After watching an episode of One Born Every Minute on BoB, I feel like I have a better understanding of what it means to be a professional. Although a career as a teacher is vastly different from a midwife, it is still vitally important to act in a professional manner in every aspect of the career.

Throughout the programme, the midwives who worked in the ward, acted in a professional manner by making their patients feel comfortable throughout a very distressing time and talked them through the process, with a calm and comforting demeanor.

It was important for them to ‘let their hair down’ during their break times by chatting to each other and dancing and generally having fun. This, however did not influence their roles on the ward at all as they still acted professional at all times with their patients.

The midwives in the hospital all had uniforms that they had to wear, mostly for cleanliness but also so that they are all equal. This is very different from a teacher’s dress code, as teachers will wear their own clothes, but must remember to be professional and dress accordingly.

I think, as midwives, the best way to learn would be work based learning and practical skills such as role play as every birth could be vastly different and they never know what to expect until they actually have to deal with the situation, which I think is something extremely challenging and in my opinion, something that would terrify me.

From the programme, I have learned that professionalism really is something that is vitally important in my career and without it, I don’t think my job could be done properly and the children in my classroom would not get the best education possible. I feel that over the course of my degree, I will gain a deeper understanding of what professionalism really is and how to pursue these skills in order to be the best professional I can be.