Pre-registration midwifery education: Clinicians in the classroom

By 1996, midwifery pre-registration education in the UK was fully integrated into higher education and, currently, 92 universities offer approved midwifery courses in England (Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), 2015). Successful completion of the programme of study provides student midwives with both a theoretical and professional qualification. This move to higher education was perceived by some to distance theoretical input from practice; a disconnect known as the ‘theory–practice gap’. While this phenomenon has been more widely debated in relation to nursing education, it is reasonable to consider it in the context midwifery education (Upton, 1999; Henderson, 2002; Scully, 2011; Monaghan, 2015).

A report from the Chief Nursing Officers of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (2010: 19) said midwifery education programmes ‘require substantial academic, clinical and professional input from skilled educationalists’ and that ‘it is essential to protect and assure the quality of the student learning experience’.