Master of Health Professions Education

Purpose

The primary purpose of the qualification is to enable health professionals to reflect critically on the theory and practice of teaching and training in the health professions and specifically clinical context to ensure that the health professionals they educate and train are competently prepared to meet the health needs of the country and comply with global standards. The qualification strives to deliver learners who can contribute to the development of knowledge at an advanced level so that they can be empowered to be competent specialists, leaders and authorities in the field of Health Professions Education (HPE), and health professions educational research and development. To be able to deliver health care professionals of a high standard, new knowledge must be generated in the field. The main purpose of the qualification thus is to deliver learners who are prepared for advanced and specialised professional employment in a knowledge-driven, research-oriented, health sciences educational context.

Rationale

The rationale for this specialist qualification for health professionals is to counter the lack of a health sciences education grounding in teachers/educators/trainers in Health Sciences Professions. When the qualification was established no other qualification of the kind existed in South Africa. On the premise of the global principles for teachers and trainers in health professions education (confer World Federation for Medical Education and World Health Organization), this qualification was designed to satisfy dire needs in health sciences in South Africa.

The need for health professionals in South Africa is common knowledge, and to ensure that their education and training are of the highest standards and comparable with global standards, the professionals who teach and train in our health sciences institutions need to be fully equipped not only as professionals in their field but to be able to apply educational principles and methodologies in their teaching and training. Therefore the rationale for the qualification can be summarised as a striving to prepare academic staff in health professions with a sound background in and knowledge of health professions education for their instructional roles according to the guidelines of the Health Professions Council of South Africa and within the context of their real-world experience of teaching and training learners in the health professions sciences.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

Where learners do not meet the minimum admission requirements, RPL may be used to grant access to the qualification. RPL will be applied according to the Recognition of Prior Learning, Credit Accumulation and Transfer, and Assessment policy. This will relate to both access to the qualification as well as for credit recognition or exemption towards achieving the qualification.

The institution will ensure that quality assurance processes that address the specificities of the RPL process (including applications, assessment, and reporting and management systems) are implemented; and that administrative and support systems, both prior and subsequent to RPL assessment, are in place.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirement for this qualification is

• A Bachelor's Honours' qualification, Level 8.

Or

• Relevant Post-Graduate Diploma, Level 8.

This qualification consists of the following compulsory and elective modules at National Qualifications Framework Level 9 totalling 240 Credits.

Compulsory Modules, Level 9,180 Credits

• Research Project and Script, 120 Credits.
• Introduction to Research Methodology, 20 Credits.
• Introduction to Health Professions Education and Training, 20 Credits.
• Health Professions Education and Training: Teaching, Leaning and Evaluation, 20 Credits.

Elective Modules, 60 Credits

• Concepts of Learning, 20 Credits.
• Quality Assurance in Health Professions Education, 20 Credits.
• Community Development, Design and Evaluation, 20 Credits.
• Managing Health Professions Education, 20 Credits.
• The Development of Professional Skills, 20 Credits.

1. Demonstrate specialist knowledge to enable engagement with and critique of current research or practice in health professions education; and demonstrate advanced scholarship or research ability in a particular health sciences educational field, discipline or practice.
2. Design, select and justify appropriate methods, techniques, processes, systems or technologies and to apply these to complex practical, clinical and theoretical problems in health professions education and research.
3. Design and implement a research strategy to critically review, process, analyse and manage information in the field of a health sciences profession to produce meaningful insights.
4. Demonstrate the use of academic and professional discourse to appropriately communicate information on the field of HPE to a range of audiences.
5. Derive creative insights from data/information collected in a of field HPE to construct rigorous interpretations.
6. Operate independently and take responsibility for own work, and if appropriate, to lead and initiate processes to ensure good management practice in a specific HP educational context.
7. Demonstrate personal learning strategies to sustain independent learning and professional and academic development, and interact effectively in a group.
8. Make interventions at an appropriate level within the HPE system with an understanding of relations within the system.
9. Make autonomous ethical decisions which affect knowledge production and professional issues, and critically contribute to the development of ethical standards in the context of Health Profession Education.

Integrated Assessment

Assessment approach: The institution's assessment policy, guidelines and approach are adhered to. An integrated and continuing assessment approach is followed. Formative, integrated assessment and summative assessment: Module assessments: Portfolios, assignments, practical demonstrations, reflective papers, group work and oral presentations are assessed. In all assessments learners must demonstrate to which extent the achievement of set outcomes has been attained. A module credit system applies, that is, promotion applies in modules (in other words: learners who achieve more than 65% need not sit for the summative assessment). If applicable, a written examination is taken for summative assessment of the modules. Dissertation is assessed by one internal and two external assessors, in accordance with the general regulations of the institution.