Do I need to be working in a practice in order to teach?
We welcome interest from all GPs keen to teach our medical students. All our placements are practice-based. We would usually expect your practice to provide a room and patients, but it will depend on the teaching option that you sign up for. If you do not have a regular practice base, but are working regularly at a practice as a sessional GP, some of our teaching options may be suitable.
How can I become an approved teacher for GP placements?
You will need to complete our ‘new teacher’ form with details about yourself and your teaching experiences to date. We will then let you know whether we would require you to attend our teacher training course before teaching our students. Our primary care teacher database will record your details as one of our teachers.
If you are interested in becoming an approved teacher, please contact Ann-Kathrin Bartels.
How can my practice become approved for teaching students?
If your practice is new to teaching for Imperial College London, we may visit to assess the learning environment and discuss the teaching options and experience of the proposed tutors.
Where in London do you require teaching practices?
The bulk of our teaching is undertaken in North-West London, West London and South-West London. We also require training practices outside London for our final year students who spend 4 weeks on placements across the UK (year 6 GPSA).
How many students would I be required to teach?
Patients, Communities and Healthcare (Years 1 and 2) tutors teach groups of 4 or 8 students
Medicine in the Community Apprenticeship (Year 3) is one pair of students
General Practice and Primary Health Care (Year 5) is up to 2 students
General Practice Student Assistantship (Year 6) is a single student
How long do the student placements last?
These vary according to type of placement and can range from 3 weeks for year 5 students, 8-9 weeks for year 3 students, or a longer academic year for PCH students in year 1. Please refer to our placement overview page for details.
Can I still teach if there is already a GP teacher at my practice?
Yes. We are happy for two or more GPs at the same practice to function separately and provide several student placements where this is practical. We would also be happy for two GPs to share the teaching responsibility as long as one took overall responsibility for the students' supervision, assessment and pastoral care. The majority of placements require one designated named supervisor to be provided for the student/s and one named deputy supervisor to ensure cover for tutor annual leave/sickness.
How often are your teacher training courses run?
These are run approximately every 2 months and cater for new teachers and for our cohort of existing teachers wanting to refresh their skills.
How much does the course cost?
For existing Imperial College teachers, the course is free.
For trainees (STs and Foundation,) the course is free.
Do I get paid for teaching students?
Payment for teaching is made to practices and not to individual GPs.
Do you have any campus-based teaching opportunities?
All of our primary care undergraduate courses focus on placements in GP practices. We do have a limited number of campus-based opportunities to teach year 5 and 6 students. If you have experience as a student supervisor or a teaching qualification, and are available on Mondays and/or Fridays, please do get in touch.
How can I become an Imperial College Teaching Fellow or Placement Lead with a formal departmental role?
Opportunities to become a Teaching Fellow or Placement Lead are advertised via the Imperial College website and on jobs.ac.uk
How do I become an examiner for Imperial College London students?
To become an examiner for Imperial College London, you will need to first become one of our approved GP tutors and subsequently teach medical students within your practice for the year that you are examining. For example, to become a Year 3 OSCE examiner, you will need to have been teaching our Year 3 Medicine in the Community Apprenticeship course for at least one term. GP tutors already teaching this course are automatically invited to become examiners.
How will my data be stored?
We maintain a database of all GP teachers and practices who have taught for us in the past 7 years.
Who can I contact for more information?
Please contact Ann-Kathrin Bartels or Tom Rozier-Hope if you have further questions that are not covered here.
