Midwifery Practice BSc (Hons)

Our midwifery programme has been carefully designed to not only ensure that you can register as a midwife upon successful completion but also so you have a strong commitment to providing safe, evidence based and woman-centred midwifery care.
‘Midwives are the experts in normal childbirth’ (Midwifery 2020, 2010). During your first year, your learning will be focussed on normality to maximise outcomes and to ensure that your skills and knowledge are commensurate with midwifery philosophy. All of your placements will be focussed on low-risk midwifery by attending placements in the community and a wide variety of midwifery led units in Staffordshire, Shropshire or Powys. This means that you will have the opportunity to learn ‘true’ midwifery with less medical intervention. Of course, we would not expect you to attend practice without relevant knowledge so you will have the opportunity to practice in our midwifery skills lab in our newly refurbished campus buildings – we even have a mannequin that speaks!
‘Every woman needs a midwife, and some women need a doctor too’ (Sandall, 2012). The second year develops your knowledge and skills coordinating complex care – by having a strong understanding of normality, you will be able to recognise deviations from normal. You will enjoy a variety of high risk placements within our excellent clinical placements including some time in medical and surgical wards so you can provide care that women and families deserve. Complex care requires multi-disciplinary team working, so you will receive lectures from other professionals and will have the opportunity to participate in our creative portfolio of interprofessional events.
‘Midwives are change agents whose actions shape individual, family and community health’ (Pandey, 2007). The 3rd year develops your skills further in research, leadership and critical thinking – you will be encouraged to critically evaluate existing maternity provision and identify ways to improve care. You will be expected to work more independently and demonstrate your graduate skills by organising your elective placement, producing student led conferences and participating in student interviews.

The overall aim of the teaching, learning and assessment strategy is to enable you to attain a high standard of achievement commensurate with the theoretical and practical outcomes of the award, to facilitate the integration of theory with practice and to demonstrate that lifelong learning and continuing professional development are essential prerequisites to professional practice.
Teaching and learning activities are planned to take into account the overall theoretical and clinical workload, the distances that students travel and are aimed to be family friendly. To this end, each of the modules consists of blended learning (which means that you will be able to undertake some theory from home). Scheduled classroom based learning and teaching activities are facilitated by the midwifery lecturers, but also include other specialist visiting lecturers, clinicians and service users, where this enhances learning and module delivery. There is also the opportunity to share learning and broaden the theoretical and clinical knowledge base with peers from other health professions. Classroom based learning consists of a variety of teaching and learning strategies aimed at developing your evidence based body of knowledge. You will participate in discussions, seminars, problem based learning, VLE based materials and clinical skills sessions.
Independent learning is facilitated through guided independent study with activities such as e-learning with online activities, directed reading and practical activities. This is further consolidated by seminars, problem based learning and workshop experiences.
A key feature of the learning experience is the diversity of teaching and learning which are aimed to challenge and extend knowledge, link theory to practice, and facilitate independence and lifelong learning. Independent learning activities include development of the student portfolio, reflective practice, action plans, learning contracts, community profiling, caseload holding, engagement with midwifery regulation and interprofessional working experiences with other health care professionals.
You will spend 50% of the programme in clinical placements. The practice learning environments utilised in the award are based in a range of settings, including midwife led units, hospital and the community. Students have an identified midwife mentor in midwifery placements and a supervisor/mentor in non-assessed developmental placements. These individuals will facilitate learning, guide and support, and assess your progress within the clinical component of the award.
Of course, we would not expect you to care for real patients without learning how to do it properly. You will have the opportunity to practice invasive procedures in our enviable skills labs where you will take part in simulated real time emergencies, learn midwifery skills (such as cannulation or suturing) or work with other students such as Operating Department Practitioners in our surgical theatre or paramedics in our community house with our fully functioning ambulance.
During the final year of the award, you are given the opportunity of a 4 week elective placement in a place of your choice within the UK or abroad. You will be required to create your own objectives to meet the award outcomes and will be supported in arranging the placement. This facilitates the development of independence as well as a national and global perspective.