Child, community and educational psychology (M4)

Entry requirements

In line with national training requirements, applicants need to:

• have the minimum of a psychology degree (with honours, preferably 2:1 or above) or a qualifying conversion course or Master’s degree, with eligibility for the British Psychological Society (BPS) Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC). You can check your eligibility with the BPS and please note that you must have achieved eligibility before the application deadline. If the qualification that grants you eligibility for GBC is not from the UK or Ireland, you will also be required to enter your BPS membership number at the application stage.
• have gained a minimum of one year’s full-time (37 hours a week or the equivalent if part-time) experience of working with children and young people by the application deadline. This is usually within an educational, health, social care, youth justice, childcare or community setting. This experience might include teaching, learning and behaviour mentoring, being a teaching assistant, social worker, speech and language therapist or assistant psychologist. This minimum experience can be made up of all paid employment, or at least nine months full-time paid employment (or the equivalent if part-time) and the equivalent of three months sustained relevant voluntary experience. Any additional paid or voluntary experience over the one-year minimum requirement should also be included in applications as the length, depth and range of experience may be taken into consideration in selection.

To be successful in your application to the course, it is more than meeting the entry requirements above. It is crucial that you consider ‘fit’ and whether what we offer would be a good ‘fit’ for you as a learner.

We are seeking applicants who are curious and interested about themselves and others; who can make, sustain and end professionally helpful relationships with others and who have excellent communication and engagement skills. A knowledge of the breadth and depth of the Educational Psychologist’s role, as well as the diverse age groups, developmental phases and contexts within which we work is key on entry. We expect our trainees to acknowledge and be respectful of difference, to understand and appreciate structurally embedded inequities that act as barriers to all people flourishing and to take a culturally responsive stance in all of their work.

Other requirements on entry that we use to inform our recruitment and selection include:

• An ability to reflect on your work and both give and receive feedback oriented towards growth
• An understanding of relevant legislation, statutory guidance and professional practice standards including but not limited to the Equality Act (2010), relevant special educational needs and disabilities law and guidance, safeguarding procedures, etc.
• A capacity to apply principles of inclusion, equity of opportunity, anti-discriminatory approaches, and an appreciation of difference to practice with children, young people, their families and the systems within which they are living/growing
• Capability in the application of psychology to real-world practice and in keeping up-to-date with the evidence base
• Knowledge and skills relevant to undertaking research and motivation, interest and ability to develop these into a doctoral level researcher

You must also be able to demonstrate a good command of oral and written English. If English is not your first language, you must be able to evidence a good standard of written and spoken English (100 for internet-based TOEFL, 250 for computer-based TOEFL, 600 for paper-based TOEFL or Level 5 for International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic Version that is an overall score of 8.0 and a minimum of 8.0 in each component.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Completing this three year, full-time course will enable you to work as a The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) |-registered practitioner educational psychologist, and to be chartered with the British Psychological Society (BPS).

Taught in-person, this highly regarded professional doctorate training course has been recently re-validated with commendations by the University of Essex, and accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Applications to this course are made via the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP). Please see the entry requirements tab for more details.