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Educational supervisors - what is expected

Training & Quality team
The important role of an educational supervisor (in the UK) is to oversee doctors training in paediatrics, offer career guidance and support trainee personal development.
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Table of contents

Who can be an educational supervisor on the RCPCH ePortfolio?

Before we add someone to RCPCH ePortfolio as an educational supervisor, they will need to meet these requirements:

  1. Be on the General Medical Council (GMC) specialist register1 OR have approved recognised trainer status on the GMC List of Registered Medical Practitioners (LRMP)
    AND
  2. Be working in the UK

What is expected?

The GMC defines an Educational Supervisor as "a trainer who is selected and appropriately trained to be responsible for the overall supervision and management of a specified trainee’s educational progress during a clinical training placement or series of placements." The Educational Supervisor is responsible for the trainee's Educational Agreement.

The GMC publishes information about trainers on the medical register, including doctors who have been recognised as a:

  • named postgraduate clinical supervisor
  • named postgraduate educational supervisor.

Doctors who hold either of these roles have a note on the medical register entry to say, "This doctor is a trainer recognised by the GMC".

The Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans of the United Kingdom (COPMeD) has created overarching principles to promote an excellent, supportive offer to trainees particularly in the final years of training. COPMeD expect the principles to underpin a strong, ongoing supportive approach for trainees in the longer term. We recommend all supervisors adhere to the principles which can be downloaded below.

Difference between a clinical supervisor and an educational supervisor

To continue to be recognised as a supervisor, trainers will be required to document evidence from the GMC's standards, which are listed below.

Standards Clinical Supervisor role? Educational Supervisor role?
1. Ensuring safe and effective patient care Yes Yes
2. Establishing and maintaining an environment for learning Yes Yes
3. Teaching and facilitating learning Yes Yes
4. Enhancing learning through assessment Yes Yes
5. Supporting and monitoring educational progress No Yes
6. Guiding personal and professional development No Yes
7. Continuing professional development as an educator Yes Yes

RCPCH ePortfolio as an educational supervisor

RCPCH ePortfolio is on the risr/advance platform (formerly Kaizen). It's the online tool for you and your trainees to review activities and monitor progress through the curriculum,and stores everything trainees do in their timeline. You can read our RCPCH ePortfolio guidance for supporting training.

Practically everything on RCPCH ePortfolio is trainee-led. This means that trainees start the forms.

All necessary supervision forms for your trainees are contained in the event Supervision Report (All Options), which offers:

  • Induction forms
    • induction meeting and personal development plan with educational supervisor
    • clinical supervisor induction meeting
  • Mid point review
  • Supervision report forms
    • clinical supervisor report
    • educational supervisor report (known as "ESTR" this is the important one for ARCP)
    • end of placement report - NOT for ARCP (specific guidance from deaneries will indicate when to use this form, it is usually the ESTR that is needed at the end of any post with educational supervision)

The other forms trainees should start are:

  • CSAC progression forms for sub-specialty trainees
  • Training post - very important as this ensures we have an accurate picture of training grades for trainees
  • Workplace based assessments (which also have versions that assessors or supervisors can start and send on to trainees for reflection and development)
  • Adding supervisors

Courses

We offer our Effective Educational Supervision course throughout the year - see upcoming EES courses.

A guide for educational supervisors in PAIID

In April 2021, the Paediatric Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Diseases CSAC published a new guide for educational supervisors working with trainees in that sub-specialty. Driven by the trainee reps, the guide aims to help supervisors really make supervision events count, and includes sections on the first report through to the last one pre-CCT. It's a great achievement for the CSAC, and the group hopes that other groups are inspired to develop their own.

You can download the guide below, and find out more in Siân Ludman's article about its development.