Evaluating enquiry-based learning in a new pre-registration programme

Abstract

In accordance with the need to provide contemporary midwifery education which meets the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2009) standards, the pre-registration midwifery education programme at the University of Hertfordshire underwent a major curriculum development in 2008, which afforded the opportunity to review the existing learning and teaching strategies. The curriculum development team were keen to develop an education programme which would enable student midwives to develop the necessary skills associated with adult learning and encourage individual responsibility for life-long learning ( NMC, 2010 ) in the belief that such skills would help prepare student midwives to be better equipped to cope with both the demands of the programme and the challenges of contemporary midwifery practice. The learning and teaching strategy of enquiry-based learning (EBL) was introduced as a key feature throughout the 3-year midwifery programme. This article presents an evaluation of the introduction of EBL for a group of first-year students as they progressed through the first year of their midwifery training. It reports on some of the emerging themes from the students' perspectives from their experience of EBL and on the resulting changes which occurred in response to the findings from a series of facilitated student focus group meetings.