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Becoming an Educational Supervisor and Re-approval

In order to become an Educational Supervisor/GP Trainer you need to attend a 5-day Prospective Educational Supervisor Course (PESC).

These are held about twice a year and are a requirement to apply to become an educational supervisor. Currently they are five days in length; the first two are residential followed by three further single non-residential days with two weeks between each one. There are usually about 18 to 24 participants. The format is a mixture of small and large group work. Most of the time is spent in a small group of about six participants. The small groups are led by experienced facilitators. The work is mostly experiential and will equip you well to start on your journey as a GP Educational Supervisor. You will discover about your own learning style and also some adult education theory. You are asked to bring a DVD of some of your own consultations and also one teaching session that you have conducted. You will have lots of opportunities to teach your peers and get useful feedback in a structured way from your peers. On one day GPRs and F2s come with DVD consultations, ethical and management problems to be taught by you. You will spend a lot of time learning about the new MRCGP exam from experienced examiners and recent successful candidates. You are required to complete an assignment based upon what you have learnt on the course.

The dates for the next Prospective Educational Supervisors (Trainers) Courses are:

  • Spring 2012 – 26 & 27 January, 9 & 23 February and 8 March 2012        To enrol, go to our Events page and scroll to January, 2012.
  • Autumn 2012 – 11 & 12 October, 25 October, 8 & 22 November 2012     To enrol, go to our Events page and scroll to October, 2012.

These are held at Eastwood Park, Fairfield, Gloucestershire.  The cost of the course is £500, but this will be reimbursed after initial approval as a GP Educational Supervisor.

Once you have completed the Prospective Educational Supervisor course you need to apply to become an Approved Educational Supervisor

Here is further information to help at this stage

Once you are an approved Educational Supervisor, you need to gain re-approval either after having a trainee (ST, F2, Retainer) for 12 months or 2 years after first approval, whichever is sooner.  Subsequent re-approvals are due 3 years after any previous approval. 

At this stage, you will need to attend a 2 day Experienced Educational Supervisors' Course (EESC)

They are experiential and fairly intensive. You work in a small group of about six GP educational supervisors with an experienced facilitator for three days. There are usually about 12 to 24 participants. This is when you get a chance to demonstrate your teaching skills using DVDs and role play and get immediate feedback and some challenge in a safe environment. You teach your peers and also ST3s & sometimes F2s. We use the Cambridge-Calgary process to get to where we need to be faster. The format is very flexible and will be adapted to the stated learning needs of the participants. There is a requirement from GMC to do one of these courses every three years between your re-approval visits. During the course you will be helped to produce a Mutually Agreed Statement of Learning (MASL) which will help to inform your educational CPD.

The dates for the next 2 day Experienced Educational Supervisors Courses are:

  • 19 & 20 April 2012            To enrol, go to our Events page and scroll to April, 2012.
  • 13 & 14 September 2012   To enrol, go to our Events page and scroll to September, 2012.
  • 18 & 19 October 2012       To enrol, go to our Events page and scroll to October, 2012.

These are held at Guyers House, Pickwick, near Corsham, Wilts SN13 0PS.  The cost of this course is £300.00 including £100.00 for evening meal, overnight accommodation & breakfast; £200.00 will be reimbursed shortly after course attendance.

Re-approval visits to Practices

Experienced Educational Supervisors and their practices are visited every three years as part of our QA process according to the Criteria for Training Practices. Much of the Trainer Criteria and (Re-)application form can be completed by the practice manager, whom the visiting team will be keen to meet. As the new application form is mapped to the Criteria the educational supervisor should be very familiar with the requirements.

At this visit the focus is very much on the learner’s experience thus it is important that all the learners in the practice e.g. ST3s & F2s are available to meet the visiting team. We also focus on the educational supervisor's educational facilitation skills. Part of this process is to look at a DVD of the educational supervisor teaching their current learner (F2, ST2 or ST3). The educational supervisor should provide a log of the teaching DVD, and should be prepared to show any part the DVD that visitors wish to look at. It is useful if the log is mapped against the Teaching Competencies. The team will wish to discuss the educational supervisor's development needs and will discuss their MASL from their last ETC. The visiting team is also keen to meet briefly other members of the PHCT, including doctors, who are involved in teaching the GP learners. If there are retainers in the practice it is useful to meet their supervisors. The visiting team will usually be led by the patch Associate Director and will include another educational supervisor and their GP Registrar. If there are two educational supervisors in the practice efforts will be made to make it a joint visit which then last up to four hours. We also have the Primary Care Specialty Training Service Level Agreement which should be completed by each trainer.

Faculty Course Cancellation Policy

As an Educational Supervisor, you will receive further advice from your local trainer group with which you will hopefully engage – please see the following websites for more information, depending on where you practice is based:

If you would like to arrange an informal chat with the Associate Postgraduate Dean for your area, please contact the appropriate Administrator: