“The role of the ‘educator’ or ‘trainer’, in the context of delivering excellent education and training, is of vital importance and must be seen as an essential part of the healthcare professional’s role and responsibilities. HEE will continue to work with the Local Education and Training Boards (LETBs) and healthcare providers to ensure that trainers and educators have access to the necessary support and professional development to allow them to provide excellent education and training.”
Delivering high quality, effective, compassionate care: Developing the right people with the right skills and the right values  Health Education England mandate: April 2015 to March 2016. para 6.18.

How to Teach in the Clinical Setting – Clive J Gibson, former Deputy Postgraduate Dental Dean in the West Midlands Deanery, talks about the issues for both teachers and learners.

And from the trainees point of view – “The way I see it . . .Educational supervision” BMJ Careers 14 Apr 2010. Reflections on the relationship between trainee and clinical supervisor and the many factors which contribute to effective educational supervision.

What constitutes high quality, learner-centred feedback? Researchers have identified 18 distinct elements thought to be important in effective feedback from clinical educators, and 25 statements that explicitly describe observable educator behaviour in high quality verbal feedback.  BMC Medical Education2016 16:96 

GMC  standards for medical education and training – Promoting excellence  set out requirements for the management and delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education and training.

The HEE Educator Hub is a web-based multi professional e-learning resource for clinical educators. The modules are linked to the ‘Professional Development Framework for Educators‘. The Framework is designed around seven key areas of activity, all of which relate to the role of an educator and supervisor across healthcare learning environments.

High quality reflection in combination with supportive and constructive feedback is essential for the professional development of all trainee doctors. Improving feedback and reflection to improve learning: A practical guide for trainees and trainers, from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, focuses on practical information for trainees and trainers on how trainee self-reflection, feedback from the trainer and trainer self-reflection can improve the performance and value of formative Workplace Based Assessments.

The Oxford School of General Practice website inlcudes an outline of the  Process for Reapproval of Existing Trainers along with a Guide to understanding the Trainer Approval Process

See the HEE Wessex website resources for GP Educational Supervisors in Wessex

Royal College of General Practitioners – MRCGP: information for deaneries, supervisors and trainers– resources for those involved in delivering GP training.

Royal College of Physicians presents a range of training course around teaching supervision and assessment.

Courses include:

MSc in Medical Education,  a joint programme delivered by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and University College London (UCL)

Clinical Education (Online Distance Learning), University of Edinburgh

Education Horizon-Scanning Bulletin –  a monthly bulletin of journal articles, research and new initiatives and policies from the government and other national bodies around education across health services.

Key medical education journals:

Clinical Teacher – a journal from John Wiley – sign up to get new issue alerts or RSS feeds to new articles.

Medical Education – a journal from John Wiley – sign up to get new issue alerts or RSS feeds to new articles. Full text available using NHS OpenAthens.

Medical Education Online – a peer-reviewed international open Access journal for disseminating information on the education and training of physicians and other health care professionals.

BMC Medical Education – an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles in relation to the training of healthcare professionals, including undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education. Special focus on curriculum development, evaluations of performance, assessment of training needs and evidence-based medicine.