Not to sound like mystic meg, but I knew something like this would happen.
After the bursary went, I think many of us thought it was only a matter of time before midwifery applicant numbers went down. And the obvious solution to that is to provide some more funding to get midwives into the profession.
I’ve been stalking the RCM website for news about this situation and of course, up popped a post on ‘Midwifery Apprenticeships’. These courses are currently being created, looking to take their first midwifery candidates in 2019.
It’s big news for anyone wanting to become a midwife in the UK.
Apprenticeships train you while working and the government pay course fees while you receive a wage.
I love the idea – you shouldn’t have to pay for your qualification and getting a wage on the job is an even bigger endorsement of the importance of midwives
But I’m gutted for the students currently getting a midwifery degree and paying for their course fees as well as taking out a big loan so they can live.
The course fees only disappeared in 2016/7 and at the time the government seemed to think they’d get even more midwives applying. Something about student midwives being able to borrow more money so they’d be more solvent while training.
I don’t think anyone was fooled by the concept of having more debt being better for us, but regardless some aspiring midwives love the profession so much they chose to train regardless.
But some couldn’t, for financial reasons.
There is the argument that a midwifery degree is a higher qualification worth paying for. An apprenticeship might not open up as many options, especially if you want a Masters or to go into research.
But as a route to becoming a practising midwife, it’s a solid option.
In terms of whether midwives need to be academic and have a degree, there are a few ways of looking at it.
A degree can give you the skills to assess research and this is needed to practice with critical awareness. But frankly I have a degree and the most I’ve understood on this subject has been from Ben Goldacre’s ‘Bad Science’ and there excellent free podcasts and blogs that can teach you this stuff if you’re motivated.
There are plenty of midwifery mentors out there who don’t have a degree or a diploma and they seem amazing at their jobs.
I suspect that different strengths on the shop floor is a good idea; if some midwives come from apprenticeships and they’re amazing at co-ordinating a busy ward and dextrous at tricky clinical skills, and some midwives come from degrees with advanced knowledge of research, women will get better care overall. Different training options might help us play to our strengths.
So good might come out of this situation yet.
I can’t help but be frustrated about the government taking away the bursary and then having to address the lack of candidates with an apprenticeship. Could they not have just listened and left things as they were?
Adapting to the political situation has always been part of a midwifery role, however 🙂
What are your thoughts?
Are apprenticeships a good idea, helping bring practically minded midwives into the profession?
Or is it unjust to the midwives currently training and paying for their courses?
Let me know in the comments!
Much Love, Ellie x
P.S. Yesterday my novel 'New Walk' went to print.
I spent four years working on it.
I'm so grateful to have been able to complete it, for the experiences that led to it, for the guts and soul of midwifery that I was able to spend time with while writing, for Pinter & Martin deciding it had a place on their list.
I'm a little sorrowful that I don't get to spend time writing inside this book anymore but mostly joyful.
Thanks for your giant-hearted support.
Time for a glass of wine
Links for New Walk:
Available for preorder from: https://goo.gl/iV9z6C
Kindle version available for preorder at: https://goo.gl/nJJ1WK
This has left me feeling super frustrated. I’ve just come to the end of my first year and it’s been a successful year. However, with three children and no desire to get into research or do a masters, an apprenticeship would have been perfect for me, especially not ending up in so much debt in my 30s with a mortgage and 3 children to support! No matter, it is what it is!
It is very annoying! Good for the profession that it won’t be left floundering – but really not fair on many!
Common sense, at last. How sad for those dedicated students who had this possibility denied to them. If you begin training as a member of the Armed Forces you are immediately on a salary. The same with police and the fire service Why not midwives, nurses, paramedics? Isn’t the current system of work placement little more than an unpaid internship which is so widely criticised?
I think for those not aspiring to a masters etc, it’s a great idea. I love love love what I do… But I can’t help feeling a little gutted and undervalued that I’m going to be nearly £60k in debt by the time I’m finished and am going to be sacrificing a lot more time with my children as I’m going to have to start working as I go into year 2, to support my family as well as doing the full time degree.
I fully agree that they are very worthy of no course fees and a wage, but I don’t understand how the people doing the apprenticeship are and those doing the degree aren’t. ?
I know – it makes no sense!
I’m excited by this! I haven’t been able to pursue my dream due to the financial implications of studying at university. I hope to be one of the first or second cohorts of apprentices, if my local hospital offers them.
