03.01.12
Number of midwife teachers falls
The number of midwife teachers is falling, and a static staff turnover has led to concerns over the quality of instruction for future midwives, research found by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) suggests.
There are now more students per teacher than in previous years, which could compromise the quality of teaching, freedom of information requests to HE institutions showed.
Additionally, the issue of ageing means that recruiting the next generation of teachers with recent clinical experience is a growing cause of concern. Over half the 45 midwife teachers surveyed are now 50 or over and only 6% are under 40.
RCM general secretary Cathy Warwick said: “Knowledge development and dissemination are critical components of any professional organisation, the recruitment and retention of midwifery educators is a growing challenge, especially as we face an ageing midwifery workforce and a rising birth rate, which is already stretching the workforce and impacting morale.
“There needs to be an increased investment in midwifery educators to recruit and retain them into the profession. The more midwifery educators there are, the more support there will be for midwives and students in clinical practice.
“There is a paucity of information concerning hard and fast details and calculations about the state of midwifery education programmes. We need to explore and analyse the key factors determining the need for the accurate assessment of human resources within midwifery education are explored.”
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