gms | German Medical Science

Background: Midwives in Germany are authorised and empowered by national law and professional code to take care of women, families and their newborns or infants on their own responsibility as primary caregivers. However, the demands on the profession and the role of midwives have changed considerably and require extended qualifications [1], [2]. The goal of academicising midwifery training by 2020 meets a higher education system that is also undergoing a reform process. On the surface, the Bologna Process is leading to a change in the format of degree programmes with qualification levels, workloads, credits, etc.; in essence, however, it is more about a change in the “teaching-learning culture” than “shift from teaching to learning” [3]. The students become the focus of the teaching-learning process, and the teachers are also assigned a “new” role. Rather, they now take on the role of facilitating learning guidance, moderation and counselling [4]. The focus is also on competence-oriented design of study programmes as opposed to subject and content orientation. The aim is to impart competences for coping with complex tasks with a clear claim to reality as opposed to imparting sluggish knowledge.

Aim/Research Question: The outlined research project contributes to the professionalisation of midwifery. It draws attention to the current training of future midwives in undergraduate studies in midwifery. It focuses on the teachers at the current 14 locations for undergraduate courses in midwifery (as of February 2019), who accompany the future midwives on this path, support their academic socialisation and shape and facilitate the acquisition of competences within the framework of university teaching. For this reason, the question is concentrated on the teachers: How and with what self-image does teaching in undergraduate courses in midwifery take place?

Methods: The research project is divided into a preliminary and a main study. As part of the preliminary study, the current status and framework conditions for teaching at all 14 locations will be surveyed. The analysis includes a synopsis of the structural characteristics of current degree programmes on the basis of the study programme homepages, a document analysis of the module handbooks and guideline-based expert interviews with the programme directors. The main study is dedicated to the teachers’ perspective and the design of teaching. Following Bourdieu’s construct of habitus, it deals with the development of a habitus in an academic setting. Furthermore, a reconstruction of existing orientation patterns takes place, which are effective for the design of teaching. To this end, in-depth narrative interviews will be conducted with professors and academic teaching staff. The collected data will be evaluated using the documentary method.

The research project is planned for the period from December 2018 to November 2021 and is funded by the State Promotion Programme for the Strengthening of Universities of Applied Sciences in Doctoral Procedures through the Promotion of Cooperative (Individual) Doctorates – HAW-Prom – of the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg.

Ethics and conflicts of interest: An ethics vote has been obtained. The research was supported by external funding. There are no conflicts of interest.