Educational and Child Psychology Prof Doc

This course is in clearing

Overview

Course options

Select year

Professional Doctorate

Prof Doc Educational and Child Psychology, home applicant, full time

  • Home Applicant
  • Full time, 3 years
  • fees paid under contract with Department for Education. UK Self-Financing = Year 1, £20,030, Yr 2 & 3, £9,960

What makes this course different

Funded by the Department of Education

This is a highly sought-after three-year, full-time course. It currently offers 16 places per year funded by the Department of Education. Graduates have an employment success rate close to 100%.

Only 1 of 14 courses in the country

This is one of only 14 courses in the country which will give you the protected title of a Practitioner Psychologist within Educational Psychology. This means you can apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council and are eligible for Chartered Psychologist status with the British Psychological Society.

We've been teaching this course since the 1970s

In that time the academic team have issued a challenge to each trainee educational psychologist to be "the best EP you can be". Nearly 200 Educational Psychologists have qualified at UEL at Doctoral level since 2006.

Course modules

NOTE: Modules are subject to change. For those studying part time courses the modules may vary.

Download course specification

Your future career

Your future career

There is a national shortage of educational psychologists and graduates of our programme are in great demand. 

Our programme is designed to give you the opportunity to:
 

  • Qualify as a practitioner educational psychologist with the HCPC
  • Become a creative applied psychological practitioner
  • Apply psychology to make a positive difference to children, families, carers and schools
  • Apply best educational psychology practice, based on research evidence and professional experience (practice-based evidence) 
  • Become a self-reflective practitioner and continue to develop personally and professionally through your career

We are focused on community involvement and we train people to work for local authorities. Some will go on to work privately but the vast majority will end up being public servants. We want to train educational psychologists who can work effectively across diverse communities. We therefore actively seek applications from underrepresented groups.

What every one of our graduates will take with them is a sense of our values - an awareness and understanding of diversity, a commitment to social justice, beneficence and promoting autonomy.

Please note a trainee place is an exempted occupation from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. All "spent" and "unspent" convictions must be declared. Having a "spent" or "unspent" conviction may impede your application for the course. This will depend on the circumstance and background of your offence in relation to the university place that you are applying for. Evaluation of information is based on strict confidentiality and discretion.

Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.

Useful links
 

How we support your career ambitions

We offer dedicated careers support, and further opportunities to thrive, such as volunteering and industry networking. Our courses are created in collaboration with employers and industry to ensure they accurately reflect the real-life practices of your future career and provide you with the essential skills needed. You can focus on building interpersonal skills through group work and benefit from our investment in the latest cutting-edge technologies and facilities.

Career Zone

Our dedicated and award-winning team provide you with careers and employability resources, including:

  • Online jobs board for internships, placements, graduate opportunities, flexible part-time work.
  • Mentoring programmes for insight with industry experts 
  • 1-2-1 career coaching services 
  • Careers workshops and employer events 
  • Learning pathways to gain new skills and industry insight

Mental Wealth programme

Our Professional Fitness and Mental Wealth programme which issues you with a Careers Passport to track the skills you’ve mastered. Some of these are externally validated by corporations like Amazon and Microsoft.

Our Mental Wealth programme

We are careers first

Our teaching methods and geographical location put us right up top

  • Enterprise and entrepreneurship support 
  • We are ranked 6th for graduate start-ups 
  • Networking and visits to leading organisations 
  • Support in starting a new business, freelancing and self-employment 
  • London on our doorstep

What you'll learn

The course involves campus-based learning and teaching, self-directed learning, research and placement in Educational Psychology Services (EPS) and other employment settings, where you will work under supervision.

In your first year, you will spend most of the first two terms on campus, completing two modules related to Professional Practice as an EP. Topics include Consultation, Values and Ethics. You will also spend time on placement developing skills with children and young people.

In your second year, you will take on a bursary-supported placement for three days of the week. During the autumn term, you will complete a module at the University on research - to complete your research proposal on the placement.

Throughout the year you will also take a module in Developing the Competent and Reflective Practitioner in Simple Systems and you will begin the research for your thesis.

