Katie Fordyce

What do you do in your current role/area of expertise?

I am currently in a transition period moving over from academia back to clinical in terms of practice education due to financial restraints within the HEI sector. Initially this was a very scary situation, having been in the previous role for 21 years but it is also exciting.

I continue to work as a Lecturer Practitioner within the main imaging departments within the Trust overseeing the placement experience, tuition and co-ordination for undergraduate radiography students from London South Bank University (LSBU).  Cross-site we can have 20+ students during any one week.  We have eight Student Liaison Officers (equivalent to PE) to assist with supporting students across the Denmark Hill, Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) and South sites. We’re lucky to provide all specialist fields within the Trust. I provide all student year groups with a weekly tutorial during their placement blocks focusing on a specific aspect of their clinical portfolios.

I am the Line Manager for five radiography apprentices within the Trust who are studying at LSBU for the 3-year degree apprenticeship programme or the 18-month apprentice top-up programme at Derby University. This is a new aspect of my role, being introduced two years ago, but one which I find very rewarding and challenging. 

I am also the Course Leader for the Postgraduate Certificate in Mammography programme and postgraduate breast imaging modules for the National Breast Training Centre at King’s College Hospital (KCH). This involves delivering tuition within the course/modules, organising marketing/promotion, supporting recruitment and admissions processes, assessment and marking and a lot of other administrative tasks. We have a collaborative contract with LSBU and a small team within the Training Centre at KCH.

New to my role, and to replace the LSBU teaching element, is the Breast Practice Educator role at KCH. I job share the Breast PE role and my counterpart supports our Trainee Mammographers’ training. We jointly share the CPD staff training.

My role involves working clinically within the breast screening programme whilst developing training currently for the mammography associate roles. I also aspire to help develop our current associates to become mammography level 5 apprentices. The mammography associate role is very new to me, but I look forward to expanding our Apprentice and Associate workforce.

Whilst undertaking my education roles, I have always worked Bank shifts in the private sector to keep up both my plain imaging and mammography skills. I always wanted to be a tutor that still does clinical work. Working in breast screening on the mobile screening vans is both challenging and rewarding in equal measures. 

I continue to hold a Visiting Fellow Contract with LSBU and continue to help in their innovative work in decolonising the curriculum. I am due to present alongside an LSBU colleague at the Achieving Excellence in Radiography Education and Research Conference in November 2024.  We also have some future publications and further research planned in this field.

What steps did you take to get to this role?

When I studied the degree at Liverpool University I had the most amazing Clinical Tutor who was an ex-Army Radiographer/Tutor. He was really structured in his role but equally very patient, and I always aspired to be like him in the future.

I was challenged with many prejudices as a mixed-race woman in Radiography both clinically and within academia. This has driven me to try to help change the landscape for future students and radiographers.

Whilst working at Lewisham University Hospital, London 1999-2003 I completed both appendicular reporting and mammography training and supervising RDA NVQ qualifications. The latter gave me my first taste of formal teaching but up until then I always enjoyed supervising student radiographers.

In 2003 I applied for the Lecturer Practitioner role at KCH/LSBU. It was the first of its type and I was only 27 years old, but it was my ideal job on paper. I took the leap and got offered the post. Since then, I’ve not looked back and took the earliest opportunity to study the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education and attain Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). I recommend that people back themselves and take that leap of faith. I came across the job advert in one of the radiography publications back then, but two people had cut out the advert and slipped it in my locked locker in the changing rooms. To this day, I do not know who did this, but they either really believed in me or wanted me to leave (I choose the belief option!).

What support did you have along the way or would have been helpful to have had?

I always reflect back to my own Clinical Tutor at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and aspire to be like him. There was also an A&E Superintendent that I’ll never forget. She was old-school, matron type….all the other students were scared of her, but I had so much respect for her, and she showed me the right amount of encouragement when I failed an exam in the second year.

My advice is to always surround yourself with a select group of cheerleaders. People who are supportive and encouraging. Always remain professional and listen. I always say to students to be like a sponge and take on board everything you see and hear but as an educator we also need to do the same.

What is the most rewarding thing about your role?

Seeing students develop into great practitioners. 

Seeing the student who struggled at first, go on to be a confident, competent, caring and kind Practitioner.

We are student advocates, and I really cherish that responsibility, making time for the students and listening.

What advice can you give to others who might want to work towards this role or follow a similar pathway?

A student once said to me that ‘I had the ability to recognise what rung of the ladder students were on. Other academics/educators would shout down instructions from the top or occasionally throw down a rope. But I would climb down and offer encouragement and ask what I can do to help/assist them climb the ladder to the top’. This was very humbling to hear, and I would encourage us all to do this.

Representation is super important. Everyone needs to see people that they relate to achieving their goals, progressing upwards and into all areas of Radiography. The university cohorts are very diverse, the Radiography workforce is becoming more diverse but as we look upwards into the higher bandings, there is less diversity. This must change. Students tell me that they aspire to be like radiographers they can relate to and whose values they share.

All the Student Liaison Officers (Practice Educators) are student elected at KCH, which results in the students selecting Radiographers they can trust with their pastoral care on placement.

My final piece of advice is to take time to listen to the students and work with them. This is such a rewarding role. So long as I am teaching, I’m happy.