(Postgraduate Diploma) Postgraduate Diploma
Medical and Clinical Education
Current
University of Essex
University of Essex
Health and Social Care (School of)
Colchester Campus
Postgraduate Diploma
By credit accumulation
Health Studies
Health Studies
Health Studies
DIP B904MO
08/06/2026
Details
Professional accreditation
None
Admission criteria
- Current registration with a relevant professional regulatory body.
- A relevant first degree, or equivalent e.g. professional experience and responsibility.
- Current involvement in teaching and assessing in practice, plus 3 years healthcare experience.
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) code
For non-native speakers of English, an IELTS score of 6.5 or a TOEFL score of 580/240.
If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.
Course qualifiers
A course qualifier is a bracketed addition to your course title to denote a specialisation or pathway that you have achieved via the completion of specific modules during your course. The
specific module requirements for each qualifier title are noted below. Eligibility for any selected qualifier will be determined by the department and confirmed by the final year Board of
Examiners. If the required modules are not successfully completed, your course title will remain as described above without any bracketed addition. Selection of a course qualifier is
optional and student can register preferences or opt-out via Online Module Enrolment (eNROL).
None
Rules of assessment
Rules of assessment are the rules, principles and frameworks which the University uses to calculate your course progression and final results.
Additional notes
None
External examiners
Prof Guillaume Alinier
Director of Research
Hamad Medical CorporationMrs Kelly Toni Turner
Lecturer
City St Georges University of London
External Examiners provide an independent overview of our courses, offering their expertise and help towards our continual improvement of course content, teaching, learning, and assessment.
External Examiners are normally academics from other higher education institutions, but may be from the industry, business or the profession as appropriate for the course.
They comment on how well courses align with national standards, and on how well the teaching, learning and assessment methods allow students to develop and demonstrate the relevant knowledge and skills needed to achieve their awards.
External Examiners who are responsible for awards are key members of Boards of Examiners. These boards make decisions about student progression within their course and about whether students can receive their final award.
Programme aims
Aims:
Systematic critical understanding
Provide learners with a systematic and critical understanding of the core concepts that underpin learning, teaching and assessment in health and social care contexts, aligned with contemporary regulatory and professional expectations for student support, learning and person-centred care.
Advanced educator capability
Enable health and social care professionals to develop advanced educational skills for designing, delivering, assessing and evaluating teaching, demonstrating measurable impact on learner competence and practice.
Lifelong professional development
Foster sustained habits of reflective practice and lifelong learning so that professionals maintain currency, meet continuing professional development requirements and responding to changing student, patient and system needs.
Quality and accountability
Equip educators to lead and contribute to quality assurance, enhancement and governance activities that ensure educational provision is defensible, transparent and supports student success and public protection.
Objectives:
Apply contemporary frameworks
Enable health and social care professionals to apply current educational, legal, ethical and regulatory frameworks to their teaching practice so learning activities promote student engagement and learning, person-centred care and professional accountability.
Demonstrate effective, evidence-informed practice
Equip educators to design and deliver effective teaching using evidence-informed approaches and inclusive pedagogies that produce measurable improvements in learner competence and performance.
Lead quality enhancement
Develop capacity to lead and participate in education related quality enhancement, curriculum assurance and continuous improvement initiatives using feedback and relevant research evidence to improve learning experiences and patient outcomes.
Build assessment competence
Ensure practitioners acquire assessment literacy to support reliable and valid assessment design that meets the needs of regulators, institutions and students.
Develop leadership and scholarly skills
Foster transferable employment skills including educational leadership, scholarly practice, curriculum development, research knowledge and effective interprofessional collaboration.
Support lifelong learning and professional development
Promote structured reflective practice and professional identity development that aligns with regulatory and employer requirements and demonstrable changes in practice.
Learning outcomes and learning, teaching and assessment methods
On successful completion of the programme a graduate should demonstrate knowledge and skills as follows:
A: Knowledge and understanding
A1: Demonstrate authoritative, systematic and critical knowledge of learning, teaching and assessment and apply this knowledge across complex health and social care education contexts.
A2: Critically evaluate and integrate advanced theoretical perspectives on education and assessment to lead evidence-informed practice, student support and curricular decisions.
A3: Analyse and critique models of organisational learning, governance and culture, and propose evidence-based strategies for systemic enhancement.
