Bernadette Gregory and Dr Zaheera Essat, De Montfort University Maxine Chapman, University of Leicester The need to decolonise midwifery education is supported by the stark statistics of the recent MBBRACE Report (Knight et al 2022) which provides evidence of the difference in maternal outcomes for global majority women when compared to white women in the UK. Black women are 3.7 times more likely to die in pregnancy, childbirth and up to a year postnatally than white women; South Asian women are 1.8 times and mixed-race women are 1.3 times more likely to die (Knight et al 2022). These statistics required action. Large scale reports from Birthrights (2022) and Five X More (Peter and Wheeler 2022) made recommendations for midwifery education to increase teaching and learning about the needs and care of racialised minority women. Responding to these calls to action, the RCM has now collaborated with midwives, academics, clinicians, students, maternity support workers, sociologists, service users and representatives from support groups across the UK to co-produce a toolkit that has now been sent to every UK University that runs a Midwifery course. It aims to provide a checklist of considerations for midwifery educators when recruiting for, planning, delivering and assessing midwifery education. It offers suggestions for best practice and questions to reflect on one’s own and an institutions’ practices in its’ recruitment processes, the content and delivery of the curriculum: how to create inclusive assessments and, as midwifery students spend as much as 40-50% of their course in clinical practice, it also offers recommendations how these clinical practice areas, as well as University settings, to create a welcoming community and a sense of belonging for students and staff to learn and work in. It is hoped that by improving racial literacy and decolonising midwifery education it will lead to a greater understanding of the needs of women from all races, ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds. This presentation was delivered at Reimagining Higher Education: journeys of decolonising at De Montfort University, Leicester, on Wednesday 8th November 2023.

1. Decolonising Midwifery
Education Toolkit
RCM Decolonising Stakeholder Group

2. Background
• Toolkit inspired by a student
webinar on decolonising the
curriculum.
• Stakeholder groups set up:
students, MSW, midwives,
Lecturers, PMA, Fellows,
NMC, RCOG, RHO, sociologist,
anthropologist, MVP, service
users and the RCM.
• Two face-to-face workshops,
Hot topic session at Annual
Conference.
A
Enter your
text here
enter your
text here

3. The aim of this toolkit is to
empower midwifery educators
to challenge the implicit and
explicit legacies of colonial
perspectives in all aspects of
midwifery education.
A

4. EDI & the RCM
• Equality, Diversity and
Inclusion Team
• Race Matters
• Student Midwife
Forum EDI and Race
Matters reps
A
Enter your
text here
enter your
text here

5. Recruitment
University open days are an early
opportunity to demonstrate equality
and diversity.
A representation from staff, students
and equality, diversity and inclusion
(EDI) champions can promote
positive first perceptions and
engagement.
A

6. A
• Representation.
• Collaborative working at all
stages.
• Targeted approach.
• Underpinned with training & data
collection.

7. Curriculum
To promote equitable outcomes for
students from racialised minorities,
consideration must be given to
how the curriculum can be
designed to incorporate a flexible
approach to learning and teaching.
A

8.  Ethnically diverse teaching staff and
diversifying the curriculum increases
students’ sense of belonging and
therefore educational attainment.
 Ongoing cultural safety training and
workshops for all staff.
 Cultural safety education interwoven
throughout the curriculum with focused
lectures on active allyship, micro
aggressions and systemic racism.
A

9. Assessment
Ensure assessments do not
perpetuate racial stereotyping
and micro-aggressions but
promote cultural awareness
and safety, using the lived
experiences of women,
birthing people and families.
A

10.  Inclusivity to be core principle of
assessment at all points and every level.
 Assessment plays key role in
consequential decisions that can
limit/enhance students’ choices or
career aspirations.
 Assessments should not disadvantage
students because of characteristics or
abilities that are outside the remit of the
assessment.
A

11. Practice
Do lecturers and students
have sessions on
sensitive/courageous
conversations?
Is there a ‘safe space’ for these
conversations to take place?
A

12. • Safe spaces and safe people.
• Raising concerns policies.
• Practice placement allocations.
A

13. Decolonising Hub on RCM
website:
Decolonising Midwifery - RCM
One printed copy will be sent
to every university in the UK.
A

14. Any Questions or Comments?