Defining NHS educators

NHS educators

Educators play a vital role in developing our healthcare workforce, ensuring they can deliver excellent care to patients and communities now and in the future. 

Across the NHS, the educator workforce has evolved over decades, resulting in diverse job titles across various health and care settings, including: 

• primary care 
• secondary care 
• tertiary care 
• community care 
• neighbourhood hub teams (when introduced) 
• NHS commissioned community pharmacy 
• other NHS commissioned services including private, independent and voluntary organisations (PIVOs) 

Early stakeholder engagement has revealed varying levels of maturity across both professions and settings. While educator roles in some professional groups, such as medical professions, are clearly defined (Gold Guide, Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans, 2022), significant variation exists in educator titles and roles across healthcare. Until now, there has been no consistent definition of what constitutes a multi-professional educator and no agreed educator workforce organisational structure. 

To help organisations evaluate their educator workforce capacity across multi-professional clinical roles, the Educator Workforce Programme has collaborated with experts across healthcare settings, education partners and other key stakeholders to identify and describe categories of educator workforce roles. These categories and descriptors will be reviewed and refined as we learn more about the NHS Educator Workforce, including expanding the scope beyond clinical educators. 

Educator role categories 

Testing with regions, systems and expert stakeholders across England suggests that there are eight: 

Governance roles 

1. senior leadership national and regional roles (arm's length body roles)

Accountable roles 

2. organisational senior leadership level sponsor 

3. organisational oversight 

Responsible roles 

4. organisational education leads (education role; requires protected time for education activity) 

Delivery roles 

5. project or programme educators (education role; requires protected time for education activity) 

6. educators at a local or specialty level (education role; requires protected time for education activity) 

7. education as part of a clinical role (education role) 

8. all other clinical staff 

Educator role descriptions 

Short descriptions have been developed for each of the educator categories. These descriptions will help organisations and staff to identify where specific multi-professional clinical educator roles fit in the educator workforce. If a role talks about an ‘organisation’, this can refer to an ICS, trust, commissioned provider, primary care network or other NHS service.  

1. Senior Leadership national and regional roles  

These are the national and regional strategy, governance and leadership roles in the NHS educator workforce. The roles will be in the current NHS England’s Workforce, Training and Education  teams nationally and regionally.   

At national and regional level, they: 

• develop education workforce policy and procedure 
• commission clinical workforce education resources, activities and initiatives 
• hold commissioned health and education providers to account for the quality of education provision 

The people in these roles will have substantial knowledge, skills and experience in healthcare education. They work closely with: 

• governing bodies, regulators, professional groups and allied government departments (e.g,. OHID, DHSC) 
• NHS provider organisations to ensure governance of quality, finance, equality, diversity and inclusion and risk issues.  

Examples of job titles/people who may hold this role, but are not limited to: 

• deanery roles (medical / dental / pharmacy) – e.g. head of school 
• regional leads for professional groups 
• education quality leads 

2. Organisational senior leadership level sponsor  

This is a single role at the highest leadership decision-making level in the organisation, which is accountable for education. 

These people usually hold a workforce-wide education remit, as part of a wider organisation portfolio.  

These organisational sponsors are: 

• a single point of contact for high level education communication between partner organisations, systems, regions and governance bodies 
• accountable for the educator workforce and its integration into wider workforce planning 
• accountable for education quality, finance, equality, diveristy and inclusion, risk and assigning responsibility for the educator workforce operational oversight across the workforce and professions 

Examples of job titles/people who may hold this role include: 

• executive or non-executive board member
• partner in a group general practice 
• nominated leader in a primary care network 

3. Organisational oversight  

These roles work within or across professions with direct links to the senior leadership sponsor.  

As part of their wider responsibility for a designated part of the healthcare workforce, these people ensure integration of educator workforce strategy in business and workforce planning to meet the learning, development and workforce supply in their area of responsibility.  

Individually and or collectively these roles are responsible for the: 

• educator workforce and its integration with wider workforce planning education quality 
• finance 
• equality, diversity and inclusion 
• risk management

Their educator workforce oversight includes, but are not limited to: 

• organisational governance 
• organisational quality assurance 
• commissioning of organisational education resources and initiatives 

Examples of job titles/people who may hold this role, but are not limited to, include: 

• director of medical education 
• chief pharmacist 
• chief nursing officer (or deputy) 
• superintendent pharmacist 
• learning and development lead 
• psychological professions officer 
• chief allied health professional 

4. Organisational education leads  

These roles have designated or primary focus on education, learning and development within or across professions.  

Typically, their role will include, but is not limited to: 

• advising on, informing and implementing organisational strategy for education and educators 
• having operational oversight for education teams 
• ensuring organisational educational quality assurance, educational risk management and governance 
• distributing education funds and commissioned departmental education resources and initiatives equitably 
• evaluating education contributions to service delivery and quality of care through development reviews 
• ensuring investment in education specific continued professional development (CPD) for the educator workforce 
• ensuring that education strategy includes goals and initiatives which address health and education inequalities within the workforce 
• ensuring availability of a comprehensive induction, onboarding and development programme for all staff including those who are internationally recruited 
• ensuring that education teams promote equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in its broadest sense, using the conduit of education to widen participation and opportunities for all staff 

People in these roles will have appraisal objectives and engage in continuous professional development which reflects the education focus of the role  

Examples of job titles/people who may hold this role include: 

• education leads 
• team managers 
• local education strategy lead 
• education governance leads 
• “profession specific” workforce and education lead 
• primary care patch associate dean 
• primary care training hub lead 
• primary care network educator lead 
• associate director of medical education 

5. Project or programme educators 

These are roles working within or across the healthcare workforce with protected time and resources.  Their primary role is to plan educational interventions and activities at an organisational or departmental level.  

