Welcome to class: A survival guide for commencing student midwives

Congratulations! Out of the thousands of applicants, you were successful and are now at the start of your training. This is where the really hard work starts as you learn to juggle your home life with the considerable demands of the course in terms of theoretical input and clinical practice, not to mention assessments and irregular working patterns.

Carolan and Kruger (2011) undertook a study asking first-year midwifery students the question: ‘What, if anything, would make your experience as a first-year student better?’ Findings included students identifying a need for greater opportunity to prepare, both before the start of the course and prior to lectures. The majority of students also felt they needed greater opportunities to study because theoretical input was intensive, leaving little time to consolidate learning outside of the classroom. Finally, students almost unanimously identified a need for greater support: pastoral support when they felt overwhelmed with the workload, and peer support for reassurance that they were not alone in how they were feeling.