Medical Education

PgCert

  • Entry year 2026 or 2025
  • Duration Part time 1 - 2 years
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Overview

Enhance your skills as a medical educator

Our one-year, part-time Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Education will support you to become an outstanding medical educator.

You will develop a deep knowledge and understanding of medical education combined with advanced teaching skills and competence, meaning you can empower your students to deliver excellent care and treatment in a modern and rapidly-evolving healthcare environment.

Why Lancaster?

  • Develop and consolidate your knowledge of the core principles of medical education
  • Enhance your skills as a medical educator
  • Become part of a network of learners who meet regularly throughout the programme
  • Study alongside your clinical or professional commitments
  • Tailor the work you do for assessment to relate to your own teaching context
  • Benchmark your competency against the Academy of Medical Educator’s professional standards

Why study medical education?

This programme is intended for anyone involved in clinical education – doctors, nurses, clinical educators and pharmacists as well as a range of allied health professionals. If you are working in a role with some involvement in the education and training of undergraduate and/or postgraduate doctors or other clinicians, this course will help you develop as a teacher.

Our expert team of experienced medical educators are committed to facilitating the development of knowledge, understanding and competence in medical education, with the aim of improving medical and clinical teaching practice.

The mix of professional expertise that participants and tutors bring to the course, drawn from their experience in a wide variety of contexts, leads to interesting and informative discussions throughout the programme.

What will I learn?

This postgraduate certificate aims to develop your skills and knowledge as a clinical teacher by providing a sound introduction to the theory and practice of modern medical education in ways that are relevant to your own workplace context.

During this part-time, one-year course, you will study three core modules which will see you gain a firm foundation in the principles that underpin medical education:

  • Introduction to Medical Education
  • Introduction to Evaluation, Feedback and Assessment
  • Teaching in Clinical Practice

You will be encouraged to critically appraise and evaluate your own educational practice in relation to key concepts, theories and models related to medical education and learning.

You will then select and apply a broad range of educational, teaching, facilitation, learning and formative assessment techniques to different students in diverse situations.

Through this, you will be able to demonstrate your competence in line with the Academy of Medical Educator’s learning domains:

  • Designing and planning learning
  • Teaching and facilitating learning
  • Assessment of learning
  • Educational scholarship and evidence-based practice
  • Educational management and leadership

How will I learn?

We use a range of materials, methods and teaching techniques to support you to develop your knowledge and competencies. These include seminars, workshops, tutorials and interactive web-based resources such as online tasks and resources, virtual discussion groups and guided self-directed learning.

The core modules are delivered through face-to-face sessions, supported by a range of multimodal learning resources.

The structure and format of this part-time programme is designed for professionals who wish to combine gaining this qualification with work and other commitments.

Please contact pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk for further information.?

Careers

Boost your career as a medical educator

The knowledge and skills you gain on this programme will help you in your day-to-day clinical education practice, supporting students or higher trainees.

Previous graduates of this course have gone on to add an educational focus to their clinical roles, whether that’s as a consultant and specialist doctor, allied health professional educator, locality-based educator, teaching fellow in NHS trusts and medical schools, GP trainer or clinical tutor.

Entry requirements

Academic requirements

Applicants should be working in roles involved in the education and training of undergraduate and/or postgraduate doctors at all levels.

English language requirements

We require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum of 5.5 in each element of the test.

We also consider other English language qualifications and if your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.

Help from our Admissions team

If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, complete our enquiry form and one of the team will get back to you.

We also have more details on our website about:

Pre-master's programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored pre-master's pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University master's degrees. Visit INTO Lancaster University for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Course structure

We continually review and enhance our curriculum to ensure we are delivering the best possible learning experience, and to make sure that the subject knowledge and transferable skills you develop will prepare you for your future. The University will make every reasonable effort to offer programmes and modules as advertised. In some cases, changes may be necessary and may result in new modules or some modules and combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.

Core

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Fees and funding

We set our fees on an annual basis and the 2026/27 entry fees have not yet been set.

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Scholarships and bursaries

Details of our scholarships and bursaries for 2026-entry study are not yet available, but you can use our opportunities for 2025-entry applicants as guidance.

Check our current list of scholarships and bursaries.

Important information

The information on this site relates primarily to the stated entry year and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

Our Students’ Charter

We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. Find out more about our  Charter and student policies.