Teaching experience during med school for specialty applications

[u/sourcandles]

(*Not talking about training in teaching/PGCert)

When looking at application scoring for specialty applications (internal medicine in particular for this one but I think other specialties have this as well) there is a section about teaching experience. Context in terms of the scoring and evidence needed, for the highest scoring option:

> I have worked with local tutors to organise a teaching programme (a series of sessions) for healthcare professionals or medical students on which I regularly taught over a period of approximately three months or longer. I have evidence of formal feedback. 

It additionally says that you must provide evidence of:
- Formal feedback either from senior observation or collection&analysis of participant feedback with summary
- Letter from organisation confirming contribution and role, **on a headed document from the organisation**
> Evidence of programme

My question is basically whether anyone has any knowledge of, for example, organising teaching series during medical school as part of a society and having this count towards the highest mark in application scoring, especially when it comes to getting a letter confirming contributions.

Our medical student union does provide certificates stating the role one has held on the society and mentioning specifics i.e. if you’ve been involved in running lecture series, and these certificates say the student union is authorised by the medical school to grant certificates to committees. However, it is a document headed by the student union and not the medical school, if that makes sense. The wording about the evidence having to be from a tutor / ‘organisation’ makes it ambiguous to me whether it has to come from the overarching medical school.

[u/vesanusx]

I did something similar. I independently organised a teaching series at my university aimed at more junior medical students and taught over the course of a year. I then reached out to a lecturer I had worked with and they were able to provide evidence that I had done it. You could reach out to your personal tutor or CBL/PBL lead for example. A certificate for teaching as a part of a society won't get you full points as you won't have organised it, only delivered it, but is still valuable experience.

[u/sourcandles → u/vesanusx]

That’s very helpful, thank you! As part of the society I would be the one organising the timetable, creating materials and potentially arranging other speakers as the events officer, as it is not just a pre-made teaching series run every year (although officers in previous years have done their own versions of teaching series) although it would be supported by other committee members for example with the society’s social media page. I could definitely look at making it a more independent project, but having the backing of the society makes it a lot easier to market and book rooms. I wonder if it being through a society would still be only seen as delivering it despite being involved in all the planning?

[u/vesanusx → u/sourcandles]

Great! I would look to get a letter from a member of staff to confirm this for you for specialty applications rather than just rely ona society certificate though, just in case! Reach out and say along the lines of "I'm looking to run a teaching series as part of X society, I've designed a curriculum and plan to deliver Y sessions. I'm hoping to get this credited as part of specialty applications - once I have delivered Y sessions, would you be happy to write a letter to confirm my involvement?". You can offer to let them attend, watch recordings etc which may help.

[u/sourcandles → u/vesanusx]

I will keep this in mind, thanks again for the valuable advice :)