Dr. Sarah Church - EEUK Academic Enterprise Fellowship Award Recipient
How did you start working with the enterprise team at LSBU?
I was leading a leadership module for third-year midwifery students when I approached the enterprise team to deliver a session on innovation. Midwifery leadership is a powerful driver of change, and it is important that students recognise their role as agents of change. Understanding the skills and behaviours needed to be a leader also includes being able to recognise where change is needed and how evidence and innovation are crucial to increasing the safety and quality of midwifery care. This initial contact established the relationship between midwifery and enterprise which resulted in an annual contribution to this module, followed by other activities such as the development of an enterprise elective placement. In 2019 we collaborated on the mapping of the Entrecomp competencies with the NMC Standards of proficiency for midwives. This work was a turning point as the findings indicated a close alignment in skills which resulted in the development of the Certificate of Enterprise (Midwifery) in 2021.
How have your own values shaped the way in which you develop and deliver enterprise and entrepreneurship education?
With over twenty years’ experience in midwifery education, I find great satisfaction in seeing students develop in confidence during the programme and in achieving their goal of registering as midwives. I firmly believe that enterprise education can offer each and every student the opportunity to thrive personally and professionally but making enterprise education relevant to the professional role, is crucial. For this reason, I discuss enterprise education in the context of leadership and the development of entrepreneurial skills and behaviours which are integral to the role of the midwife. I also developed the Certificate of Enterprise to align with the midwifery programme in which students focus on different aspects of their professional development in each year.
What is the role of the enterprise and entrepreneurship educator in supporting the journey of the midwifery student?
My role as an enterprise and entrepreneurship educator in midwifery is to support students to embrace and develop an entrepreneurial mindset through the development of skills and behaviours. Developing an entrepreneurial mindset is not just for business students. The student midwife journey can be particularly challenging as they develop professional knowledge and navigate its application in clinical practice, therefore supporting them to engage with enterprise education is a way of enabling them to develop their personal and professional skills in preparation for registration and their future professional career in midwifery. I believe that having an entrepreneurial mindset will offer student midwives the opportunity to find clarity in their role, use their knowledge and apply evidence to identify areas for development and challenge traditional systems and processes. Adopting a growth rather than a fixed mindset can support midwives to build resilience and promote a solution focused approach to everyday challenges, using innovative and creative thinking to make change happen.
What does being the first Midwife Academic to receive the EEUK Enterprise Fellowship mean to you?
I feel very honoured to be the first Midwife Academic to receive the EEUK Enterprise Fellowship and to have received this whilst working at LSBU. As an experienced midwife academic, researcher and leader, I recognise that introducing the concepts of enterprise, entrepreneurship and innovation into the midwifery curriculum is challenging for students and is somewhat strange and unfamiliar. However, I firmly believe that contextualising enterprise education within the wider discussion of leadership is crucial to the development of future midwives and a major influence on the development of midwifery and maternity care. For this reason, I feel very privileged to be recognised in this way and to have the opportunity to influence the future of midwifery.
What excites you most about being awarded the EEUK Enterprise Fellowship?
Being a fellow enables me to enhance my knowledge as a member of the enterprise education community and to further develop enterprise education in midwifery. This fellowship reinforces my enthusiasm for enterprise education and increases my commitment to the benefits of an entrepreneurial mindset for future midwives as innovative leaders. I am excited about what lies ahead. I will continue to develop an exciting and inspirational experience for students and use my networks and expertise to ensure that enterprise education is stimulating, relevant and contemporary.
How would you like enterprise education to evolve, grow, or change in the future?
Recognising the relevance of enterprise education in midwifery illustrates how it is possible to integrate enterprise education into a professional programme which is not naturally thought of in relation to enterprise and entrepreneurship. Based on my own experience, I believe there is an opportunity to explore how enterprise education can be integrated across all health programmes. A focus will need to be placed on identifying where, when and how enterprise education can be most beneficial to students and engagement with academics with subject and programme knowledge expertise will be important to achieve the best approach. Strengthening the relationship between academics and the enterprise team will be a must as we move forward, with a focus on training and support, evaluation and research in this space.