The MINT project--an evaluation of the impact of midwife teachers on the outcomes of pre-registration midwifery education in the UK.

Objective: to explore the contribution of midwife teachers in preparing student midwives for competent practice.

Design: a three phase design using qualitative and quantitative approaches. Phase one involved UK wide on-line questionnaire surveys, phase two was a case study method in six UK approved education institutions and phase three was a diary study with newly qualified midwives.

Participants: phase one included all UK Lead Midwives for Education (LMEs), midwife teachers and Local Supervising Authority Midwifery Officers; phase two participants were three year and shortened programme student midwives, midwife teachers, LMEs and programme leads from each of the four countries; and phase three included a sample of newly qualified midwives graduating from the case study sites and their preceptors and supervisors of midwives.

Findings: midwife teachers were valued for their unique and crucial role in supporting the application of knowledge to midwifery practice. Visibility and credibility were two key concepts that can explain the unique contribution of midwife teachers. These concepts included being able to support skills acquisition, understanding of contemporary midwifery practice, having a role in practice contexts and able to offer personal support. Visibility of teachers in practice was vital for students and mentors to assist students put their learning into practice and monitor learning and assessment decisions.

Conclusions And Implications For Practice: given the complexity of midwifery education a team approach is essential in ensuring the effectiveness of these programmes. This requires a sufficient differentiation of midwife teacher roles to deliver the pre-registration curriculum. A set of resource quality indicators is proposed to support midwife teacher teams achieving sufficient clinical and academic expertise to deliver effective education programmes.