Valuing the supervision of midwives in higher education

Supervision of midwives provides a framework to support every practising midwife in the UK (Local Supervising Authority Midwifery Officers' National Forum, 2009). This article discusses the importance and uniqueness of supervision of midwives in higher education institutions (HEIs), which are responsible for the provision of pre- and post-registration midwifery education programmes and which employ midwifery lecturers to deliver them. It was identified that midwifery lecturers working in HEIs should have their own strategy for supervision of midwives. The rationale for, and the development and implementation of, a local strategy for supervision of midwives in an HEI is presented, along with some examples to illustrate how the key goals identified in the strategy are being achieved.