Health Professions Education

RCSI provides healthcare professionals with a wide range of teaching, learning and educational research opportunities, from formal qualifications to in-house training sessions.

Our aim is to equip health professions educators with evidence-based teaching and learning strategies to help them to utilise contemporary learning theories within practical teaching contexts. We also aim to connect health professions educators with each other; nurturing a vibrant community of like-minded professionals.

The programme – designed by RCSI’s Health Professions Education Centre – is tailored to the needs for both experienced and early career educators, and aims to enable participants to develop the knowledge and skills required to provide high-quality educational experiences for learners in an academic and/or clinical environment.

It also provides an understanding of the landscape around health professions education and contemporary learning theories, as well as practical expertise in assessment and feedback methods, instructional design, educational evaluation and health professions education research.

Why RCSI?
Follow in the path of former students who have embraced 230 years of teaching excellence. Driven by the promise of 'leading the world to better health', RSCI has been at the forefront of international healthcare education since our establishment in 1784, and we have a worldwide reputation for delivering excellent Undergraduate and Postgraduate health professions education.

RCSI's singular healthcare focus is evident through all our Postgraduate programmes, offering innovative, insight-rich and immersive development opportunities for both current and future leaders in healthcare.

Course details
The Postgraduate Diploma in Health Professions Education is an accredited teaching qualification delivered at level 9 of the National Framework of Qualifications, which is tailored to the needs of health professionals who support learners in clinical and non-clinical settings.

Learning on this online programme is supported by a 'Community of Inquiry' pedagogical model, meaning that you will learn with and from peers, experienced clinicians and academics within the field of health professions education.

Learning will also be supported through weekly synchronous (webinars, small group tutorials, teaching demonstrations) and asynchronous (videos, interactive web-based content, discussions, self-directed reflections) activities. Instructional design for learning resources will be guided by best practice in higher education including universal design for learning (UDL) principles (AHEAD, 2021), and contemporary approaches to formative and summative assessment (National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2021).

In the first semester you will be introduced to health professions education, and what it means to build your identity as an educator. Module one offers a foundation in educational theories that help to explain how learning takes place, and can be nurtured, in health professions education settings. Module two provides in-depth learning around evidence-based teaching and learning methods which can be used in a variety of health professions education settings.

In the second semester, you will be introduced to the topic of assessment and feedback in health professions education, as well as how to evaluate sessions, modules and programmes.

The programme modules are as follows:

Module name Credits Assessment method

Introduction to Health Professions Education 15 Online activities (individual and group)/teaching demonstration

Principles of Teaching and Learning 15 Online activities (individual and group)/teaching demonstration

Assessment as/for/of Learning in Health Professions Education 15 Online activities (individual and group)/teaching demonstration

Curriculum Design and Evaluation 15 Online activities (individual and group)/teaching demonstration

To apply for the Postgraduate Diploma in Health Professions Education, you must:

Hold a bachelor degree. (If you don’t hold a bachelor degree, see the recognition of prior learning pathway outlined below)
Be working in the healthcare industry
Meet the English language requirements (unless exempt): IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent score on another standardised test (certified proof should be uploaded with your application; see below for exemptions)

This one-year part-time programme takes place over two academic semesters: two modules are completed in the first semester (September-December) and two modules are completed in the second semester (from January onwards).

Online programme.

Start date September 2024