National Review of Nursing Education

Midwifery Education: Literature Review and Additional Material

Nicky Leap RM MA (UK)
Senior Research Fellow

and

Lesley Barclay RN RM BA Med PhD FCNA FACMI
Professor and Director

With assistance from

Elizabeth Nagy BA Dip Ed Grad Dip Psych
Athena Sheehan RN CM BN MN
Pat Brodie RN CM BA HSc MN
Sally Tracy RGON (NZ) CM Adv DipN (NZ) BNURS (NZ)

November 2001
Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs
Department of Health and Aged Care

ISBN 0 642 77244 4 (Online version)
DEST No. 6770.HERC01A

The authors are part of the AMAP Project funded by an ARC SPIRT Grant in association with Women's Hospitals Australia, NSW Health, South Australian Department of Human Services and the Australian College of Midwives.

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Authors

Nicky Leap RM, MSc (UK) DM candidate

Nicky Leap is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Family Health and Midwifery and she teaches at the University of Technology, Sydney. She is also a Visiting Scholar in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Flinders University, Adelaide. Nicky Leap is involved in curriculum development, teaching and research at her two university posts. Nicky has presented and published widely on midwifery and has gained an international reputation.

Examples of her relevant publications include:

Innovations in Postgraduate Midwifery Education: Responding to the identified needs of the profession
ACMI Bachelor of Midwifery Education Taskforce
The Introduction of 'Direct Entry' Midwifery Courses in Australian Universities: Issues, Myths and a Need for Collaboration.

Nicky's doctoral studies are focused on Australian midwifery education and are entitled 'Challenge and Change: Educating for Contemporary Midwifery in Australia'. Professor Lesley Barclay is her supervisor. She also works part time as a midwife in the Birth Centre, St George Hospital, Kogarah, Sydney.

Lesley Barclay RN RM BA MEd PhD FCNA FACMI

Lesley Barclay is a Professor and Director of the Centre for Family Health and Midwifery, University of Technology, Sydney and Principal Investigator of the Midwifery Practice and Research Centre, a NH&MRC Centre of Excellence.

Lesley Barclay is Australia's leading authority on midwifery education and has published extensively on the history and developmental needs of the midwifery profession and Australian midwifery education for over a decade. This was the subject of her Masters in Education by research in the early 1980s and has remained a research interest from this time.

Lesley's publications include:

The education of midwives in Australia: Current trends and future directions;
Where to now? Issues for Australian Midwives;
What are the origins of the regulation, training and practice of midwifery in Australia?

She has examined theses for 14 universities in Australia and overseas in the disciplines of medicine, sociology [of health], nursing, public health and primary health care, midwifery and education.

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Co-Authors

Pat Brodie RN CM BaHsc (Nsg) MN DM candidate - Senior Research Midwife
Elizabeth Nagy BA Dip Ed Grad Dip Psych - Researcher
Athena Sheehan RN CM BN MN - Senior Research Midwife
Sally Tracy RGON CM AdvDip BNURS MA - Senior Research Midwife

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Acknowledgments

This project is funded by the Department of Education, Science and Training. It is based at the Centre for Family Health and Midwifery, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health at the University of Technology, Sydney.

We would like to acknowledge the following contributing experts and contributors for their invaluable input into this review.

International Contributors ¹

Sally Pairman - New Zealand
Anne Nixon - Canada
Tina Heptinstall - United Kingdom
Beatrijs Smulders - Netherlands
Holly Powell Kennedy - United States of America

Australian Contributors

Janice Butt - Western Australia
Kathleen Fahy - Queensland.
Pam Shackleton - New South Wales

Other Contributors

Alana Street - Victoria
Pru Davey - South Australia

Production Editors

Ruth Worgan - New South Wales
Kim McEvoy - New South Wales

Explanatory Note:

This is the November 2001 version of the Review supplied by UTS to DETYA.

In the circumstances that much of the information required is unpublished, and that it takes time to generate this information from colleagues in Australia and overseas, the authors do not see this report as complete. In addition, we are drawing on empirical data from research in train. We believe this to be an invaluable resource worth continued effort and would seek to submit a further enhanced final document when outstanding data from direct relevant studies, is obtained and analysed. We will submit this amended review by January 30th 2002.

¹Contributors details Appendix A

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