Head of Clinical Skills & OSCEs

Main Duties of the Job

Lead the design, development, and delivery of the Clinical Skills curriculum and OSCE assessments across the MBBS programme, initially focused on Years 1-2 (Phase 1) and expanding to Years 3-5 (Phase 2) to support students through to the Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA) Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA).

• Lead the development and delivery of a high quality, integrated clinical skills curriculum
• Oversee OSCE design, blueprinting, delivery, and quality assurance
• Ensure assessments are valid, reliable, and aligned with GMC requirements
• Develop examiner training, standard setting, and governance processes
• Collaborate with academic, clinical, and professional services teams
• Contribute to teaching, student support, and the development of learning resources

Clinical Skills Curriculum and Development

Lead the design, development, and writing of the Clinical Skills curriculum for Years 1-2, ensuring coherence with the Clinical Practice and Professional Practice Module (CPP) and GMC clinical practice outcomes and programme aims.

Extend and refine the curriculum for Years 3-5, producing a vertically integrated skills progression with clear mapping to clinical placements and workplace based learning.

Develop resources-including simulation cases, procedural guides, digital/VLE content, and OSCE preparation materials-and ensure evidence based approaches to clinical and communication skills education.

Work with clinical partners to standardise teaching quality and assessment readiness across sites.

Build and maintain a skills outcomes map and teaching schedule aligned to assessment blueprints.

OSCE Development and Delivery

Lead blueprinting, station writing, piloting, and quality assurance for Phase 1 OSCEs (formative and summative in Year 1; summative in Year 2), contributing to scaling OSCEs across Years 3-5 and culminating in MLA CPSA readiness.

Ensure constructive alignment between curriculum outcomes, taught content, and OSCEs; maintain a sustainable station bank with version control and quality metadata.

With the Head of Assessment and Assessment Officers, co lead examiner education (recruitment, training, calibration) and contribute to standard setting activities (e.g., borderline regression, Angoff).

Participate in post assessment review meetings and quality enhancement cycles, ensuring changes are fed back into curriculum and resource improvement.

Leadership and Strategy

Provide academic leadership for the design, development, and delivery of OSCEs across all years of the MBBS programme, beginning with Phase 1.

Ensure alignment of OSCEs with GMC requirements, programme outcomes, and the School and University assessment frameworks.

Contribute to long term planning for scaling OSCEs as clinical years (Years 3-5) come online and leading to the Final Year CPSA.

Lead innovation in performance based assessments informed by contemporary evidence and best practice in medical education.

Assessment Development

Lead OSCE blueprinting to ensure comprehensive coverage of clinical, communication, and professional skills and values.

Develop, review, pilot, and quality assure OSCE stations and grading criteria.

Guide academic and clinical educators in building a sustainable, high quality OSCE station bank.

Contribute to standard setting using appropriate methods (e.g., borderline regression, Angoff, or other suitable methods).

Quality Assurance and Governance

Ensure regulatory, quality, and governance standards across all elements of clinical and communication skills assessments.

Support the Head of Assessment with producing post exam psychometric reports and performance data analysis.

Co lead in partnership with the Head of Assessment the post assessment quality enhancement cycles and contribute to School wide assessment governance structures.

Work with the Quality and Placements Manager and Assessment Team to ensure adherence to policies, risk management, and health and safety requirements.

Operational Coordination

Coordinate the operational delivery of OSCEs-including scheduling, venues, equipment, planning, staffing, training logistics, and communication-with the assessment and professional services team.

Work closely with the administrative and assessment support teams to ensure seamless delivery.

Liaise with clinical partners, training hubs, and external stakeholders to secure an appropriately trained examiner workforce.

Teaching, Learning Resources and Student Support

Contribute to clinical and communication skills teaching and OSCE preparation sessions.

Lead the creation and development of student learning resources-including digital (VLE content) and written materials-to support skills acquisition and assessment preparation.

Fulfil pastoral and academic care of students through the personal academic tutor role, referring students to professional services where appropriate.

Teach as a member of the teaching team at an undergraduate level in small group tutorials and large lecture settings.

Identify learning needs of students, define appropriate learning objectives, and ensure these are met through content, delivery methods, and materials.

Supervise student work (projects, clinical observations, placements) and provide advice and support on study skills and troubleshooting learning issues.

Continuously improve teaching design and delivery by reflecting on practice and analysing student feedback, providing timely and effective feedback in line with university quality standards.

Collaborate on research projects with other academic staff in the Faculty and across the University.

Collaboration, Leadership and Professional Engagement

Foster a culture of cross school collaboration, professionalism, and respect.

Maintain strong working relationships with the Head of Clinical and Communication Skills, Lead for CPP, the Head of Assessment, clinical partners, and external stakeholders.

Represent the School of Medicine at relevant internal and external committees, working groups, and regulatory meetings relating to assessment.