How to Build a High-Scoring Urology ST3 Teaching Portfolio

Before starting, understand how teaching contributes to the application.

In the 2026 Urology ST3 self-assessment framework, teaching was assessed across two areas: teaching experience and formal medical education qualifications.

Teaching experience could progress from sporadic teaching through regular teaching, faculty involvement and ultimately principal organisation of a relevant course.

Formal educational qualifications were also recognised, with additional points available for qualifications such as Teaching the Trainers, a modular diploma and an MSc in Clinical Education.

The important lesson is:

You don't need a PGCert to have a strong teaching portfolio.

A qualification is one component. Your actual teaching activity matters too.

If you're starting from scratch, don't immediately worry about organising a major course.

Start with something sustainable.

For example:

• Weekly teaching for medical students

• Fortnightly teaching for foundation doctors

• Monthly teaching for CSTs

• Exam preparation sessions

• Surgical skills teaching

• Urology tutorials

The key is regularity.

There is a major difference between teaching once and establishing an ongoing programme.

If your department doesn't already have a structured programme, consider speaking to the educational supervisor or teaching lead and asking whether you can take responsibility for a series of sessions.

That gives you an opportunity to develop something rather than simply delivering an isolated lecture.

Think carefully about who you are teaching and what they need to learn.

A good teaching session isn't simply:

“Here is everything I know about renal stones.”

Instead ask:

“What should the learner be able to do by the end of this session?”

For example:

Foundation doctors:
Recognise and initially manage an obstructed infected system.

Medical students:
Take a focused haematuria history.

Core trainees:
Understand the initial management of acute urinary retention.

Urology trainees:
Approach a patient with a suspected ureteric injury.

Teaching becomes much stronger when it has clearly defined learning objectives.

Medical education is much more than presenting slides.

Experiment with different approaches:

• Case-based teaching

• Small-group discussion

• Simulation

• Practical skills

• Bedside teaching

• Question-based learning

• OSCE practice

• Interactive quizzes

• Flipped classroom sessions

If you're teaching surgical trainees, practical and scenario-based teaching can be particularly useful.

For example, rather than giving a 45-minute lecture on ureteric stones, give the learners a clinical scenario and ask them to work through:

This also helps you develop your own ability to explain clinical reasoning clearly.

This is one of the easiest things to overlook.

If you're teaching regularly, collect feedback.

You want evidence that demonstrates:

• What you taught

• Who you taught

• When you taught

• How many sessions you delivered

• What learners thought

• What you changed as a result

Even a simple feedback form can be useful.

Ask learners to rate:

• Relevance

• Organisation

• Clarity

• Engagement

• Overall quality

Then include a free-text question:

“What could be improved?”

The most important part is not simply collecting excellent feedback.

It is acting on it.

If learners tell you that your sessions contain too much content, change your next session.

If they want more cases, add more cases.

Then you can demonstrate educational development rather than simply collecting certificates.

There is an important distinction between:

“I delivered 15 teaching sessions.”

and:

“I identified a gap in the teaching programme, developed a curriculum, delivered monthly sessions and evaluated the programme.”

The second demonstrates much more.

If you are teaching regularly, consider developing:

• A curriculum

• A timetable

• Learning objectives

• Teaching materials

• Feedback methodology

• A method of evaluating the programme

This starts to demonstrate educational leadership as well as teaching experience.

Once you have established yourself as a reliable teacher, look for opportunities to become involved in established courses.

This might include:

• Surgical skills courses

• Exam preparation courses

• Simulation courses

• Regional teaching programmes

• Undergraduate teaching programmes

• Urology trainee teaching

The 2026 Urology ST3 framework recognised relevant faculty roles, so this can represent progression beyond simply delivering occasional teaching.

But don't chase the title alone.

Ask yourself:

What responsibility will I actually have?

Being genuinely involved in designing or delivering a course is much more valuable for your development than simply having your name listed as faculty.

This is where your teaching portfolio can become particularly strong.

If you have developed experience delivering teaching, consider organising a relevant educational course yourself.

This could be:

• A Urology revision day

• A surgical skills course

• An OSCE course

• A foundation doctor teaching day

• A regional trainee course

However, make sure you understand the ST3 criteria before investing significant time. The 2026 guidance specified particular requirements around what constituted a qualifying course, including minimum educational content/CPD requirements. I managed to score maximum points here by organising an ‘Emergency Urology’ course for foundation doctors - this comprised of organising a few talks by various colleagues and myself presenting on the common and key urological emergencies such as acute scrotal pain, renal colic, acute urinary retention and more.

Don't spend months organising a course only to discover that it doesn't meet the published criteria.

Once you have developed an interest in education, you can consider formal qualifications.

Options may include:

Teaching the Trainers / short educational courses

→ Good introduction to educational theory.

PGCert in Medical Education

→ More substantial postgraduate qualification.

PGDip / MSc

→ Greater academic commitment and potentially useful if education becomes a significant career interest.

A PGCert can be particularly attractive if you genuinely enjoy teaching and want to understand educational theory, curriculum design and assessment in greater depth.

A fantastic teaching portfolio is much less useful if you can't prove what you did.

Create a dedicated teaching folder from the beginning.

Keep:

• Teaching timetable
• Session plans
• Learning objectives
• Attendance records
• Feedback
• Certificates
• Course programmes
• Faculty confirmation
• Supervisor confirmation
• Educational projects

This becomes particularly important when you eventually need to submit evidence against specific portfolio criteria.

Make the assessor's job easy.

They should be able to open your evidence and immediately understand:

What did you do? When did you do it? What was your role? Who did you teach? And how can I verify it?