Programme for health professional educators

Skills improvement: UCT has launched a postgraduate diploma to improve the teaching abilities of health professionals.

Health educators are now set to improve their skills, thanks to a postgraduate diploma in health professional education, launched by UCT in January.

Organised by the Education Development Unit (EDU) in the Faculty of Health Sciences, the one-year programme (it can also be done over two years) sets out to strengthen participants' knowledge and skills in health professional education, specifically in the areas of teaching and learning within a primary health care system and curriculum.

"The programme will enable working health professionals to reflect critically on the theory and practice of teaching in the classroom and in the clinical context," says the EDU in a statement. "This will play a part in ensuring that health professionals are competently prepared to meet the health needs of the country."

Seventeen students from various disciplines, including radiography, emergency services, dentistry, medicine, environmental health, orthopaedics, blood transfusion services and physiotherapy, are participating.

Two weeks of on-campus training ended on 27 January. Students will continue with their studies online until they return for a face-to face block at UCT in November.