future resilience of NHS services, which is why national bodies continue to connect student retention with wider workforce sustainability.
Data Insights is designed to help institutions respond to a national challenge with better local intelligence.
Help shape the next phase of Data Insights
We’re working with universities and partners who want to improve visibility of attrition risk, strengthen placement oversight and explore how predictive insight can support student success in practice learning environments.
This project will be a step change in how institutions harness data to drive success, cutting attrition, reducing costly retrieval placements, and strengthening outcomes for students and the healthcare workforce. We would love for you to join the project! We would like permission to look at your AEI’s data to help us find markers and patterns. Your data will be anonymised and under an ethics framework managed by Dr Siân Shaw, Associate Professor at Anglia Ruskin University. Once we have spotted patterns, we then want to understand what information YOU want to have to hand, so that we can be a part of the solution.
Whether you’re a MyProgress customer or not, if you’re interested in joining the project we would love to hear from you. Contact us to discover how your AEI can be a part of the Data Insights project.