Global Standards for Midwifery Education

The ICM Standards for Midwifery Education (2021) are an essential pillar of ICM’s efforts to strengthen midwifery worldwide by promoting high quality education programmes that prepare midwives who meet the ICM definition of a midwife. The ICM Standards for Midwifery Education are based on foundational ICM Core Documents and Position Statements (see Annex 1).  Importantly, the Standards address inclusion of the Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice (2019) as the basis of the midwifery curriculum.

The purposes of the ICM Standards for Midwifery Education are to:   

• set benchmarks for programmes that prepare students for entry to practise as a midwife
• promote high-quality teaching and learning processes;
• ensure the ICM Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice (2019) are incorporated into the curriculum
• provide a framework for designing, implementing, and evaluating the quality of a midwifery education programme
• assist programmes to engage in continuous quality improvement as an ongoing process
• enable systematic reporting of quality indicators to the public, the midwifery profession, the health care system, and the educational institution
• contribute to systematic improvement of midwifery education programmes across the world

 Additionally, the ICM Standards for Midwifery Education may be used to:  

• promote a common understanding and approach to midwifery education
• guide the development of new programmes or the restructuring of existing programmes where midwives are needed
• assist other midwifery accrediting agencies, government health/education departments and education institutions within countries/states to develop or revise their own standards
• meet the ICM Midwifery Education Accreditation Programme (MEAP)