Do I need to be working in a Practice in order to teach?

We welcome all interest from GPs to train to become teachers. All of our courses are Practice-based, we would normally 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 teaching student will be more problematical, but if you a locum and work regularly at a practice then some of our teaching options may be suitable.

What is the minimum/maximum teaching commitment?

There is none. We understand how busy you are so we try to be as accommodating and flexible as we can. Certain teaching options do however require minimum commitments, and some of our courses will require you and the Practice to run parallel consulting sessions so that the students have the chance to run their own clinics whilst at your Practice. Please refer to the teaching options section for the requirements.

How can I become an approved student teacher for Imperial College?

You will need to provide us with some standard information and complete our ‘new teacher’ form. This will provide us with some details about yourself and your teaching experiences to date. From this information we will then let you know whether we would require you attend our one day teacher training course prior to teaching our students. We hold a primary care teaching database which will record your details as one of our teachers.

Contact our Faculty Development Manager Nadine Engineer to enquire about becoming one of our approved teachers.

How can my Practice become approved for teaching students?

In most cases, if your Practice is new to teaching for Imperial College London then our Faculty Development Manager will carry out an informal visit in person to assess the learning environment and discuss the teaching options and experience of the proposed tutors.

In some cases we may not do this if the Practice already hosts students from other medical schools and/or is a postgraduate training practice.
We hold a primary care teaching database which will then record your Practice as one of our teaching sites.

Contact our Faculty Development Manager Nadine Engineer to enquire about becoming one of our approved teaching practices.

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 6 or 12 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 is a single student

How long do the students placements last?

These vary according to type of placement and can range from three weeks for year 5 students, 10 weeks for year 3 students, or a longer academic year for PCH students in year 1.  Please refer to the teaching options section for the requirements. 

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 student's 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.

I do not have any teaching qualifications, how do I book onto the one day teacher training course offered?

Please contact our Faculty Development Manager Nadine Engineer via email Alternatively you can call us on +44(0)20 7594 7455 

Please see the support and training for GPs section for dates and additional skills options.

How often are your teacher training courses run?

These are run every 2 months and cater for new teachers and for our cohort of existing teachers wanting to refresh their skills. It is a one day course with no pre-work or follow up, but once the full day is completed you will be eligible to teach Imperial College students and have received up to 7 hours of training that can be put towards NHS appraisal.

How long does the training take?

Imperial College provides a one day introductory course which is mandatory if you are starting to teach our students and have not had any/much previous teaching experience or completed any other teaching qualifications (e.g. PG Cert, Masters in education, ITTPC).

How much does the course cost?

For brand new teachers £120. This costs is refundable within 1 year if you subsequently start teaching students for us.

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 base teaching opportunities?

All of our primary care undergraduate courses focus on the student experience in a GP practice. We therefore do not have campus based teaching opportunities and do not advertise or recruit to these.

How can I become an Imperial College teaching fellow or Course Lead with a formal departmental role?

Opportunities to become a teaching fellow or course lead are advertised via the Imperial College website and on occasions also on jobs.ac.uk. Such roles arise periodically and not on a scheduled basis.

How do I become a student examiner for Imperial?

In order to become an examiner for Imperial College London you will need to have first become one of our approved GP tutors and subsequently taught medical students within your practice for the course 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 can I participate in medical school student entry interviews?

You will need to be a practising GP and preferably one of our approved GP tutors in order for us to put your name forward to participate in the medical school entry interviews. An annual call to GPs in our existing community of tutors is made, interviews are normally held every in March. We are keen to ensure there is a community GP presence on interview panels for medical school entry.

Who can I contact for more information?

Please contact Nadine Engineer if you have further questions that are not covered here.