Essential to midwifery education is the partnership between the student and an experienced midwife who agrees to be her preceptor. Through the apprenticeship, the preceptor communicates her style and expertise, her compassion and caring for her clients, her ethics and standards of practice to her student. The student must distill and incorporate those elements of style and emphasis that suit her, while diligently and continually seeking to acquire academic knowledge and clinical expertise.
As an educational institution, the College strives to nurture fruitful apprenticeships between students and preceptors by providing them the information, resources, mentorship, and support they require to achieve a rewarding working relationship.
The apprenticeship route of midwifery education has proven in New Mexico to be effective, low cost and safe as reflected in the outcome statistics for Licensed Midwives published annually by the New Mexico Department of Public Health. The College is based on the belief that apprenticeship education can take place in the context of a college without walls incorporating the principles of adult, at-a-distance learning, while at the same time providing the structure for quality assurance.