‘More midwife teachers needed’

The RCM recommendation is for ten students to every teacher, but the new figures reveal the ratio was 13.5 students to every teacher in 2010.

The statistic shows a rise from 13 students in 2009, prompting RCM chief executive Cathy Warwick to call for increasing investment to train the next generation of midwives.

‘The future of midwifery will be shaped and determined by leadership in education and research today,’ she said.

‘Knowledge development and dissemination are critical components of any professional organisation, the recruitment and retention of midwifery educators is a growing challenge, especially as we face an ageing midwifery workforce and a rising birth rate, which is already stretching the workforce and impacting morale.

‘Meanwhile, midwifery educators need to be assured of an academic, as well as a clinical career pathway, to enable them to make career choices. 

‘There needs to be an increased investment in midwifery educators to recruit and retain them into the profession.

‘The more midwifery educators there are, the more support there will be for midwives and students in clinical practice.

‘Protecting and nurturing midwifery educators is a major challenge for the whole profession and one that we must all embrace.

‘There needs to be a seachange in the investment and support needed to recruit and retain the next generation of midwifery teachers.’

The RCM’s freedom of information request was for figures from 76 higher education institutions across the UK.

The results also show the South East had the highest average student to teacher ratio, of one teacher to 18 students.

While Wales had the lowest ratio, with one teacher to 10 students.

The results also reveal more than half of the midwife teachers surveyed are now aged 50 or older, while only 6% of midwife teachers are under 40 years old.