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The article supports the Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH) Standards 2023 as a framework for integrating simulation in healthcare education. Benefits offered by the ASPiH Standards for nursing students include quality assurance of simulated practice learnings, practical real-world scenarios recreated in a controlled setting, hands-on experience in managing patient care scenarios, interprofessional education, and handling of ethical dilemmas and emotional situations.

Background The Public Health workforce needs to adapt to a policy environment in which the need to improve public health is not only a key challenge but also has to be delivered within financial constraints. Methods A total of 14 qualitative individual interviews or focus groups (of up to 10 people), were conducted with senior Public Health staff in 12 local authorities and in Public Health England in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. Thematic analysis was applied to the transcribed interviews. Results Despite cuts in training budgets, junior staff were increasingly expected to deliver Public Health functions. There is also an absence of a career ladder for this core Public Health workforce. There were concerns that financial constraints would lead to reductions in Public Health skills with fewer staff to provide critical analysis. Formal qualifications were increasingly less valued. Instead staff were expected to have a broader skill set with an emphasis on experience. Entry points into Public Health careers need rethinking. There was an expectation that Public Health departments would ‘grow their own’. Conclusions Apprenticeship schemes could help maintain or enhance the professional status of Public Health and provide a training route for Public Health practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National GP demographic data demonstrate an increasing 'feminisation' of the workforce. With female GP specialty trainees continuing to outnumber males, this trend is set to continue. The changing composition of the workforce presents challenges in terms of how best to support the long-term career and educational development needs of this sector of the workforce in an evolving healthcare context. The aim of this work was to capture female GPs' experiences of working in general practice and their expectations concerning their career and educational development. Participants were surveyed and completed a semi-structured questionnaire, which generated qualitative and quantitative data. The sample comprised GP registrars, principals and sessionals. This study has generated an important dataset on working patterns, educational experiences and long-term career intentions of female GPs. Despite increased representation in the GP workforce, female GPs (particularly those with young children) appear less likely to be involved in education and training than their male counterparts, and even less likely to be involved in roles linked to primary care trusts, medico-political issues, hospital service delivery, special clinical interests or deanery education management. Younger GPs reported significantly more difficulties in managing their childcare needs than older colleagues. Marital status, number of children and employment status did not moderate the effect of these difficulties. Female GPs reported working more hours with increasing age, but were not necessarily represented in a range of educational and/or training posts as a consequence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This recorded interview with Stephen Anwyll took place in Summer 2004, just prior to his departure from the post of Director of the National Literacy Strategy to take up a new post. In the interview, Stephen challenges those critics who characterise the Strategy as reductive and mechanistic, but recognises the potential for it to be interpreted in this way if not mediated through knowledgeable and confident teachers. He reflects on how the Strategy has changed and developed over time, and talks about new developments, including greater emphasis on the enjoyment of reading, the importance of encouraging speaking and listening and the recognition of the multiple literacies that children encounter and use.This interview is significant in that it places on public record, for the first time, the detailed views of policy makers at the centre of the NLS concerning the successes and challenges around the implementation and development of the Strategy during the last six years. It was recorded before the results of the 2004 standard assessment tests were known.The transcript below has not been edited into a formal written account. It retains the form of spoken discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the primary National Literacy Strategy (NLS) in England. The NLS, introduced in England in 1998, has had sustained funding for longer than any previous government-funded literacy initiative in this country. Over the years it has had millions of pounds of public funding. The NLS in 2004 is a different creature from the NLS in 1998. The message about the need for change and adaptation to suit the needs of a particular time and context apply just as much to the Strategy as they do to schools and the practice of individual teachers. Good literacy teaching is about a constant shifting dynamic that matches pedagogy, planning and assessment to the varying needs of learners as they develop their skills and expertise.