StudyQA — PhD: Criminological Psychology — University of Birmingham (Page 71)

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Description

The programme comprises a number of taught elements, augmented by supervised professional practice placements in a number of approved local authority and other settings. To complete the programme, students need to meet the assessed academic, research and supervised professional practice requirements of the programme, demonstrating the standards of proficiency required of practitioner educational psychologists by the Health Professions Council, and attaining learning outcomes specified by the British Psychological Society.

The academic and research requirements are assessed through a number of assignments completed during Year 1 of the programme, and a thesis compiled during Years 2 and 3 of study. The thesis comprises two volumes: Volume 1 is a report of a substantive original empirical study, while Volume 2 contains four practitioner research reports of work undertaken during the second and third years of training within the supervised professional practice context(s).

he University of Birmingham is one of fourteen Universities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, accredited by the British Psychological Society on behalf of the Department of Children, Schools and Families, to train educational psychologists, who, upon completion of their training, will be eligible for chartered status.

For its effective delivery, the programme requires secure partnership between the University and the Local Authority Psychological Services which contribute to curriculum planning and delivery, and to the staffing of the programme, through the part-time secondment of senior practitioners, (all of whom practise for the remainder of their time as chartered educational psychologists), to posts as field tutors and academic and professional tutors. Local Services also contribute to the first year of the programme through the supervision of placement activity (which accounts for approximately 70 days, spread across two placements, each undertaken in a different local authority) in a range of public sector and voluntary agency settings.

In Years 2 and 3 of the programme, students have a different role within educational psychology services, since they need to secure appointments to salaried or bursary funded posts as trainee educational psychologists. Students on the Birmingham programme have, in the past, been free to secure a training post anywhere in England or Wales, providing that they and their employing Service were able to:

* safeguard the requisite study time as an integral component of the role;
* ensure that the job description and person specification are compatible with the supervised professional practice and assessed research requirements of each year of the programme, (which, in turn, link directly to the learning objectives and outcomes required by the British Psychological Society); and
* ensure the students availability to attend the University-based components of the programme during Years 2 and 3.

To date, the majority of trainees on the Birmingham programme secured posts within the West Midlands region, although a minority of trainees opted to seek training posts in other parts of the country.

The co-ordination of programme design, delivery and management is the major responsibility of the programme director (a practising senior chartered educational psychologist, who has a full-time post within the University). The programme draws upon the expertise and commitment to educational psychology training of leading practitioners within the region, and academics and researchers within the University who are recognised experts in their field. Such contributions ensure that the curriculum is informed and enriched by the research excellence and scholarship of national and international renown, which colleagues within the University can contribute, and by leading edge developments within the practitioner community to which visiting external speakers contribute.

The research training component of the programme takes places predominantly during the first year of training. The research training constitutes one significant forum within which trainee EPs work alongside colleagues from other professions and disciplines, so ensuring opportunities for training and collaboration across traditional professional and disciplinary boundaries at a formative stage in the professional development process.

Additionally, through the excellent working relationships with West Midland Educational Psychology Services, the programme is able to offer a wide range of complementary supervised professional practice placements during the first year of the programme, in city, metropolitan and shire county settings, all of which are within easy travelling distance of the University. A high quality of professional supervision can be assured as a result of the large numbers of practising psychologists in Services within the West Midlands region who have participated in University-led training in supervision, and in post-qualification study at doctoral level over the last decade. Services offer opportunities for students to observe and participate in a very wide range of academically-grounded professional practice, and for engagement with children, young people and families from widely diverse ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic traditions.

The programme is staffed by the Programme Director, Academic and Professional Tutors and Field Tutors. The Academic and Professional Tutors are University-based for part of the working week, and for the remainder, work as Senior Educational Psychologists, for Birmingham, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Worcestershire Local Authority Psychological Services. Field Tutors are seconded from neighbouring Local Authorities on a 0.1 full time equivalent basis. Their primary responsibility is for coordinating trainees placement learning during the first year of the programme.
All members of the tutor team are experienced chartered psychologists who have worked in a number of different local authorities and are actively involved in developments within their employing LAs. The field tutors enjoy including trainee Educational Psychologists in the ongoing work of their Services during professional practice placements. The tutor team is able to provide trainees with a broad range of learning opportunities in terms of academic teaching, research activity, professional guidance and tutorial support.

All tutors are actively involved in research and development in schools and other organisations.