Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education

Why enrol on the Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education at The University of Buckingham?

This part-time, fully online Master’s level programme is designed for UK and international healthcare professionals interested and involved in education and training. There are growing expectations that those with educational roles and responsibilities should engage in professional development to enable them to model and uphold the highest standards. Our flexible programme which offers you the chance to study at times which work for you, will provide you with the skills and knowledge you need to deliver outstanding health professions teaching, assessment, and course design.

This programme provides a sound educational foundation for professionals from across the health professions who support undergraduate students and/or postgraduate trainees’ learning in Higher and Professional Education settings, including the clinical workplace. Through our core and option modules, you will develop an understanding of the key principles of effective teaching, learning, and assessment as they relate to your own practice. Our option modules focus on clinical teaching, supervision, and work-based learning, lending a unique practical focus to the PGCME that should help you excel as a clinical educator. We cover several topics of contemporary interest within health professions education (such as technology enhanced learning, developments in simulation, mentoring and supporting learners in difficulty) not commonly included in generic programmes.

The programme has been designed in collaboration with clinicians and other healthcare professionals. As a result, the structure of the programme allows students flexibility over module choice and when they study, minimising the potential for service disruption and allowing students to develop areas of expertise relevant to their role responsibilities.

We aim to produce graduates who are able to:

• create welcoming, safe, and purposeful learning environments
• design and deliver engaging and effective teaching, learning, and assessment activities
• have purposeful, developmental conversations with learners that support their personal and professional career development
• have a sound grasp of key educational theories and concepts, drawing on these to develop and critique their own and others’ educational practice
• adopt a critically reflective and reflexive approach to medical education and training.

Course accreditation

The programme is accredited by both Advance HE and the Academy of Medical Educators. Upon completing the certificate and completing a reflective portfolio, you will be able to apply for a fellowship of Advance HE. Fellowship of Advance HE entitles you to use the postnominals FHEA, and is a status recognised nationally as an indicator of teaching scholarship. The course is also accredited by the Academy of Medical Educators (AoME), in recognition of the high quality of teaching and feedback provided on the programme. AoME is a multiprofessional organisation that sets standards for clinical teachers in the UK. As our course is accredited by AoME, upon successful completion of the PGCME, students can apply for membership of AoME, which entitles them to use the postnominals MAcadMEd, an achievement which demonstrates they have met AoME’s professional standards for clinical teachers in health professions education.

What students tell us

We receive consistently excellent feedback from our students across all modules.

“Overall, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how engaging and motivating an online course can be. I chose the course because I didn’t think I’d be able to make regular fixed times for teaching but wasn’t optimistic about how much I’d learn. There seems to be a really good balance between reading, activities and forum discussions. All of this is backed up by very engaged and responsive tutors which means that the course feels very much “live” despite being completed in our own time.”

“It has been a wonderful opportunity; I have been exposed to new information and key concepts in education. Having the course being held online has helped me better manage my time and has made it easier for me to complete the course, in comparison to the course being held in person. I appreciate how available both the tutors were throughout the course always being there for us.”

Modules

All our modules offer learners the chance to engage with educational content in a variety of ways. Learning activities across the below modules include: reviewing video and audio recordings; live and recorded online presentations; directed reading; live evening seminars; one-to-one tutorials; written reflections; engaging in our online discussion forum; a journal club activity; peer observation of teaching; and lesson planning. There is a mixture of asynchronous and synchronous content and activities to cater to a wide variety of learning needs and work around busy clinical schedules.

Core Module

• Medical Education: Principles and Practice

Option Modules

• Approaches to Clinical Teaching and Effective Supervision; or
• Learning in Clinical Teams: Simulation and Work-based Learning

Undergraduate degree in Medicine, Dentistry or related health profession. Applicants must be able to access opportunities to teach/support learning. 

If English is not your native or first language, you must evidence your ability to write Masters-Level academic assignments, regardless of your country of residence. This can be done by providing an IELTS certificate (Overall 7.0, with minimum 7 in reading and writing). You must ensure that your personal statement demonstrates your ability to produce an accurately-written explanation of your reasons for applying.

