Introducing our series, 'Training principle of the month' for RCPCH Progress+

Our new two-level specialty training programme goes live from summer 2023. RCPCH Progress+ builds on our Progress curriculm, meeting the needs of tomorrow's trainees.
RCPCH Progress+ Training principle of the month

Over the next year, we'll take each of our 11 new training principles and share trainees' personal experiences, case studies and teaching resources. Dr Arpana Soni and Dr Hannah Opstad, trainee paediatricians, introduce the series with some thoughts and a helpful presentation!

What children and young people have said...

Thank you for being a paediatrician!

Young people have been working with the College, and established the main features we think are the most important when paediatricians are working with us.

We think doctors need to be:

  • Respectful, kind, supportive and friendly 
  • Empathic, understanding and actively listen 
  • Open minded and be aware of different backgrounds and experiences of young people 
  • And finally to keep being professional, positive and have a sense of humour. 
Picture by George

Young people feel that the best doctors are those who can listen to children and young people, and they want to ensure that the right people choose paediatrics  and love their occupation in the future.

You can find out more about what 100s of children and young people said their hopes and wishes were for their doctors of the future on Voice matters of the RCPCH Paediatrics 2040 website and you can watch our presentation, too.

Anwen, Bryn, Demi and Noor – Paediatrics 2040 youth authors from RCPCH &Us

Message from a trainee

Dr Hannah Jacob, who’s in her final year of paediatric training, tells us what stands out for her in our plans for RCPCH Progress+.

The training principles

In autumn 2020, the College published Paediatrician of the Future, which included the 11 new training principles for postgraduate paediatric training. Over the next year we'll be sharing resources for each principle, including case studies and examples of current practice, trainees' experiences and teaching templates.

  Principle and link to resources
1 Every patient encounter is a learning experience
2 Complex care provides rich learning opportunities
3 Clinical reasoning skills are explicitly taught within training
4 Patients and families are heard
5 A biopsychosocial approach is applied at all times
6 Leadership skills are developed and nurtured
7 Training time and learning opportunities are prioritised
8 Educational supervision is of a high quality and provides consistency
9 Morale and job satisfaction are improved
10 Assessment is used as a learning tool
11 Progression and length of training are personalised

Preparing for Progress+ - a presentation and more resources

We've put together a set of presentation slides introducing the new training programme pathway and the training principles - to help both trainees and educational supervisors prepare. Download below

You can also find more resources on our website...


Dr Arpana Soni and Dr Hannah Opstad are trainee paediatricians. Arpana is an ST7 at Whittington Health NHS Trust and Imperial Health NHS Trust with an interest in integrated care. Hannah is an ST8 who works at Barnet Hospital with an interest in integrated care, public health and safeguarding. Thanks to Arpana and Hannah for putting together the presentation this month.