Section B: Programme Specification

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Programme Specification
Doctorate in Educational Psychology

1 Awarding Institution University of Southampton

2 Teaching Institution School of Psychology, 34, Bassett Crescent
East

3 Accreditation details Health Professions Council and British
Psychological Society.

4 Final award Doctor of Educational Psychology –
(D.EdPsy)

5 Programme Title Doctorate in Educational Psychology

6 UCAS Code N/A

7 QAA Subject Benchmark or other D level
external reference

8 Date specification was written and October 2010
Programme Leaders Dr Sarah Wright and Ms Hilary Robbins

9. Educational aims of the programme
The Doctorate in Applied Educational Psychology at Southampton is located within
the School of Psychology which has an international reputation for research and
innovation. As a programme it aims to develop your knowledge, understanding and
application of theory, empirical evidence and interventions at the core of the
professional practice of educational psychology. We place great emphasis on
developing your research skills across the three years. The programme is designed
to equip you to become a reflective and adaptable practitioner, who can apply both
casework and research skills in a variety of contexts.

The Health Professions Council (HPC), our approving body, has set out the
Standards of proficiency for practitioner psychologists (SOPs), the course structure
enables you to achieve these standards over the three years (http://www.hpc-uk.org/)
On successful completion of the programme, you will be eligible to apply for
registration with the HPC and to use the adjectival title Educational Psychologist.

10. Learning outcomes
Throughout the programme the emphasis is on underlying psychology and evidence
based practice. From the beginning you will be expected to adopt a problem focused
approach, to view issues/problems holistically and take an interactionist perspective.
Within this context you will become skilled in assessment, intervention, evaluation
and research in the context of improving outcomes for children and young people.

10.1 Knowledge and Understanding
 Recognise that practice evolves from robust psychological models, theories
and frameworks with due ethical consideration.

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 Demonstrate an ability to develop hypotheses deriving from complex
problems, and then evaluate these hypotheses and link them to appropriate
interventions that lead to successful outcomes across a range of contexts.
 Knowledge of a range of problem solving frameworks.
 Demonstrate an ability to understand and work with a range of conceptual
frameworks for understanding learning and development.
 Demonstrate an ability to understand and work with a range of conceptual
frameworks for understanding social and emotional development.
 Be able to select, use and interpret a broad range of assessment instruments
with due consideration to their relevance to the client, their needs and likely
interventions.
 Be able to offer a range of professionally appropriate counselling and
therapeutic skills in work with children, their families and other professionals.
 Be able to develop and maintain effective working relationships with key role
partners including: children, young people, their carers, teachers and other
professionals.
 Demonstrate an understanding of policy, practice and service delivery issues
within educational systems in which educational psychologists currently work
 Understand the impact of differences and diversity on life opportunities, and
the implications for promoting equal opportunities and ethical applied EP
practice.
 To conduct research that enables the profession to develop its knowledge
base and to monitor and improve the effectiveness of its work through
evidence based practice.

10. 2 Core academic skills
 An ability to access, and evaluate critically complex research relevant to your
professional work.
 Integrate psychological and other relevant evidence and theory in real world
settings taking account of the complexity, unpredictability and contradictions
in both theory and practical settings.
 An ability to apply relevant educational and psychological theory in a variety
of contexts.
 An ability to use research to generate new knowledge and to solve complex
problems in educational psychology
 Generalise and synthesise prior knowledge and experience in order to apply it
in different settings and novel situations
 The ability to evaluate your own work and the value of existing research;

10.3 Transferable/General skills
 A sense of personal responsibility and autonomy.
 Ability to work as a reflective practitioner.
 Effective verbal and written communication skills, taking into account a range
of audiences.
 An ability to design, carry out and analyse research and then communicate
the results of that research to the appropriate audiences.
 An ability to work with children, young people and their families/carers.
 The ability to work within the relevant professional and legal frameworks.
 The ability to work collaboratively with members of other professional and
disciplinary groups;
 The ability to act as a consultant on psychological or learning issues to other
professional groups;

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 To work respectfully and with empathy and in line with HPC guidance on
ethical practice.

10. 4 Teaching and Learning methods
The programme is taught via a range of educational and placement opportunities that
are supported via academic teaching from the University of Southampton, and by
local placements supervised by educational psychologists working in the field. In
Year 1, a significant part of the curriculum is delivered using a problem based
learning approach. This is designed not only to encourage independent learning, but
also to develop group collaboration skills and promote a direct application of what
you learn to professional practice. On this course you are very much respected as
adult learners who are aiming to become autonomous professionals with the
integration of theory and practice being central to the curriculum.
The programme is structured to achieve the above learning outcomes as follows:

