Maternity Support Worker FdSC

Why choose this course?

As a maternity support worker, you will deliver hands-on care to women, birthing people, and their families, and will work alongside midwives and other members of the maternity care team. You will play a key part in the multi-disciplinary workforce that is needed to respond to maternity services.

This programme is available as a work-based learning FdSc over two years (employment based, with part-time university attendance). Applications are made through UCAS. You will need to be employed as a health care support worker in a maternity service for a minimum of 23 hours per week.

Your employer will need to agree to release you for rotational placements to support you in achieving your competencies and theory learning simulation, study days and guided learning.

Successful completion of the programme will equip you to work as a Maternity Support Worker up to band 4. Achieving the FdSc will help you to progress your career within the health and social care sector. Through a combination of theoretical and practice learning you will develop a wide range of specialist and transferable clinical, care and interpersonal skills.

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Attendance UCAS code Year of entry
2 years full time B790 2024
2025

Please note: 2024/5 entry for this course starts in March 2025

Please note: Teaching on this course may take place on more than one KU campus.

Main location Kingston Hill

Apprenticeship option

This course is also available as an apprenticeship.

Find out more about the Assistant Practitioner (Maternity Support Worker) Apprenticeship FdSc

Reasons to choose Kingston University

  • Successful completion of the programme will equip you to work as a qualified Maternity Support Worker.
  • We are top in London for Midwifery (The Guardian University Guide 2024).
  • You'll develop a range of specialist and transferable skills through clinical placements in a variety of maternity settings.

What you will study

Year 1

Year 2

Modules

Public Health

30 credits

This module will introduce you to the socio-political influences shaping the changing context of maternity care provision. You will develop an understanding of feminist theory, psychology, sociology and public health as it applies to childbearing. This module aims to prepare you for the role of the Maternity Support Worker in improving and promoting public health, including sexual health.

Foundation Skills for Maternity Support Worker Practice

30 credits

This module will enable you to develop and apply a range of skills to participate in the holistic assessment and care of people within maternity services, documenting progress and reporting outcomes. You will be introduced to the required skills and underpinning knowledge so that you can participate in ongoing assessment and recognise when it is necessary to escalate findings to other members of the multidisciplinary team for reassessment.

Applied Anatomy and Physiology

30 credits

This module explores the foundations of human anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology relevant to healthcare practice. You will cover the body's key systems and processes, the mechanisms for maintaining homeostasis and an introduction to human development across the lifespan including the childbearing continuum.

Personal and Professional Practice (1)

30 credits

This module introduces you to the concepts of being a maternity support worker. The contemporary role and scope of the Maternity Support Worker is identified and defined. The values and culture of maternity care will also be explored. This module will introduce you to Future Skills through engagement with Navigate.

Modules

Women and Families with Additional Needs

30 credits

This module focuses on deviations from normality in maternity care and links relevant theoretical knowledge to practice. You will learn how to contribute to and support a high standard of holistic care for women and birthing people, their babies and their families, inclusive of both physical, social and emotional needs within your role and scope.

You will gain an understanding of policies and guidelines that inform maternity care and learn how to establish and maintain effective communication with service users and the multi-disciplinary team in providing maternity care.

Enhanced Skills for Maternity Support Worker Practice

30 credits

This module is designed to build on your existing knowledge and skills to contribute to providing universal care for all women and birthing people, and their newborn infants, and additional care for those experiencing complexity and complications.

The Maternity Support Worker and Birth

30 credits

This module builds upon Enhanced Skills for Maternity Support Worker module. The module provides the knowledge and skills which will allow the Maternity Support Worker to support the multidisciplinary team in caring for women and birthing people in the birth environment. This module will also cover the Maternity Support Worker's role in assessment and triage.

Personal and Professional Practice (2)

30 credits

This module focuses on the acquisition of knowledge and skills for promoting the delivery of high-quality person-focused care. The module will continue the development and consolidation of your academic practice skills and will support your professional growth. The content will include: leadership and management; supporting learning and assessment in practice; research, development and innovation; policies and frameworks that support effective care. This module will develop your Future Skills through engagement with Explore.

Future Skills

Knowledge to give you the edge

Embedded within every course curriculum and throughout the whole Kingston experience, Future Skills will play a role in shaping you to become a future-proof graduate, providing you with the skills most valued by employers such as problem-solving, digital competency, and adaptability.

