What are the Teaching Categories?
Category A (Cat A) teaching refers to activities where the patient is the focus of the encounter; an example of this is where a student sits in on a clinic or GP surgery with a doctor who is consulting. Cat A figures reflect the total number of students ‘placement weeks’ for each medical programme. “Student weeks” are converted into hours using a “proxy” value; the proxy hours represent the loss in productive time for service provision in a week due to the delivery of training e.g., as the clinic list needs to be reduced to accommodate student teaching.
In Category B (Cat B) teaching, the student is the focus of the encounter; an example of Cat B teaching is when students are taught within a group session such as a tutorial or other group activity. Category B figures are the total NHS teaching hours (excluding preparation time) for each medical programme.
Cat B data is further broken down in to ten sub-categories as detailed in the table below:
| Sub category | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Teaching in large groups, e.g., lectures |
| 2 | Teaching in small groups, e.g., tutorials, problem-based learning |
| 3 | Fixed resource sessions, e.g., practicals |
| 4 | Clinical skills teaching |
| 5 | Project supervision, e.g., SSCs, electives |
| 6 | "Classical" bedside teaching |
| 7 | Summative assessment/revision |
| 8 | Admissions |
| 9 | Personal tutoring, mentoring, portfolio advice |
| 10 | Recognition of Trainers (RoT) activities – includes CPD for teaching roles |
Table: Category B teaching activity categories
This page was last updated on: 16.09.2025 at 14.22