Student caseloading: embedding the concept within education

Abstract

This final article in a series of three papers examines how the initiative of student midwife caseloading at Bournemouth University (BU) forms a central strand of our undergraduate pre-registration midwifery curriculum. It offers a model for other midwifery education providers to consider and possibly replicate. Following the initial success of our student caseloading scheme, steps were taken to embed it at the strategic and operational levels within our wider educational provision. It now forms an essential and integral part of the theoretical and practice elements of the pre-registration midwifery programme, underpinning the philosophy of approach, facilitation of learning and assessment of competence throughout the curriculum. This strand has been an evolutionary process that has developed from a purely practice-based initiative to a comprehensive educational component throughout all three years of midwifery education. Its development can be traced from the beginning of student caseloading in 1997 to BU's current and contemporary educational provision.