Great to hear this will help you Jennie!
Hi Ellie I am so excited about this. How do you apply? X
Although apprenticeships are a great way of training I find it difficult to imagine how it’s going to work in reality when there aren’t enough mentors for students at the moment. Also, it’s infuriating to think so many students will end up with over £60k worth of debt, yet apprentices will get their fees paid and receive a wage whilst training – this is a huge kick in the teeth for current students. Plus I can’t help thinking, is this the end of midwives??? Will we end up with higher level support workers and obstetric doctors just like America?? ??
I really hope not. There is a consultation you can take part in here: https://haso.skillsforhealth.org.uk/news/midwife-trailblazer-update/ (5 days left to be involved)
I have just completed year 2 of my degree….. I think that earning a wage while you learn is more than justified. My bursary barely covers petrol money, and working the hours we do it is impossible to fit in a part time job.
I appreciate that we are not trained and so a full salary would not be appropriate, however there are days when I feel as students we are taken advantage of in the name of learning.
Anything that brings the right people to the job can only be a positive…..
Yes, a positive overall but it’s still a disappointing path. I really wish you got reimbursed expenses!
Being paid to train would be amazing but I think completing a degree as opposed to an apprenticeship has a lot of positives. A university education teaches you to think for yourself, rather than blindly accepting ways of doing things just because ‘that’s the way things have always been done’. So I’m pro degree but I think we should be paid something. My friend is starting a pgce in September and he’s getting a crazy amount of funding – it’s a bit frustrating when we get nothing!
Hi Annie! I agree you should be paid for midwifery. I wonder if the apprenticeship course will have research critique attached though, seems an important part of midwifery?
Will there be enough jobs for midwives graduating from university? As there will be apprentices working in the hospitals who will most likely stay on once they have their qualifications!
I can’t help wandering what to do for the best now! I am due to start in September after applying 4 times, both when there was funding and no funding, which shows I am committed. But the thought of the next three years of hard work whilst getting into massive debt, and whilst working alongside other midwives in training who are getting paid! I feel a bit fed up.
I mean it’s great for those people who weren’t able to peruse the career once the funding had gone, but I think we should all be treated the same! At least pay us an apprentice wage while we are in placement if nothing else!!
I agree, there should be a wage or reimbursement. I think jobs will always be available places like London and the Midlands but it might be harder further up North or in Scotland. There is a deficit of midwives currently – it’s just whether trusts have enough money to employ more.
I’m one of the very fortunate few to be awarded a secondment from my trust to do my degree, it has literally been life changing as I would not of been able to afford to train as a midwife without my wage. I do think this is the way forward, I’m not sure how it will differ from the current degree but I certainly think there are hundreds of excellent support workers who just need that little bit of financial help to train. To me it makes perfect sense for students to be recruited from within the current workforce and to be helped on the path of career progression
I’m so excited to hear this…I’m currently working as an MCA after 3 failed attempts to get on the degree course!
This would be fantastic as I too am having to put my plans on hold due to the funding being withdrawn. I work with midwives who don’t have degrees and they are amongst to best, most capable, knowledgeable staff on our team! Let’s hope this all comes off…brilliant plan!
I have really mixed feelings about this. I think if there weren’t already a generation of student midwives who are having to pay for their education and who have been told despite having to pay back a loan it will be means tested and assumptions about who is going to financially support you during your degree. I know people in my cohort who are stepping off due to financial pressures and I know I have been given the minimum loan and had to take a job in order to actually fund a life!! I think that while this is being looked at they also need to consider those who are being penalised by the governments for the change to a system that actually worked
I’m a student nurse, and my uni is already running an apprenticeship programme for nurses.
At least for nursing apprentices, the academic content of the apprenticeship programme is identical. It is a *degree* apprenticeship, so the apprentices have to be exactly as academic as the traditional-route students. They will leave the programme with a BSc, and to be fair I doubt anyone will ever ask if that BSc was self-funded or funded by the trust.
The difference is that the programme is delivered over four years, instead of three, to allow the apprentices to keep working alongside (since their trust funds their degree). I would be very surprised if midwifery apprenticeships weren’t also degree apprenticeships.
There are some other differences–part of the placement component is delivered in the apprentice’s place of work. This works okay for nursing apprentices, since HCAs do often deliver advanced clinical skills, but my impression is that MSWs don’t do as much hands-on clinical work and assessment. I could be wrong? But if so, their usual employment will be an inappropriate way to accrue placement hours.