Examples of job titles/people who hold this role include, but are not limited to:

• developing educational interventions to achieve strategic aims 
• quality assurance and evaluation of interventions, including ensuring Equality and Quality Impact Assessments are completed for all education projects and programmes  
• evaluating education contributions to service delivery and quality of care through development reviews 

The people in these roles may or may not have a role in the delivery of educational content but will have education capabilities explicitly stated in job descriptions and person specifications. They will have appraisal objectives and engage in continuous professional development which reflects the education focus of the role. 

Examples of job titles/people who hold this role include, but are not limited to:

• preceptorship lead 
• apprentice lead 
• medical college tutors 
• practice education facilitator 
• primary care learning environment lead 
• training programme directors 

6. Educator at local or speciality level (with protected time) 

These are roles working within or across the healthcare workforce with protected time and resources to deliver education within a specific practice environment or specific clinical knowledge/skills/procedures. The protected time for education delivery may be a part of a clinical role with protected time for education delivery identified in job planning and may have specified education funding to support the post.  

Typically, the role will include but are not limited to: 

• planning and delivering discrete educational interventions, including supervision of practice or learning 
• being responsible for supervision and/or verification of assessment 
• creating a safe learning environment 

The people in these roles will have education capabilities explicitly stated as essential in job descriptions and person specifications. They will have appraisal objectives and engage in continuous professional development which reflects the education focus of the role. 

Examples of job titles/people who may hold this role, but are not limited to, include: 

• practice education nurse 
• pharmacy designated supervisor 
• professional nurse advocate 
• educational supervisor 
• medical named supervisor 
• clinical supervisor 
• medical mentor with protected time 
• primary care network educator 

7. Educator as part of a clinical role  

These are clinicians who deliver education as an integral part of a clinical role. This education delivery will be included in the job description for the clinical role but these education aspects do not have protected time or resources.  Typically, the education aspects of these clinical roles include but are not limited to:

• responsibility for supervision and/or verification/ assessment
• creating and maintaining a safe learning environment
• supporting and delivering workplace learning

Where professionally relevant educating may be a registrant requirement expectation. However, specific education capabilities may or may not be explicitly stated in clinical job descriptions and person specifications. Where stated, education capabilities will be desirable rather than essential. They will not be expected to have appraisal objectives and/or engage in continuous professional development, which reflect or develop capability for the education aspects of the role.

Examples of job titles/people who may hold this role include, but are not limited to:

• ward sister
• allied health professions pre-registration practice educator
• (medical) workplace supervisor
• designated prescribing practitioner
• practice supervisor
• practice assessor

8.  All other clinical staff  

Teaching and supporting others is an integral part of working in the NHS. All clinical and non-clinical staff play a role in educating and supervising learners, colleagues and patients as part of delivering high-quality healthcare. 

For many clinical roles, educating others may be a requirement set the profession's regulatory body. However, specific education skills won't always be listed in every job description or person specification. When education capabilities are mentioned, they'll typically be desirable qualities rather than essential requirements. 

Although there is no mandated requirement, it is best practice for staff in roles that provide education, training or supervision to others to undertake continued professional development (CPD) that specifically focuses on their educator and supervisor skills, knowledge and competencies. 

All clinical staff will be expected to complete mandatory training requirements set by their employer, as well as any profession-specific training. This includes training on equality, diversity and inclusion and creating safe learning environments for everyone. 

Recognising your role in education 

Many staff contribute to education and training without realising they are part of the educator workforce for the NHS. Education roles exist across all healthcare settings and professions, from formal teaching positions to those who support learning alongside their clinical duties. 

Are you an NHS educator? 

You might be an NHS educator if you: 

• mentor students or new colleagues 
• supervise trainees, students or apprentices 
• deliver teaching sessions or workshops 
• support colleagues’ professional development 
• assess clinical skills or competencies 

Whether education is your main role or part of your wider responsibilities, you have a valuable role in the NHS now and in its future. 

How to become an NHS educator? 

Educators are vital to our NHS. By sharing their expertise, they’ll equip healthcare professionals of today and tomorrow with the skills and confidence they need to deliver outstanding patient care. 

An NHS educator’s support creates lasting impact—each person they mentor, coach and supervise will make a difference to countless patients.  

Join our NHS educator workforce and shape the future of the NHS.  

Find out how to become a clinical educator for the following areas and professions: 

• general practice educators  
• medical educator 
• healthcare science trainers and supervisors

We're adding information about other NHS educator roles soon. Check back regularly for updates.

For immediate support, contact your local education team or professional body for guidance specific to your specialty area.