Information for existing education providers
For approved providers, this page offers useful information and guidance on the Education Standards.
The revised Education Standards, published in March 2023, ensure chiropractic graduates are equipped with the latest knowledge and skills to appraise and treat patients independently in professional practice.
In addition to greater emphasis on patient safety and care, the new Standards include an increased focus on multi-disciplinary learning and working to further integrate chiropractic into the wider healthcare professions.
The Standards also highlight the importance of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in chiropractic and ensure EDI is a core component of academic programmes.
How do the Education Standards benefit students and the profession?
Philip Dewhurst, Head of the AECC School of Chiropractic at Health Sciences University, highlights how the Education Standards benefit students and the profession.
We have been working with our approved programme providers to ensure their curricula is designed and developed in line with our new Education Standards.
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Providers are working towards admitting students to approved qualifications that meet the Standards from the 2024/25 academic year.
Our previous Education Standards (2017) are still valid for existing programmes.
Guidance and useful documents
The GCC has produced the guidance below to help education providers meet the requirements set out in the new Education Standards.
Clinical placements
Supplementary advice for clinical placements was updated in 2023 to reflect both developments in contemporary clinical education and the requirements of the Education Standards.
Clinical placement strategy
The GCC Education Committee is committed to ensuring high standards in chiropractic education and training. To support this mission, and in collaboration with the profession, the GCC has developed a 5-year Clinical Placement Strategy aimed at enhancing clinical training for undergraduate chiropractic students.
The strategy was co-created through extensive engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, including higher education providers, the Royal College of Chiropractors, practicing chiropractors, and GCC Education Committee members. Research into the clinical placement landscape across the wider health sector, combined with valuable stakeholder feedback, informed the strategy, which was approved by the Education Committee and Council in December 2024.
The published strategy highlights five key pillars: Quality, Enablement, Profession, Integration, and Capacity. Where possible the GCC encourages stakeholders to align their efforts with these strategic objectives. Over the next five years, this strategy will serve as a guiding framework for activities related to clinical placement education, reaffirming the GCC's commitment to upholding high educational standards in chiropractic education and training.
To support chiropractic education providers to embed equality, diversity and inclusion into teaching and learning practices as outlined in the new Education Standards we have produced Best Practice Guidance on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for Education Providers.
It is not designed to instruct but rather to provide insight into best practice strategies and support.
Read the Best Practice Guidance ▶As part of our approval and quality assurance system for chiropractic degrees, providers need to keep the GCC informed of any substantive changes to programmes as and when they occur.
Inform us of a substantive change ▶If you are an existing provider considering offering an existing chiropractic degree course programme at a new satellite campus,whether inside or outside of the UK, we have produced a guide to the recognition process.
Recognition of satellite programmes guide ▶