Year 1 Knowledge and skill development through problem based learning and seminars
at university (2 days a week)
Applied Research Methods Course (I and II) (one morning a week)
Generic Research Skills (3 days a year)
Independent study (a day a week)
Placement in pairs with a Field Tutor for 1.5 days a week for whole year from Oct
to July (approx 60 days) in Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton which is
the context for both casework and research activity.
Year 2 Knowledge and skill sessions at university (alternate Mondays)
Generic Research skills (3 days a year)
Independent study (2 days a week for thesis preparation, write-up of research
projects and attendance at the university – see above)
Placement in a local authority through a bursary scheme for 120 days (usually 3
days a week) which provides the context for developing casework skills and
applied research projects.
Year 3 Generic Research skills (3 days a year)
Independent study (2 days a week for thesis preparation, and 6 half days
university attendance)
Placement in local authority through a bursary scheme for 120 days (usually 3
days a week) which provides the context for extending professional practitioner
skills.

A problem-centred approach is at the centre of the Southampton programme. The
models we draw on are the revised ProblemSolving Framework (Monsen &
Frederickson 2008), the Gameson & Rhydderch (2008) Constructionist Model of
Informed Reasoned Action (COMOIRA) and the Integrated Framework (Woolfson,
L., Stewart, A., Whaling, R. & Monsen, J. 2003, 2008)1. The programme aims to
give experience of applying the problem centred framework at a number of levels:
individual, group, organisation e.g. school and policy maker e.g. local authority.

10.5 Assessment methods
Across the three years, your knowledge, intellectual and general skills will be
assessed by:

 Essays and academic critiques
 Reports of Casework

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In Kelly, B.; Woolfson, L. and Boyle, J. (2008) Frameworks for Practice in Educational
Psychology: A Textbook for Trainees and Practitioners.

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 Practical work files
 Graduated Applied Research Projects with topics coming from schools and
the wider LA community.
 A thesis: (20,000 word thesis containing a literature review plus empirical
paper).

11. Programme Structure
The programme is studied over three years full time each with a balance of theory
and practice requirements. The integration of the three strands of the programme,
Academic, Research and Placement are at the core of everything you will do. The
programme modules, assessments and the weighting given to them in the
programme (CAT points) are shown below.

TABLE 1 Programme Structure
Module (Level) Assessment Length CAT
2

Year 1 PSYC 6030 (M) Placement Practical work File n/a 50
Learning 1
3
PSYC 6033 (M) Casework 1 2 Reports of Casework 5,000 each 10

PSYC 6032 Learning and Essay 4,000 20
Development

PSYC 6044 (M) Emotional and Essay 4,000 20
Behavioural Development

PSYC 6043 (M) Applied Applied Project 1 4,000 20
Research I
Applied Project 2 4,000 20
PSYC 6044 (M) Applied
Research II

PSYC 8007 Applied Research
Small Scale Research 3,000 40
Project Proposal (M) 4,000
4
Small Scale Project (D)

Year 2 PSYC 8001 (D) Placement Practical work File n/a 75
Learning 2

PSYC 8003 (D) Casework 2 3 Reports of Casework 5,000 each 15

PSYC 8005 (D) Learning Academic critique 1-2,000 10
Difficulties

PSYC 8006 (D) Emotional and Academic critique 1-2,000 10
behavioural Difficulties

PSYC 8008 (D) Applied Research Applied Project 3 4,000 20
Applied Project 4 4,000 20
Thesis proposal 3,000 30

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The CATS (Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme) points system is recognised by
many UK Higher Education institutions as a method of quantifying credit for a particular
course. To attain your postgraduate degree you would need to accumulate 540.
3
Reports of Casework provide an opportunity to integrate placement and research activity.
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The Small Scale Research Project is submitted at the beginning of Year 2 and is assessed
at Doctoral level

4
Year 3 PSYC 8004 Placement Practical work File n/a 80
Learning &
Casework (D) Casework viva n/a 10

PSYC 8008 (D) Thesis comprising literature 20,000 90
review & empirical paper

Doctoral work on this programme requires the accumulation of 540 credit points, of
which 360 must be at D level, and across the three years 275 allocated to research
(51%). This is achieved by allocating 90, 85 and 100 in years 1, 2, and 3
respectively.

Your attendance at all teaching and placements is compulsory, and all assessments
must be passed in order to qualify for the award of the degree.

12. Support for student learning

In the School of Psychology:

 A shared programme directorship (academic, practice and research) has
responsibility for the coordination of learning and teaching in the school, and
is the principle source of information and support.
 Academic and Professional tutors take responsibility for programme
components and pastoral support work with nominated students
 Field tutors provide modelling and feedback on performance in Year 1 and
continue to visit and support trainees on placement in Years 2 and 3.
 A member of the School staff is designated as research supervisor for SSRP
and thesis preparation.
 Practice supervisors are appointed from local placement providers to
coordinate and provide support for all professional placement learning in
Years 2 and 3.
 Students are fulltime research active members of the School of Psychology,
with access to photocopying, phone, computer, email and internet facilities

In the wider University
 Excellent library facilities are provided.
 Blackboard, a web based medium accessible from all computer points on the
campus is used to support learning.
 Sports and recreational facilities are open to all registered students.
 In keeping with the University’s Equal Opportunities policy, support is
available through the Learning Differences Centre for study skills, and
through Assistive Technology for those with more complex needs.
 Support is also available from University counselling staff where other
problems threaten to interfere with successful learning.