As you progress through your degree, you'll learn to navigate, explore and apply these graduate skills, learning to demonstrate and articulate to employers how future skills give you the edge.

At Kingston University, we're not just keeping up with change, we're creating it.

Learn employability enhancing Future Skills
A female engineering student, in the engineering lab.

Entry requirements

Typical offer 2024

UCAS tariff points: 56

GCSE at grade 4 or above (or grade C or above for GCSEs taken before 2017) in English Language and Mathematics or equivalent qualification e.g. Functional/Key skills Level 2 in numeracy and literacy;

AND Learning at Level 3 by qualification (normally 56 UCAS points) OR two years of verifiable and relevant work experience.

Additional requirements

  • Employed for a minimum of 6 months as a support worker in maternity.
  • Completed care certificate.

Admission is subject to:

  • occupational health screening
  • Enhanced Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check including checks against the Adult and Child Workforce Barring Lists
  • completion of a digital and technological literacy questionnaire.

All applicants who meet the minimum requirements are required to attend an interview and selection day. The day will include an appraisal of current digital literacy skills which will assess applicants' level of confidence with selected aspects of digital literacy and provide a baseline from which to develop capability in digital and technological literacy during the programme.

International

This programme is not suitable for international applicants without the Right to Work in England. Please note that the Maternity Support Worker role currently only exists in England.

Typical offer and UCAS points explained

Like most universities, we use the UCAS Tariff point system for our course entry requirements.

Find out more about UCAS Tariff points and see how A-level, AS level, BTEC Diploma and T-level qualifications translate to the points system.

Teaching and assessment

Scheduled learning and teaching on this course includes timetabled activities including lectures, seminars and small group tutorials.
It may also include placements, project work, practical sessions, workshops, conferences and field trips.

Guided independent study (self-managed time)

Outside of the scheduled learning and teaching hours, you will learn independently through self-study which will involve reading articles and books, working on projects, undertaking research, preparing for and completing your work for assessments. Some independent study work may need to be completed on-campus, as you may need to access campus-based facilities such as studios and labs.

Academic support

Our academic support team here at Kingston University provides help in a range of areas.

Dedicated personal tutor

When you arrive, we'll introduce you to your personal tutor. This is the member of academic staff who will provide academic guidance, support you throughout your time at Kingston and show you how to make the best use of all the help and resources that we offer at Kingston University. 

Your workload

A course is made up of modules, and each module is worth a number of credits. You must pass a given number of credits in order to achieve the award you registered on, for example 360 credits for a typical undergraduate course or 180 credits for a typical postgraduate course. The number of credits you need for your award is detailed in the programme specification which you can access from the link at the bottom of this page.

One credit equates to 10 hours of study. Therefore 120 credits across a year (typical for an undergraduate course) would equate to 1,200 notional hours. These hours are split into scheduled and guided. On this course, the percentage of that time that will be scheduled learning and teaching activities is shown below for each year of study. The remainder is made up of guided independent study.

  • Year 1: 33% scheduled learning and teaching
  • Year 2: 33% scheduled learning and teaching

The exact balance between scheduled learning and teaching and guided independent study will be informed by the modules you take.

Your course will primarily be delivered in person. It may include delivery of some activities online, either in real time or recorded.

How you will be assessed

There are a range of assessment types including examinations, coursework and practical assessments in both the Clinical Skills and Simulation Suite and the workplace. The assessments are staged throughout the academic year to ensure coherence and an even, manageable workload.

Practice is assessed through successful completion of the practice assessment document and objective structured clinical assessments (OSCAs), in conjunction with successful sign-off in practice by a practice assessor and an academic assessor at the end of Years 1 and 2. Students require a pass in both theory and practice to achieve their final award.

Types of assessment

  • Year 1: Coursework 50%; practical 25%; exam 25%
  • Year 2: Coursework 75%; practical 25%

Please note: the above breakdowns are a guide calculated on core modules only. If your course includes optional modules, this breakdown may change to reflect the modules chosen.

Feedback summary

We aim to provide feedback to you on your assessments within 20 working days.

Your timetable

Your individualised timetable is normally available to students within 48 hours of enrolment. In Year 1, scheduled teaching will be on Thursdays; Year 2 will be on Wednesdays.

Whilst we make every effort to ensure timetables are as student friendly as possible, scheduled learning and teaching can take place between 9am and 6pm.

