ObjectivesThe aim of this programme is to help trainees build upon their prior experience with young people or families by providing them with opportunities to develop and implement the conceptual frameworks which will allow them to work effectively as educational psychologists with young people, teachers, parents and other professionals.
Entry requirementsEntry Requirements A first or good second class Honours degree in psychology or an equivalent qualification. The qualification must be recognised as providing the graduate basis for registration with the British Psychological Society. 1-2 year professional experience of work with children, young people, families and professional colleagues (not necessarily in teaching). Evidence of a commitment to a career in educational psychology.
Academic titleMSc. Educational Psychology
Course descriptionProgramme Structure
The programme leading to the MSc in Educational Psychology is of 24 months’ duration, with a biennial intake every odd numbered year. The programme is available on a full-time basis only.
Teaching and practical work are carefully integrated in both years of the programme. Trainees have a placement in a psychological service prior to the commencement of teaching in the first year. Teaching, in the form of seminars/ workshops and tutorials, takes place in the University on Mondays and Tuesdays during term.
Wednesdays are study days. Trainees spend Thursdays and Fridays in their long-term placements with a psychological service. In the first year, trainees spend this time in shadowing and observation, practice-based assignments and in carrying out a collaborative group project. In the second year, the focus shifts to an ‘apprenticeship’ role, with trainees tackling the work of an educational psychologist under the supervision of their practice tutor. There is a separate individual project in the second year.
There are also additional block placements which enable trainees to broaden their experience. This involves work in other psychological services and further placements outside the context of the educational psychology service, for example working with professionals whose specialism is social work, psychiatry or clinical psychology.
Programme Content:
The programme consists of lectures, seminars and tutorials on the following topics:
Frameworks for EP Practice: Pre-School – Post-School, Development in Context, Contextualised approaches to assessment and intervention, Practitioner research and evaluation, Transferable practitioner skills , and professional practice.
Progress from the first to the second year is dependent on satisfactory performance in written and practical work carried out during the first year of the programme.
Period Of Study
24 months. Entry to the course is offered every two years, with an intake in September 2007, 2009, 2011 and so on.
Assessment
All candidates must maintain a satisfactory standard in the practical work listed in the Regulations as indicated by supervisors’ reports and the candidate’s work file. In addition, by the end of each of the first and second years they must have submitted three essays of approximately 6,000 words each and a project report. At the end of the second year they must also attend two oral examinations. The final assessment will be based on the candidate’s performance in all the elements listed above