In addition each student has:
 regular individual tutorials with their personal tutor over all three years
 an individual Field tutor
 regular and planned individual visits on placement by Field tutors.
 an individual Supervisor on each placement in a Local Authority.

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13. Methods for Evaluating and Improving the Quality of the Programme

We consider it extremely important that comments and feedback from you influence
possible changes and developments in the programme. We aim to ensure that you
have your say on your teaching and learning experience at Southampton.

Mechanisms for review and evaluation of teaching, learning, assessment, the
curriculum and outcome standards:

 Monitoring of individual student progression through academic tutor and
review system;
 Monitoring and evaluation of Modules, and elements within the module
through trainee feedback.
 Evaluation of placement learning support through written evaluation;
 Programme advisory Group. Representatives from local authorities meet at
least three times a year to determine the relevance of the programme to
service needs, discuss issues such as work based learning and practice
learning opportunities.
 Evaluation of trainee progress through interim reviews of placement activity
and appraisal of overall performance.
 Trainee membership of the programme board.

The ways in which the quality of your programme is checked, both inside and
outside the University, are:

 Annual School, faculty, University quality monitoring reports;
 Annual External Examiner Reports
 Staff appraisal;
 Accountability to the regulatory (HPC) and professional body (BPS);
 Quinquennial Quality Assurance Review of programmes;

Committees with responsibility for monitoring and evaluating quality and
standards:

 Postgraduate Programme Management committee meetings have student
representation (School normally twice a year);
 The Examination board meets once a year to consider marks and
progression. Standards are monitored for the examination boards by the
Programme director and the Head of School for Psychology.
 The School Education Committee (SEC) that is responsible for monitoring
educational development and quality matters within the School of Psychology,
which meets once a month.
 The Faculty Education Committee that provides an overview of educational
and quality issues for all schools within the faculty.

Staff development priorities include:

The staff are important in ensuring that your programme is of the highest quality,
the staff development priorities include:

 Twice yearly meetings with Placement supervision coordinators/supervisors
 Monthly academic and Professional tutor meetings.

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 Half-term field tutor meetings
 Membership of the British Psychological Society and HPC registrant.
 Continuing professional development to further develop areas of expertise

Indicators of quality and standards:

 Accreditation by the BPS (2006) conferring eligibility for chartered EP status.
 Approval as a practitioner training programme in psychology by the HPC
(2009).
 All programme development is in accordance with National qualifications
framework (QAA 2001);
 Programme approval and validation is strictly in accordance with University
and regulatory Body regulations and is subject to external
scrutiny/participation;
 High level of successful employment from the postgraduate programme.

Role of External Examiners:

An external visiting examiner is appointed. The role of the external examiner is that of
a moderator to assure internal and national quality standards. Broadly speaking
external examiners will:

 Approve a sample of assessments set;
 Review a sample of course work;
 Attend the Examination board;
 Provide an annual report to the School and Faculty on quality of learning,
teaching and assessment.

Theses are read and examined by external examiners, who are academic tutors on
other doctoral programmes for Educational Psychology.

14. Criteria for Admission

The School adheres to the University’s equal opportunity policy and to those of
statutory/professional obligations associated with practice.

To apply for this course you should possess a good honours degree in psychology,
or equivalent, which the BPS has recognised as providing the Graduate Basis for
Registration. It is likely that you will have significant experience of working with
children and young people in which sustained levels of responsibility have been
maintained. We encourage prospective students to use the programme website for
course application contact details in case of any changes.

Reasonable adjustments will be made to enable applicants with disabilities to
undertake the programme, in line with the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act
(1995).

Any offer of a place will be conditional on the outcome of an enhanced criminal
records check (CRB).

14.1 Specialised Application Procedure: Application is through the Childrens’
Workforce Development Council (CWDC) and the process usually starts from
early October. Please note that currently this is the only way of applying for a

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place at Southampton. The CWDC website holds up to date information on the
application process and timescales.

http://www.cwdcouncil.org.uk/educational-psychology/become

The CWDC processes applications, forwarding application forms electronically and
references to each of the programme centres selected by the applicant (a maximum
of three). To qualify for funding you must be ordinarily resident in the UK and
the expectation is that you will continue to work in a local authority or equivalent for
two years after graduating. Applicants must be eligible to work in the UK.

15. Concluding Statement
This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the
programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be
expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes full advantage of the learning
opportunities that are provided. More detailed information on the learning outcomes,
content and assessment for each module can be found in the course handbook.