Course fees and funding

2024/25 fees for this course

The tuition fee you pay depends on whether you are assessed as a 'Home' (UK), 'Islands' or 'International' student. In 2024/25 the fees for this course are:

 Fee category Amount
Home (UK students) £8,100*

* For full time programmes of a duration of more than one academic year, the published fee is an annual fee, payable each year, for the duration of the programme. Your annual tuition fees cover your first attempt at all of the modules necessary to complete that academic year. A re-study of any modules will incur additional charges calculated by the number of credits. Home tuition fees may be subject to annual increases but will not increase by more than the fee caps as prescribed by the Office for Students or such other replacing body. Full time taught International fees are subject to an annual increase and are published in advance for the full duration of the programme.

Eligible UK students can apply to the Government for a tuition loan, which is paid direct to the University. This has a low interest rate which is charged from the time the first part of the loan is paid to the University until you have repaid it.

Note for EU students: UK withdrawal from the European Union

The Government has recently announced that new students from the European Union and Swiss Nationals starting their course after August 2021 will no longer be eligible for a student loan in England for Undergraduate or Postgraduate studies from the 2021/22 academic year. This decision only applies to new EU students starting after 2021/22. If you are an existing/continuing EU student, you will continue to be funded until you graduate or withdraw from your course.

Additional costs

Depending on the programme of study, there may be extra costs that are not covered by tuition fees which students will need to consider when planning their studies. Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessment and operating University facilities such as the library, access to shared IT equipment and other support services. Accommodation and living costs are not included in our fees. 

Where a course has additional expenses, we make every effort to highlight them. These may include optional field trips, materials (e.g. art, design, engineering), security checks such as DBS, uniforms, specialist clothing or professional memberships.

Textbooks

Our libraries are a valuable resource with an extensive collection of books and journals as well as first-class facilities and IT equipment. You may prefer to buy your own copy of key textbooks, this can cost between £50 and £250 per year.

Computer equipment

There are open-access networked computers available across the University, plus laptops available to loan. You may find it useful to have your own PC, laptop or tablet which you can use around campus and in halls of residences. Free WiFi is available on each of the campuses. You may wish to purchase your own computer, which can cost from £100 to £3,000 depending on your course requirements.

Photocopying and printing

In the majority of cases written coursework can be submitted online. There may be instances when you will be required to submit work in a printed format. Printing, binding and photocopying costs are not included in your tuition fees; this may cost up to £100 per year.

Travel

Travel costs are not included in your tuition fees but we do have a free intersite bus service which links the campuses, Surbiton train station, Kingston upon Thames train station, Norbiton train station and halls of residence.

Placements

Your placements will usually be held at your employer trust site.

Uniform and equipment

We provide you with a uniform. You will need to purchase appropriate shoes (£20-£60) and a fob watch (£5-£20) for practice. If you want additional uniform items, they are available for purchase.

DBS check

The University pays for the processing of the application which is £51 but students are expected to pay a small fee (approximately £7) to the Post Office to get their ID documents verified and £13 per year for subscribing to the Update Service. This subscription allows universities and potential employers to view any changes to students' DBS.

Occupational health

You will need to fill out an Occupational Health Form. In some cases, we will require extra information and may ask you to get your GP to complete a routine screening form. All GPs have their own policies on charging fees for completion of these reports. The minimum fee recommended by the BMA is £30. Some GPs will not charge you for completion of the form but some GP surgeries are unable to make exceptions and will charge you the standard rate for their practice (in some cases this can be £50 or more). Neither the Faculty nor Occupational Health will be able to reimburse students for fees charged by their GP.

The majority of the required vaccinations should be free from your GP or via the NHS. Our Occupational Health Service will see you in the first two weeks of the course to ensure you have obtained the necessary vaccinations and will undertake any vaccinations/screening tests you have missed. Neither the Faculty nor Occupational Health will be able to reimburse students for any fees charged by their GP or other vaccination providers for vaccinations incurring a cost. If you are being charged for a vaccination we would suggest that you wait until you start the course where you will be able to obtain the vaccination at no cost to yourself.

After you graduate

This course will prepare you to work as a nursing associate and enhance your career in the health and social care sector. You may be able to progress to a shortened nursing degree course.

Visit NHS Careers for more information about the role of Nursing Associates working in the NHS.

 

Course changes and regulations

The information on this page reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. To improve your student experience and the quality of your degree, we may review and change the material information of this course. Course changes explained.

Programme Specifications for the course are published ahead of each academic year.

Regulations governing this course can be found on our website.