A4: Interpret, critique and apply quality assurance, accreditation and governance frameworks across educational and clinical settings.
A5: Critically appraise curriculum theory and design and construct defensible curriculum models and assessment strategies appropriate to complex health and social care educational contexts.
A6: Demonstrate critical appraisal methods to evaluate the quality, relevance and applicability of diverse evidence for educational decision making.
A7: Demonstrate critical understanding of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, their philosophical bases, strengths, limitations and appropriate uses in education research.
A8: Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of the research lifecycle, including research design, governance, ethics, consent, data protection and legal responsibilities in educational research.
Learning methods
A1-A8 are taught using interactive lectures; group work; tutorials; and through Moodle, namely online tutorials; online discussions; online articles.
Assessment methods
A1-A8 are assessed through coursework.
B: Intellectual and cognitive skills
B1: Critically synthesise, interpret and mobilise research evidence to design, justify and evaluate innovative educational interventions in health and social care.
B2: Lead rigorous synthesis and interpretation of evidence to evaluate organisational learning systems and prioritise evidence-based enhancements.
B3: Critically interpret policy and regulatory frameworks, operationalise them within educational activity and strategy and evaluate their impact on practice and learners.
B4: Use systematic appraisal and synthesis of evidence to inform curriculum design, alignment of outcomes, teaching and assessment and to justify curricular change.
B5: Produce sustained, critically analytical reflective accounts that integrate evidence, theory and personal practice to demonstrate learning and professional development.
Learning methods
B1-B5 taught using interactive lectures; group work; tutorials; and through Moodle, namely online tutorials; online discussions; online articles.
Assessment methods
B1-B5 assessed through coursework.
C: Practical skills
C1: Design and execute comprehensive, methodologically rigorous searches and evidence syntheses to support scholarship, evaluation and innovation.
C2: Translate advanced educational theory into original, defensible designs for teaching, assessment and workplace learning systems and evaluate their impact.
C3: Lead design, implementation and evaluation of educational innovations and role development, managing stakeholders and demonstrating measurable outcomes.
C4: Apply and evaluate reflective frameworks to support learner development, supervisory practice and continuous improvement in educational settings.
C5: Demonstrate advanced competence in designing, conducting and critically interpreting data collection and analysis using appropriate qualitative and quantitative techniques.
Learning methods
C1-C5 are taught using interactive lectures; group work; tutorials; and through Moodle, namely online tutorials; online discussions; online articles.
Assessment methods
C1-C5 are assessed through coursework.
D: Key skills
D1: Produce clear, analytic and well-argued scholarly and professional writing for academic, clinical and policy audiences.
D2: Facilitate and lead discussions, teaching sessions and stakeholder meetings, adapting communication to audience and medium.
D3: Confidently use and critically evaluate digital platforms and learning technologies to design, deliver and evaluate educational activity.
D4: Demonstrate autonomous, creative problem solving to manage complexity, make defensible decisions and lead improvement.
D5: Work collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams, negotiate shared goals and contribute to collective outcomes.
D6: Build and facilitate interprofessional relationships and learning, enabling collaborative practice and shared improvement.
D7: Use feedback and supervision to plan and demonstrate sustained professional development and to mentor others.
D8: Interpret and critically evaluate quantitative outputs, tables and statistical summaries to inform evidence-based decisions.
D9: Synthesize complex analyses into concise, actionable summaries and present implications clearly to varied audiences.
D10: Make timely, evidence-based decisions in complex, unpredictable contexts and justify rationale to stakeholders.
D11: Model reflective practice and facilitate reflective learning in colleagues and learners to enhance professional development.
D12: Manage time and resources effectively to meet professional deadlines and support teams to do the same.
Learning methods
D1 supported in small group class discussions and in online discussions and exercises.
D2 and D3 introduced in briefing day and is covered in online teaching demonstrations and supported IT laboratory work.
D4 promoted through online discussion and class group work.
D5 supported by small group work, online discussions and practical experience.
D6, D7, D9, D10, D11, D12 supported by structured feedback; enforcement of deadlines; practical experience; and encouragement of reflection in coursework and group tasks in class.
D8 supported by in class research methods teaching.
Assessment methods
D1 assessed through coursework portfolio.
D2 assessed through requirements to word process coursework and to cite references from internet sources.
D3-D12 are assessed through coursework, formative online assignments and practice assessments