Graduate profile
Vikki Saravia, PGCert Education for Health Professionals

Vikki Saravia

"I’m now a full-time Teaching Fellow in Integrated Health (Midwifery) at Surrey and I’m proud that I get to support and challenge the next generation of midwives."

Course

Education for Health Professionals PGCert

Graduation year

2017

Why I chose Surrey

Having supported learners as a midwife in a clinical environment for over 15 years, I felt ready for a new challenge, and moving into education was a natural choice for me. I chose to come to Surrey as the PGCert Education for Health Professionals course (formerly known as PGCert Education for Professional Practice) offered me the support I needed to achieve the practical teaching hours required to join the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), to register as a teacher.

It also helped that the campus was stunning and there was a fab library that offered loads of resources and extra sessions should I need them.

My course

I really enjoyed the different modules and the diversity of the teaching styles, resources, and types of assessment – everything just made sense. Throughout the course, we were encouraged to see education as an art and a science and bring our own personalities, styles and creativity into our teaching and learning environments. We finished by presenting our learning journeys to our peers, in any way we saw fit – we decided to do this through a picture collage. We genuinely had so much fun!

All the tutors were inspirational and led by example, especially Nikki White, now the programme leader. They were so knowledgeable about their topics and were clear about objectives. They were enthusiastic and encouraging, always taking the time to answer questions. They’ve motivated me to become the tutor I am today, and I look at them as role models for where I want to be in the future.

My most memorable moment during the course was teaching a group of over 200 students for the first time. I agreed to have that teaching session assessed before realising the size of the group! I was so nervous, but the assessor was so reassuring and complimentary. I had a huge round of applause from the students and the assessor told me that it was an "inspirational session." I was walking on air for days and knew that I’d made the right choice of course and university.

"The teaching staff motivated me to become the tutor I am today, and I look at them as role models for where I want to be in the future."

My career and development

I’m now a full-time Teaching Fellow in Integrated Health (Midwifery) at Surrey and I love my job! I’m proud that I get to support and challenge the next generation of midwives to be the best they can and that this influences the care that women receive on a wider scale than what I could do as one individual. My students are the best part of the role, watching them transform as individuals, into fully qualified professionals.

I’ve never had such job satisfaction anywhere else – I feel so lucky to work here now. It’s such a supportive environment for staff and students – everyone genuinely cares about each other. I have a real sense of pride and achievement, but most noticeably, a sense of belonging and purpose.

Alongside my full-time role, I’ve just started a masters and can’t wait to see what the future brings!

My advice

If you’re thinking for even a split second that you might like to go into teaching after a clinical career, or alongside it, then do it! You really won’t regret it and there’s no place better to learn than Surrey. I’ve done many courses before, but this was and still is the most enjoyable – I’d recommend it to anyone.

Read more about my journey from midwife to teaching fellow on LinkedIn.

Find out more about our Education for Health Professionals course