ObjectivesThe Doctorate in Applied (Educational) Psychology (Professional Training) is a graduate programme approved by the British Psychological Society for professional accreditation and offering up to 12 funded places. The location of the programme within the School of Psychology is distinctive and will provide you with a deeper theoretical understanding of your work, as well as the opportunity to meet leading researchers and practitioners. The programme also has strong working relationships with professional educational psychologists employed by the regional Local Authorities (LAs).
-This course is a graduate programme approved by the British Psychological Society for professional accreditation.
-The Educational Psychology Group at Nottingham has an established record of influential publications written by students and staff, including contributions to the ‘Nottingham Psychology of Behaviour in Schools Project’.
-The School of Psychology was awarded 24/24 in the latest Teaching Quality Assessment, with a commendation for teaching.
Course Content
During Year One, you will study the following core modules:
-Structures, Systems and Services for Young People
-Educational Psychology in Practice
-Principles and Practice in Assessment I
-Facilitating Learning
-The Education of Children with Severe and Complex Difficulties
-The Development of Literacy
-Interpersonal and Group Skill
-Developmental Psychology in a School and Family Context
In Year Two, you will cover the topics listed below:
-Vulnerable Young People: Troubled and Challenging Behaviour in Schools
-Applied Research Methods
-Principles and Practice in Assessment II
-Facilitating Learning II
-Strategic Psychology in Schools
Finally, in Year Three, you will examine:
-Vulnerable Young People: Family and Community Context
-Psychologists in Local Authorities
Please note that all module details are subject to change.
A number of these components draw upon the special expertise of LEA-based educational psychologists, teachers and other professionals. The curriculum is also delivered in school-based and LEA settings.
The pattern of practical fieldwork placements changes in nature and extent between the three training years. In Year One, you will work for one day each week in closely supervised small groups on tasks arising from the taught modules. This placement will be located mainly in schools and Educational Psychology Services.
In Year Two, you will have a named supervisor in a placement Educational Psychology Service for a substantial period each week throughout the year.
Year Three will consist predominantly of supervised fieldwork placement within an EPS where your dissertation will also be completed. Your experiences on this placement will be planned and monitored jointly between yourself, the University tutor and fieldwork supervisor by means of a Professional Development Log.
Supervision is an essential part of training at Nottingham. Each course member receives regular individual tutorial and supervisory support. By this means, it is possible for you to integrate the theoretical, practical, experiential and research components of the overall course.
Course Structure
The Doctorate in Applied (Educational) training is delivered on a full-time basis over three years.
As detailed above, the course offers a combination of taught modules, fieldwork placements, supervision and a dissertation requirement.
We believe that a course of applied training is part of a broader perspective of professional development, which we do not see as culminating when you graduate. Therefore, we take the opportunity within the training course to model some of the techniques and approaches that appropriately reflect adult learning and to provide trainees with direct experience of methods to use in their subsequent professional practice.
The course is delivered by means of seminars, lectures and private study as well as incorporating jointly developed and delivered workshops for pupils and teachers, simulation activities and experiential learning. The range of individual learning styles among our students is acknowledged and individual tutorials attempt to mesh these into the overall pattern of the course.
Finally, our deliberate aim is to keep the course numbers relatively small in order to maintain quality, facilitate learning, and ensure team ownership of the learning.
Assessment is by written assignment and progress in supervised outside placements and for individual research topics. There are no formal examinations