The educational supervisor

Across each level of training (F1 and F2), the foundation doctor (FD) will be assigned an educational supervisor (ES) who will support and monitor the FD’s progress in a long-term manner and help guide their personal and professional development.

Meetings

The ES should meet the FD regularly and discuss what they have done and what they still need to do to complete the training year. At a minimum, these meetings should be at the start of the year, at the end of each placement, and at the end of the year (before the ARCP takes place).

At the end of each training year the ES will make a recommendation to the ARCP panel in the form of an ES end of year report.

For further information on supervisor meetings and forms, see the supervisor meetings webpage.

Professional development

The ES should be familiar with the programme of learning, the educational approach and the assessment used in the Foundation Programme (FP) in the context of the six domains laid down by the Academy of Medical Educators and adopted by the GMC in the recognition of trainers as they relate to FDs.

1. Ensuring safe and effective patient care through training
2. Establishing and maintaining an environment for learning
3. Teaching and facilitating learning
4. Enhancing learning through assessment
5. Supporting and monitoring educational progress
6. Guiding personal and professional development

They should also demonstrate ongoing CPD related to the supervision of FDs

e-portfolio

The ES should regularly review the FD’s e-portfolio and provide clear feedback to the FD on their progress against the three HLOs and 13 FPCs, reviewing evidence entered by the FD, clinical supervisor (CS) reports, and the outcome of the multisource feedback (Team Assessment of Behaviour (TAB)) used in FP.

The ES should use each contact with the FD as an opportunity to reinforce good practice and guide development in areas that require it. It is the role of the ES to challenge the FD to strive for excellence and signpost developmental opportunities.

Where there are significant concerns about the FD’s progress, these should be explored sensitively and support offered, with an action plan drawn up and recorded in the e-portfolio. Where necessary, these concerns should be brought to the attention of the FTPD.

At the end of each placement, the ES should meet the FD and complete a report (the educational supervisor’s end of placement report (ESR)) to indicate whether the foundation doctor’s trajectory is likely to meet or exceed the expected minimum levels of performance required to be able to demonstrate the 13 foundation professional capabilities at an appropriate level at the end of the year of training. (In Scotland this role is taken on by the FTPD).

Educational supervisor reports (ESRs)

The ESR is a summative assessment of the educational achievements and progress throughout the training year. The judgement of the ES will be based on review of several sources of evidence.

• Clinical supervisor’s report (the ES will sometimes also be the clinical supervisor and then will complete both reports)
• Team assessment of behaviour (TAB)
• Evidence the FD has engaged with the training e-portfolio to show progress against the 13 FPCs
• Pro-rata completion of SLEs to demonstrate learning
• Satisfactory attendance at delivered ‘core’ learning
• Satisfactory record of non-core learning
• Satisfactory reflection including the summary narrative
• Satisfactory engagement with feedback to the programme
• Attendance record
• Any involvement of the FD in investigations or significant events
• Progress against any remedial action plan

In line with the clinical supervisor’s end of placement report (CSR), the ESR will use the following ratings: no concern, some concern, major concern. Explanatory comments must be entered to justify the rating.

If there is any concern that the FD’s performance will not meet the expected minimum requirements for sign off for any of the FPCs, this must be discussed, support offered, and a remedial action plan recorded in the e-portfolio. The ES may need to consider informing the FTPD.

Educational supervisor’s end of year report

In the third placement, instead of the end of placement ESR, the ES will complete the ‘ES end of year report’, which uses the same sources of evidence as the ESR but also takes into account:

  • the FD’s completed summary narrative on their progress,
  • any specific nationally agreed ARCP requirement dictated by a national government that differs from the standard UKFP ARCP outcomes,
  • evidence submitted by the FD via the e-portfolio as evidence of achieving the 13 FPCs.

In this report, the ES is making a recommendation to the ARCP panel on whether or not they should award the FD a successful ARCP outcome, based on whether the FD has shown that they have demonstrated the 13 FPCs to a sufficient level and are on track to fulfil the three HLOs of the FP.

Further resources