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The following four trainer roles are subject to the General Medical Councils’s (GMC) trainer recognition arrangements:

Undergraduate education

  • Those responsible for overseeing students’ progress at each medical school: One or more doctors identified by a medical school who are responsible for overseeing students’ trajectories of learning and education progress.They might be NHS consultants or clinical academics acting as block or course coordinators.

  • Lead coordinators at each local education provider: One or more doctors at each Local Education Provider responsible for coordinating the training of students, supervising their activities and ensuring these activities are of educational value.

Postgraduate training

  • Named educational supervisors: A trainer who is selected and appropriately trained to be responsible for the overall supervision and management of a trainee’s trajectory of learning and educational progress during a placement or series of placements. Every trainee must have a named educational supervisor. The educational supervisor helps the trainee to plan their training and achieve agreed learning outcomes. He or she is responsible for the educational agreement and for bringing together all relevant evidence to form a summative judgement at the end of the placement or series of placements.

  • Named clinical supervisors: A trainer who is responsible for overseeing a specified trainee’s clinical work throughout a placement in a clinical or medical environment and is appropriately trained to do so. He or she will provide constructive feedback during that placement. He or she will lead on providing a review of the trainee’s clinical or medical practice throughout the placement that will contribute to the educational supervisor’s report on whether the trainee should progress to the next stage of training. This role is disaggregated from clinical supervision, which is something that every doctor does in clinical practice. The GMC states that this essential contribution needs to be “properly resourced and supported” but this role does not require formal recognition by the GMC.

See if you are eligible to take on a trainer role.