In-practice teaching
The primary teaching activity for supervisors is discussion of the registrar’s cases. Registrars are encouraged to bring cases to discuss with you where they have unresolved questions. You may also select registrar cases for review (random case analysis) to uncover situations where your registrar may not have been aware that they needed help. Finally, you may share cases of your own, particularly where they involve an area of practice your registrar is not encountering in their daily case load.
Other teaching activities include direct observation of consultations, joint consultations, formal teaching on specific topics, demonstration of and participation in clinical procedures, cultural education, discussion of ReCEnT reports, audits of test ordering and referrals. Workplace-based assessments are also completed during in-practice teaching time.
In-practice teaching also provides an opportunity for you to provide mentoring, support and feedback on performance.
Teaching time requirements
Total in-practice teaching time includes formal and informal teaching activities and completion of workplace-based assessments. The amount of time you are required to provide depends on your registrar’s stage of training and includes both a minimum total teaching time and an uninterrupted scheduled formal in-practice teaching time:
- GPT1 – minimum 3 hours (FTE) per week of which one hour must be scheduled and uninterrupted formal in-practice teaching.
- GPT2 – minimum 1.5 hours (FTE) per week of which one hour per fortnight must be scheduled and uninterrupted formal in-practice teaching.
- GPT3 – minimum 30 minutes per week of scheduled and uninterrupted formal in-practice teaching.
For registrars training part-time, the minimum total teaching time and scheduled and uninterrupted formal in-practice teaching time requirements are adjusted on a pro-rata basis, in proportion to their training hours. The exception to this rule is in GPT1 placements where the scheduled and uninterrupted formal in-practice teaching in GPT1 remains one hour, regardless of the adjusted total teaching time.
Practice managers have the important task of ensuring time is set aside for teaching. Teaching sessions should ideally be scheduled in the first hour of a consulting session or before consulting starts in the morning. Scheduling teaching sessions at lunchtime or at the end of the day should be avoided as these times are prone to interruptions or participants running late.