In the third year, you will continue in your placement, as well as completing a module in Developing the Critical and Reflective Practitioner in Complex Systems. You will complete your research and write up your thesis.

We consistently review our courses to ensure we are up to date with industry changes and requirements from our graduates. As a result, our modules are subject to change. 

How you'll learn

To be a practitioner you need to know how to help children and young people build resilience and confidence so that they can succeed in school, at home and in their community. This will involve working directly with children and young people as well as supporting parents, teachers and other responsible adults.

You will have regular individual and small group support from your academic and professional tutor at UEL as well as from fieldwork tutors and supervisors on placement. Practice placements constitute a crucial and integral part of the training for educational psychologists in all three years. Trainees will be on placements throughout their training, working with a range of client groups and, increasingly, will develop skills and knowledge across the three years to enable them to work effectively and ethically with complex cases. The year-long placement modules support trainees' development on bursaries by progressively building their experience of service delivery and working effectively as a practitioner in different contexts with a range of client groups and issues.

Each trainee is assessed extensively using the Placement Assessment Report and Portfolio at the end of each year's placement by their placement supervisor, there is also an end-of-year progress review conducted by the trainees' academic and professional tutor. 

In your second and third years, when you will usually be placed in a Local Authority Educational Psychology Service, you will be expected to undertake a piece of research on an important area of concern. This will involve what we call 'real-world research'.  For example, one of our students recently undertook research on students excluded from secondary schools. 

As educational psychologists, we are committed to facilitating high-quality adult learning. You will be expected to engage as a professional trainee at the doctoral level. Our trainees have varied knowledge and experience and we, therefore, recognise the need to offer differentiated experiences. We encourage reflection, autonomy and commitment. We are highly supportive as an academic team and we pride ourselves on promoting the wellbeing of our trainees. 

The course involves campus-based learning and teaching, self-directed learning, research and placement in Educational Psychology Services (EPS) and other employment settings, where you will work under supervision.

In your first year, you will spend most of the first two terms on campus. The focus is on working with children and young people. You will complete year-long academic and placement modules. We currently arrange placements in Year 1 with partner local authorities in London and the South East Region. These are supported by fieldwork tutors who work in the Local Authority. You will also complete a group research project in the LA setting.

In your second year, you will complete year-long academic and placement modules. The focus is more on applying psychology at the group level. You will also take on a bursary-supported placement for 130 days (usually three days each week). During the autumn term, you will complete a research proposal. Your research thesis commences in Year 2 for submission in Year 3 (35,000 words +/- 10%).

In the third year, there is a focus on complex systems and organisational change. You will complete year-long academic and placement modules. You will usually continue in the same placement. You will complete your research and write up your thesis.
 

The programme team

  • Dr Helena Bunn (Programme Director)
  • Dr Miles Thomas (Research Director)
  • Dr Lucy Browne (Academic and Professional Tutor)
  • Dr Pandora Giles (Academic and Professional Tutor)
  • Dr Janet Rowley (Academic and Professional Tutor)
  • Dr LeMarra Williamson (Academic and Professional Tutor)
  • Dr Tanieka Michell-Blake (Academic and Professional Tutor)
  • Mrs Claire Correia (Professional Programmes Team Leader)
  • Mrs Emine Korkmen (Professional Programmes Assistant)


Module leaders

  • PY8111 - Dr Mary Robinson
  • PY8112 - Dr Helena Bunn
  • PY8113 - Dr Janet Rowley
  • PY8114 - Dr Pandora Giles
  • PY8115 - Dr Lucy Browne
  • PY8116 - Dr Miles Thomas

How you will be assessed

Students are assessed in three main areas: professional skills, academic ability and research skills. These skills are integrated throughout the programme and are evident in all pieces of assessed work. We use a range of assessment methods, including, essays, reports and presentations (individual and group), all of which meet a range of different learning styles and best meet the learning outcomes.

To obtain the degree of Professional Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology all aspects of the assessment procedure in all three years must be passed.  

Campus and facilities

Water Lane, Stratford