Our Approach to Teaching

Working with the toolbox. Chinese medicine is made up of a range of ‘tools’ used in the diagnosis and treatment of all sorts of different patients and different conditions. Some of the tools are treatment modalities (acupuncture, herbal medicine, tui na massage, qi gong), and others are diagnostic and treatment tools.

Click on the circles to learn more about each tool.

We teach a core of traditional Chinese medicine diagnostic and treatment techniques and students choose to train in the modality of treatment they prefer. No matter where students start, our courses are structured to enable them to learn the core elements of TCM at the same time as studying any of the major treatment modalities (acupuncture, herbs, tui na). Then they can add on any further treatment modalities very simply without having to go back to first principles. As Chinese medicine has become a strong career option in the west, an increasing number of our more dedicated students choose to learn all modalities of treatment, some of them also adding a practice speciality such as gynaecology, sports injuries or psychological conditions.

Healing requires a lot from the healer as well as the patient. Healing is not just about the tools we use; it is also about the relationship we make between healer and patient. Good healing relationships are always based on trust and, however much skill you already have in this area, there is always more to learn. In the process, you will learn a great deal about yourself, and this self-understanding will be woven back into your practice as increased skill and deeper understanding of your patients.

Excellent clinical practice makes excellent quality practitioners. We believe that students learn by doing, so we have built up our Teaching Clinics to be full, varied and rewarding. Our courses have between one third and one half of their attendance time devoted to clinical practice. The Teaching Clinic is well-known in the local area: it is subsidised by the College and offers cut-price treatment to the general public with a throughput of in the region of 150 patients a week in the tui na, acupuncture and herb clinics.

Setting up in practice: We encourage our students to work out exactly what they, as an individual, want from their practice and to go for that: a very high proportion succeed. Some choose to work full time, some part time; some work in the UK, and some abroad; most work privately, and some within the NHS. Our courses are geared towards our graduates making a good, professional living from their chosen discipline - we provide handholding in the full range of practical skills needed for them to get there.

Assessments: Assessments give feedback to the student as well as the examiner. So we design assessments to suit the subject: practical assessments for point location, clinical assessments for clinic and written exams for Chinese medicine theory. Our staff have top-notch qualifications and experience, both in teaching and in their specific subject, and they provide strong tutorial support to students as and when it is needed.