The programme is delivered online, with “live” taught sessions and seminars scheduled in both core and option modules to consolidate learning of topics and key concepts. Our online virtual learning environment includes weekly online discussion forums to further consolidate and extend this learning.  Participants are also assigned to Communities of Practice, small groups in which they interact with colleagues to support one another’s learning.  All modules contain experience-based assessments and students are expected to read widely and critically throughout the programme.

All modules involve self-directed activity, for example, written reflections and teaching observations. Other self-directed tasks require students to design, implement, and evaluate authentic clinical teaching/supervision activities with one or more learners in a range of contexts.  For example, students are required to review their own practice and suggest evidence-based changes. In the core module this is based on observation of teaching, while in the optional units, this is based on a recorded feedback session that students self-critique. We see feedback as a central part of the learning process.

This structure ensures that students can personalise their programme to align with their professional interests and development needs, whilst still meeting the professional standards of AdvanceHE, the Academy of Medical Educators, and the GMC.

Meet our staff

The PGCME is facilitated by expert educationalists and physicians. Read more about our course lecturers, below.

Dr Megan Brown

Megan is the Programme Lead for the Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education at The University of Buckingham. She is also a Senior Lecturer in Medical Education. Megan has a PhD in Medical Education and a background in clinical medicine. She is an experienced higher education teacher and active medical education researcher. Her interests include online teaching and learning and innovative approaches to health professions education. Megan works across all three modules on the certificate.

Dr Rishen Cattaree

Rishen is the Lead for the Option modules and a Teaching Fellow at The University of Buckingham. He is a practicing clinician, also working as an anaesthetist at Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Rishen is also an honorary clinical lecturer at The University of Buckingham, where he leads the clinical rotation peri-operative block for undergraduate medical students, associate lecturer at Edge Hill University, and tutor at Brighton and Sussex Medical School.

Dr Omnia Allam

Dr Omnia Allam is the Lead for the foundational module of this course, Medical Education Principles and Practice, and Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Buckingham. She is an experienced educationalist, having worked across numerous postgraduate medical education courses throughout her career. She has a special interest in technology enhanced learning and assessment, previously working as a director for assessment.

Dates

Students are guided through the course by a calendar of weekly activities, some required, some optional or recommended.

The course comprises one 15-week Core Module*, and a one 15-week Option Module, which students choose from the available Option Modules, either Simulation and Work Based Learning, or Clinical Teaching and Effective Supervision.

August 2022 entry

• Core Module: 5 September 2022 – 16 December 2022
• Option Modules:  13 February 2023 – 26 May 2023

February 2023 entry

• Core Module:  6 February 2023 – 19 May 2023
• Option Modules:  4 September 2023 – 15 December 2023

August 2023 entry

• Core Module: 4 September 2023 – 15 December 2023
• Option Modules: 12 February 2024 – 25 May 2024

Upon successful completion of the programme, you will be eligible for membership of the Academy of Medical Educators (AoME) and for Fellowship status of Advanced HE.

The University reserves the right to increase course fees annually in line with inflation linked to the Retail Price Index (RPI) to take account of the University’s increased costs of delivering educational services. If the University intends to increase your course fees it will notify you via email of this as soon as reasonably practicable.

Course fees do not include additional costs such as books, equipment, writing up fees and so on. Where applicable, these additional costs will be made clear.

We are currently offering a 10% discount on the total fee!

This fee is payable in full in advance. The University accepts letters of support from sponsors.

If you’re considering applying to the course we encourage you to contact us, either before or after making your application.

Apply directly

We welcome applications directly via our online application form which can be accessed from the ‘Apply’ button at the bottom of this page. Apply by 23 January 2023 for 6 February 2023 start, and by 28 August 2023 for a 4 September 2023 start.

Help and support

If you need any help making your application or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by email, FMHS-admissions@buckingham.ac.uk, or phone +44 (01280) 820227.

For any queries relating to fees, please contact the expert staff of the student fees department at studentfees@buckingham.ac.uk, or phone +44 (01280) 820250.

Current applicants

If you would like to make any changes to your current application, please email, FMHS-admissions@buckingham.ac.uk, or phone +44 (01280) 820227 (and make sure you have your application number ready).