Leading the Profession: How FEDANT Registrants and Education Providers are Shaping its Future

A strong profession is built by people who believe that their work matters and are prepared to take responsibility for its standards. Across the UK, FEDANT Registrants and accredited Education Providers demonstrate that commitment every day. Through high quality education, accountable practice and active involvement with FEDANT, they are leading the development of the antenatal and postnatal profession.

In October 2026, a major Views and Issues survey will reach more than 3,000 Registrants, Education Providers and Stakeholders across the UK. Please take part. Share your successes, identify emerging challenges and explain what you feel would strengthen education and practice. Your views contribute to how FEDANT represents the profession with the understanding that comes from those actively working within it.

This consultation reflects a central strength of FEDANT: Registrants and Education Providers help shape the views and recommendations it contributes to the UK Government and governmental bodies. Through FEDANT, individual perspectives contribute to a coherent professional voice capable of explaining concerns, highlighting achievements and recommending improvements. Participation gives those working within the profession an opportunity to influence its direction.

Their contribution extends beyond individual classrooms and consultations. Together, they provide the professional knowledge, educational experience and practical understanding which inform FEDANT’s distinctive authority and representative strength. This relationship creates an unrivalled collective voice for the professions FEDANT represents: a voice grounded in the people who educate practitioners, support families and understand the realities of professional practice.

The vast majority of practitioners and educators in the UK recognise the need for FEDANT and support it through professional practice and commitment. Their involvement gives representation substance. It brings the experience of teaching, assessment and work with families into discussions about the profession’s needs, priorities and future direction.

That leadership is particularly important as FEDANT receives increasing complaints from students and graduates whose courses have not delivered the professional opportunities they expected. These experiences underline the value of our accredited Education Providers and Registrants. They also show why clear standards, independent accountability and an informed professional community are essential to the sector’s continued development.

Students often begin training with considerable enthusiasm. They invest savings, rearrange employment and organise family responsibilities around their studies. Discovering that an award does not enable admission to the FEDANT National Register can therefore be deeply discouraging. The loss involves more than course fees: it can undermine confidence and delay the start of a professional career.

In many cases, FEDANT accredited Education Providers have responded with exceptional generosity and professionalism. By offering bridging and upgrade courses, they have helped wronged students address shortcomings in previous education and work towards an appropriate professional qualification. Their willingness to help has meant that students have not completely wasted the time, money and effort already invested.

This deserves recognition. Supporting someone whose earlier education has left significant gaps requires careful assessment, thoughtful teaching and a commitment to the individual learner. Our providers are demonstrating that educational leadership includes helping people recover from disappointment. They are protecting standards while making a constructive route forward possible for these individuals.

Good bridging provision recognises relevant learning and identifies what still needs to be achieved. It neither dismisses everything a student has studied nor overlooks missing knowledge or competence. This balanced approach reflects the strengths of responsible professional education: sound judgement, proportionate requirements and a clear understanding of the capability’s graduates need when supporting families.

FEDANT Registrants reinforce that work. Through their professional example, conversations with prospective students and commitment to continuing development, they make the value of appropriate education visible. They demonstrate what progression into accountable practice looks like and help others understand why the choice of an initial course deserves careful consideration.

One growing difficulty is the widespread use of “accredited” and “licensed”. These words appear throughout course advertising, but they do not always describe equivalent standards or outcomes. Students should be able to reasonably assume that impressive terminology indicates a recognised professional pathway to FEDANT Registration. Responsible educators help them look beyond the impressive sounding-claims and understand precisely what is being offered.

FEDANT accredited Education Providers can lead these conversations with confidence. Accreditation relates to the particular provision and scope assessed, while admission to the National Register is personal to the graduate. Explaining that distinction helps students understand the relationship between education and professional registration. It also demonstrates the transparency that distinguishes a provider committed to informed choice. FEDANT explains these requirements in its published guidance.

The practical questions are straightforward. Who has accredited the course? What does that accreditation cover? Is the award intended for professional entry or continuing professional development? Which registration category might it support? Clear answers allow students to compare opportunities meaningfully and recognise the value of education designed around defined professional expectations.

The word “licensed” needs similar care. A business may grant permission to use its brand or teaching materials, but that commercial arrangement does not create statutory authority to license professional practice. No training provider can manufacture that authority through its own terminology. Permission to deliver a branded programme must be distinguished from qualifications, competence and independent professional registration.

“Don’t be scammed” is therefore a message of empowerment. Students deserve to know what they are purchasing and what their qualification can achieve. FEDANT’s professional community can help by encouraging independent checks, welcoming questions and explaining the different purposes of accreditation, registration, commercial licences and membership arrangements.

Clubs, graduate networks and in-house memberships may provide valuable support. Extended learning can also be appropriate where it serves an identified educational need. The expectation should be transparency: students should understand the purpose, costs and conditions before committing. Threats of award withdrawal should never substitute for a properly explained educational or contractual basis. Unfair consumer terms are not enforceable simply because they appear in an agreement. Government guidance sets out this principle.

To support this understanding, a new education module about regulation and FEDANT is available in the Education Provider Resources area. Providers are encouraged to include it within the student learning journey. Introducing these subjects early helps future practitioners understand the professional framework they are preparing to enter and the responsibilities that accompany their chosen role.

The module also offers an opportunity to celebrate participation in the profession. Students should understand that registration connects their individual practice to shared standards and a wider professional voice. Their future involvement can contribute to the development of the sector, just as today’s Registrants and Education Providers are helping to shape it.

Our accredited Education Providers and Registrants are leading through action: supporting students, maintaining standards and contributing their expertise. Their involvement empowers the regulatory process, and FEDANT brings that commitment together in a robust representative voice. The October survey is an opportunity to build on that work. This is a professional community with much to celebrate and an important future to shape.