In the McMaster Midwifery Education Program, clinically active midwives teach the professional practice of midwifery. Our extensive community of midwifery educators and high-quality distance education allows clinical placements with midwives across a wide geographic area. Our program fosters partnerships between midwives and obstetricians, nurses and other health care providers through an effective program of interprofessional education.
The McMaster Midwifery Education Program is committed to developing and promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion in every facet of our program. We see our role in education and in the midwifery profession as part of a broader commitment to social justice. We affirm our responsibility to foster an anti-oppressive environment, not only within our education program, but also within the wider midwifery community.
We are committed to creating an open and respectful environment which supports all to learn about intersectional identities and the structures that perpetuate inequity. We aim to graduate midwives who will practice midwifery in a humble and reflexive manner and embody a culture of practice that centres people who have been and continue to be systemically excluded by healthcare systems.
Program Vision Statement
The McMaster Midwifery Education Program will be a leader in challenging institutional norms and redefining midwifery in Canada by building inclusive spaces for students, faculty, staff, and community supporters who have been systemically excluded. We will be internationally recognised for excellence in teaching, collaborative learning, research, and leadership.
Anti-Oppression and Anti-Racism
The Midwifery Education Program sees its role in education and in the midwifery profession as part of a broader commitment to social justice. We affirm our responsibility to foster an anti-oppressive environment, not only within the Midwifery Education Program, but also within the wider community.
The Midwifery Education Program recognizes that inequity is maintained by discrimination against and systemic marginalization of people based on, but not exclusive to, ability, age, class, economic status, educational background, ethnicity, gender, geographical location, language, race, religion, reproductive and parenting decisions, and sexual orientation.
We ask all faculty, preceptors, learners and staff to challenge themselves around issues of diversity and equity, and to participate in the ongoing work of creating an environment that is welcoming, safe, accessible, and inclusive for all those involved in the Midwifery Education Program. We are committed to creating an open and respectful environment which supports all to learn about social difference and grow in their understanding of the structures that support inequality. We aim to graduate midwives who will practice midwifery in a humble and reflective manner and embody a culture of healthcare that centres racialized and marginalized people.
As university teachers and health care providers, we are in a position to reflect on our own privilege, power and engagement with white-supremacist norms that exist in our education and health care systems, as well as within the profession of midwifery. We recognize our duty to dismantle colonial constructs and systems that uphold racism and oppression, and acknowledge that this work is a life-long journey of learning. We seek to create opportunities for dialogue and self-reflection supporting continual improvement of our social justice/anti-oppression framework and its application to our curriculum and the delivery of our program.
Student Conduct
The intention of the Midwifery Education Program is to provide a learning environment that is safe and inclusive. It is our aim to welcome diversity and celebrate each other’s uniqueness. Every student is expected to behave professionally, respectfully and supportively as members of their small group tutorial, midwifery class and larger professional community. To that end, in all midwifery education activities there is zero tolerance of disrespectful, rude or confrontational behavior.
Specifically, racist, homophobic or oppressive behaviour of any kind will be addressed with the offender and documented by faculty or staff. This is intended to assist people to appreciate the impact of microaggressions as much as it is to address blatant disrespectful behavior. Repeated offensive or oppressive behaviour is grounds for mandatory remediation and may result in expulsion from the Midwifery Education Program.
Land Acknowledgement
McMaster University recognizes and acknowledges that it is located on the territories of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee nations. We are within the lands protected by the “Dish With One Spoon” wampum agreement between the Anishnaabe and Haudenosaunee nations. This land is directly adjacent to the Haldimand Treaty territory promised to the Haudenosaunee in 1784.
Acknowledging the land from which we practice midwifery is important, as the profession has a long history within the Indigenous nations of this continent. The Midwifery Education Program encourages each student to take a moment to recognize and acknowledge the traditional peoples of the lands you occupy, and as applicable, to consider this history as you engage with the curriculum in this course.
Commitment to Social Justice and Health Care
It is our intent that as midwifery students progress through the program, it brings them together to better understand one another’s individuality and to better serve those who access midwifery care. Through case studies, scenarios and class discussions, we purposefully try to bring awareness to inequities that exist in our society and to create change in the systems we work and live in. We aim to support all identities by bringing those perspectives to the forefront for respectful discussion and understanding by all. It is our intent to present materials and activities that are respectful of diversity: gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, culture, perspective, and other background characteristics. At its core, one of our first year courses, “Social Justice & Healthcare” lays a foundation in the concept of social justice and how one locates themselves as an individual and healthcare professional within the healthcare setting. The course examines power and privilege followed by an exploration of systems of health including health care systems, social determinants of health as defined by Canadian society and Indigenous populations.
Inter-professional Partnerships
The Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University has a dedicated Program for the teaching and facilitation of Interprofessional Education, the Program for Interprofessional Practice, Education, and Research (PIPER). The integration of multiple healthcare modalities under one faculty gives students the opportunity to work with a variety of complimentary care providers to learn alternative modalities of care. During their first two years, students will be given the opportunities to directly interface with students of other healthcare branches, developing necessary skills in cross profession communication. The competencies developed during these courses will enhance a midwife’s ability to liaise effectively, increasing team effectiveness and providing the best care possible to their clients.
During third year, midwifery students will have the opportunity to engage in two rounds of three placements with other maternity and newborn healthcare providers. In the first section, these will include a period in an obstetrical office, a period in a labour and delivery setting, and a third elective placement. The second section will provide two weeks in a neonatal intensive care unit, two weeks on a postpartum maternity ward, and two weeks in a community placement related to maternity or infant care. Previous examples of elective choices have included lactation consultants, social services, or shelters. These placements will give students an opportunity to experience other modalities of maternity care, building an understanding of the systems in which midwives frequently refer, consult, and work within.