Nursing apprentices also struggle to be viewed as supernumerary when they are in ‘student’ hours, but I think this may be less of a problem for midwifery than nursing, for the same reason as above — the skill mix is very different.
Hi Ellie,
I think this would be a good opportunity for a lot of individuals wanting to go into the profession who couldn’t due to financial situations. I remember when I didn’t get in to the last cohort that had the bursary I was gutted that I didn’t get in. Due to personal circumstances I couldn’t apply after that.
Now I feel ready to give it another go at getting in..after a few years of not applying.
So this for me and for many others is a ray of hope.
For others it will not seem fair and that is completely understandable, as I know I’d feel the same.
It would be good if somehow their debt got reduced. We don’t know what the future holds but hopefully something good will come for everyone.
Hi Ellie,
Congrats on the book. Can’t wait to lay my hands on a copy.
I am really confused by the apprenticeship scheme that is “hopefully” being brought in. I’m just starting my journey currently volunteering and starting my access in September.
As an aspiring midwife I have no idea as yet which direction I want to take my midwifery career and I think this would be the same for many, you can’t say what you TRUELY like or dislike until you’ve had a goid taste of it. I have ideas on the “type” of midwife I aspire to be and upon doing research ideas and practices I like and don’t like. ( at this point I’m very naive) .
I have no idea how to get onto an apprenticeship what the requirements are. Would you already need some form of clinical expertise? I would assume this would be the case. Is the apprenticeship still partly university based? And your paid to do your placements. Otherwise how would you learn about the background of the clinical skills? And what your doing and why?
Would the apprenticeship scheme put already trained midwives under even more pressure?
Also with bullying in midwofery already being such a problem would the apprentices be looked down upon by trained midwives who have worked hard for thier degrees?
I understand why the government are doing it . Again I think they are being very blindsided to how the midwives will get there and all the grey areas in between. And just focusing on the end result. In theory it’s possibly a good idea. In reality it could open a whole new can of worms.
Now we have thousands of want to be midwives left with the conundrum of which direction to take.
The NHS is already in so much debt and we are always hearing on the news about short falls. Nurses and midwives did not get thier promised pay rises. So who’s funding these apprenticeships?
If it’s the governments why don’t they give universities more funding to provide more training places and ask them to lower thier targets for enrolling students?
I.e I don’t have my science g.c.s.e but am doing a science based access course which technically will over write my 18 year old g.c.s.e, but have been told by some universities to pay the £450 for my igcse which has to be completed before I apply as they use it for enrolement purposes because the competition is so high they have to weedle out candidates some how. ?.
The whole process of getting into midwifery is just so difficult/ stressful and complicated.
Sorry for the very long post xxxx
I am a practising Midwife of 20 years service in the NHS and I am sceptical ? – whilst I can see this training method will increase student numbers I can’t but think this is a means of employing more Midwives and paying them less!
I’ve said this for a while as the hospital I work in offers this for people wanting to become nurses but not midwives. I was lucky enough to be offered a place at university but unfortunately due to financial implications I was unable to accept the place. This would be an amazing thing to do. I wish my hospital offered it. Fingers crossed ?
This would be amazing! I’m struggling to find the article on the RCM website about it, do you have a link to share?
Thanks!
Just here Sarah 🙂 https://www.rcm.org.uk/learning-and-career/apprenticeships
I think that it’s a fantastic opportunity for those that don’t wish to pursue further degrees/research. Naturally very gutting for me to find this out after applying to start this year and pay for the next 3 years whilst working along those who are being paid for the same job. Not at all criticising those who go for the apprenticeship as it’s amazing; just wish the government would help compensate those who already applied to university. Even if a minimum wage was given to students to help cover parking I think it would be a massive improvement
I have a bit of mixed feelings about it. I think even in your daily life as a midwife you have to be in contact with research, evidence, guidelines, etc. The women we look after are everytime better informed, and as a midwife I like being able to discuss with women existing evidence, guidelines, new research, etc. I don’t feel I got any of that while in placement and it was thanks to the academic side of the training. While I agree its good news overall that there is another way of entering the profession, I feel midwives might not be getting this other side of midwifery, which in my case is the one that helps me be critical about my own work, and thinking outside the box.
I think this is fantastic especially for rural areas. I would have trained as a midwife much earlier if I didn’t have to travel so far to university. Developing our local talent who understand the challenges rural living bring makes a lot of sense.