Government vets focus on lifelong learning

Public sector veterinary surgeons should take advantage of the opportunities presented by the introduction of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons' new postgraduate modular certificate.

That was the message from Brigadier Andrew Warde to a group of Government Veterinary Surgeons (GVS) at a recent event entitled "The Future of Veterinary Education".

The audience comprised members of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps and representatives from Defra, Animal Health, the Meat Hygiene Service and the RCVS.

A range of presentations were made, starting with Captain Jonathan Woodcock, Commanding Officer of the School of Marine Engineering. The School's typical entrant, with an average reading age of 14 and few qualifications post-GSCE, may not match the typical veterinary student profile. Yet Captain Woodcock's points were equally applicable to veterinary learning.

He emphasised the importance of matching teaching styles to learning needs. This had brought benefits, both in terms of cost-savings through efficiency (amounting to over £90,000 per year) and motivation.

For example, he discovered that allowing trainees to keep their mobile phones on during study sessions reduced anxiety about missing messages, which could have led to lapses in concentration. Multi-sensory learning environments also brought positive results.

Next was Freda Andrews, Head of Education at the RCVS, who outlined recent developments in postgraduate education. She explained how the new modular postgraduate Certificate had been developed to better suit the learning needs of veterinary surgeons in practice.

"Recognition that there was a high drop-out rate for the current Certificate prompted a rethink," she said. "There was no credit given for partial achievement and a more accessible route was required."

By offering candidates a longer enrolment period, to allow for lifestyle and career changes, and a more flexible approach to building credits, the new framework is suitable for those wishing to take a specific, named certificate or to achieve the more general Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice (CertAVP).  The credits are also bankable as continuing professional development (CPD).

In addition to the compulsory modules, which focus on core professional and clinical skills, there is scope for a range of specific modules to be developed. The RCVS would welcome suggestions for modules from the GVS, providing they were assessed in association with a university for quality assurance purposes, she said.

Dr Bradley Viner, chairman of the RCVS Subcommittee on modular certificates, added a personal dimension by describing his involvement with the newly-established CertAVP (Veterinary General Practice). Stressing the importance of lifelong learning, he said: "Learning is a journey without a destination… if you reach the destination it's time to think about retiring!"

Bradley's journey had led him to join a 'learning set' at Middlesex University, recognised as the National Centre for Work-based Learning, where he helped to develop the Middlesex version of the GP Certificate, stressing that in the medical sector, working as a GP was an accepted option, whereas in veterinary practice, becoming more specialised was often seen as the only route for development.

The RCVS Trust Library is a powerful resource for all veterinary surgeons, not just those engaged in postgraduate education, according to Librarian Myai Du. She described the online and offline resources available, which include access to over 2,000 online journals and the facility to set subject alerts so that new information in a chosen field is delivered to the desktop. Case histories for the existing certificates are also accessible from the library.

Finally, the group heard from Javier Dominquez from the Meat Hygiene Service, who had been involved with the development of an Official Veterinarian qualification which was in the process of being converted into a module for the RCVS Certificate.

He explained how it was possible to integrate existing courses into the modular Certificate framework, providing they could be assessed in association with a university (in this case, likely to be Bristol and Glasgow).

There is plenty of scope for the GVS to develop modules for the CertAVP, according to Colonel Dougie Macdonald, who chaired the event: "Opportunities are there, we need to be active in defining what is appropriate for the GVS and taking our suggestions to the RCVS," he said.