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IT WASN'T UNTIL THE MID-1990S that UK universities began to off er programmes in midwifery. It was also the same time that UCAS was founded. Before then, to qualify as a midwife, there was the midwifery certifi cate or registered nurses could undertake a shortened course. Some 20 years on from the fi rst midwifery degree and the academic level that applicants need to achieve, before they can even be considered on a midwifery course, has soared. At some of the top universities, prospective undergraduates need at least 320 UCAS points (ABB at A-level - with one of those in a biomedical science), which is no mean feat. Th e midwifery students and recently qualifi ed midwives of today may well be some of the most academic in the profession's history, but do academic achievers with high IQs make good midwives?
'Th ree A*s does not always make a good midwife,' says LME and midwifery lecturer Nicky Clark. 'Being a good midwife is about being humanistic.' As admissions tutor at the University of Hull, Nicky knows all about the emphasis on academia and increasing UCAS tariff s - when the university fi rst off ered the midwifery degree for the long programme in 2002, 240 UCAS points (CCC at A-level) were needed, today 300 points are required (BBB at A-level).
Nicky tells Midwives that year on year there is pressure to increase the entry tariff for this course, but she queries where the evidence is for this. 'I understand why the higher tariff s are asked for - it's to meet one of the university's KPIs [key performance indicators], which is then refl ected in the league tables. Th is inevitably will reduce application numbers by limiting the number eligible to apply. What concerns me is the problem of student attrition - students aren't leaving halfway through their course due to academic failure, they're leaving because they are struggling with the reality that midwifery is not the profession they thought it was,' she says, adding that if students are not emotionally prepared, it aff ects resilience to the challenge of working in a highly emotive and demanding profession. She also says that increasing the tariff could, if anything, increase the attrition.
Emotional intelligence
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