MEDEV

School of Medical Sciences Education Development

Introduction

This FDTL4 project, led by Leicester Medical School in partnership with Imperial College, London; the University of Leeds Medical School; University College, Northampton and Liverpool John Moores University is now in its second year. The project is supported by the Council of Heads of Medical Schools and the Deans of Faculties for Nursing,Midwifery and Health Visiting, HESDA and the associated Higher Education Academy subject networks (Medicine,Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine; Health Sciences and Practice and Social Policy and Social Work).

One of the main aims of the project is to develop a tested programme for aspiring leaders in health and social care education which will be capable of being sustained by the sector after the project has finished.

Throughout the project we have been working closely with a large number of higher education institutions and many individuals are involved in the project as participants, mentors and advisors.

Leadership development

The first programme for 24 aspiring leaders in health education started in October 2003 and runs until December 2004. Two more programmes will be run in the next academic year, one for ‘middle managers’ (typically a senior lecturer responsible for a significant curriculum component or educational activity) starting in October 2004 and one for ‘senior managers’ starting in January 2005.

Both programmes will include participants from health and social care education. Recruitment for the new programmes has gone very well, with many people applying for a place on the programme. We are currently in the process of finalising the participants on the two 2004/05 programmes.

The programme itself, although it retains many of the key features that were envisaged at the outset, has been refined in response to participant evaluations and discussions with people involved in the project. The programme now comprises four modules:

Each of the modules is delivered through a combination of two one-day and three two-day residential events led by the course tutors and experts in the relevant subject area, a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) containing resources on educational leadership and handouts and reading on specific topics relating to the events.

In addition, participants are supported in their professional development by participation in action learning sets; meetings and contact with a named personal mentor; a personal tutorial visit by a course tutor to the participant’s place of work and guided completion of a Personal Development Plan which is designed to assist participants in identifying learning goals and activities to support their learning. An important element of the programme is that the participants must be nominated by their institution and supported within the institution by a named ‘organisational sponsor’. All participants will be expected to maintain a portfolio throughout the programme as a record of their professional development and those who wish to qualify for one or both of the awards must submit the portfolio for assessment.

The programme has been accredited by SEDA as a Developing Leaders award under the Professional Development Framework and as a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Leadership by the University of Leicester. We sought accreditation in response to participant’s suggestions. Having the programme accredited gives those participants who wish to work towards an award the opportunity to do so and provides evidence of their commitment towards professional development and understanding of leadership issues in health and social care education.

Future plans

The overall project is due to finish in 2005 and by then we plan to have delivered three professional development leadership programmes to approximately seventy staff across a large number of health and social care institutions in the UK. The programmes will be tested, costed and externally evaluated and so we will have a good idea of whether there is a need for such programmes specifically for aspiring leaders in health and social care education and whether our programmes have ‘made a difference’ to individuals and leadership practices.

As the project involves individuals and organisations across the UK, we are considering how best to maintain a national focus. One approach is that we are currently working with the new Leadership Foundation for HE to consider the possible integration of these or similar programmes into the generic portfolio of leadership development courses and programmes run for aspiring and current leaders in higher education.

National programme

Many universities are developing and delivering their own top managers and leadership programmes and the evaluation of our own programme will need to consider the relationship between a national programme and inhouse programmes and also some of the advantages and disadvantages of running a national programme. We have been very pleased with the interest shown by many universities and we plan to collaborate further with organisations so that the award might be accredited at local level.

The VLE that has been developed as part of the project will be further developed over the next year and many of the resources will be made available to the wider HE sector through a website. Again, discussions will be held with the Leadership Foundation for HE so that our work is fully integrated with their activities.