Pre-registration midwifery education: Do learning styles limit or liberate students?

Abstract

In 1995, all pre-registration health education moved into higher education, signalling a shift from the apprenticeship model to an academic one. Since 2008, the Nursing and Midwifery Council has required all pre-registration midwifery programmes to be offered at degree level only, with a required practice-to-theory ratio of no less than 50% practice and no less than 40% theory. Individual education institutions vary in how these requirements are met in terms of learning and teaching strategies. This article explores literature in relation to the 'learning styles' pedagogical approach, which advocates that all students have a particular preferred learning style and will learn best if they are allowed to learn in their preferred style. The key question is: What are the most appropriate learning and teaching strategies to support student midwives to develop the skill set required to meet the demands of contemporary practice?

Active blended learning for clinical skills acquisition: innovation to meet professional expectations

“…There is ongoing debate in relation to how adults best learn, with the suggestion that the 'learning styles' pedagogical approach might limit rather than enhance the acquisition and retention of information (Power and Farmer, 2016). An alternative approach would be to adopt the most appropriate strategy for the topic or skill to be learned (topic-specific) rather than teaching according to the 'preference' of the learner (learning-style-specific) as identified by a self-audit test such as VAK/VARK which classifies students as visual, aural/auditory, read/write, or kinaesthetic learners (Vark Learn Ltd, 2017).…”