DEdChPsy Educational and Child Psychology / Overview

The Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology is approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a three-year full-time initial professional training programme for educational psychologists.

The programme takes approximately 12 new students each September. Successful graduates, who complete the full programme and achieve the award of D.Ed.Ch.Psychol. are eligible to apply to the HCPC to be registered to practise as an Educational Psychologist. A practitioner is not legally allowed to practise using the title Educational Psychologist without being registered with the HCPC.

An MPhil exit award may be made for candidates who do not complete the full programme successfully but this award does not confer eligibility to apply to the HCPC for registration as a practitioner psychologist.

There are no specific health requirements for this programme. However, applicants are asked to refer to the University procedure for admitting applicants for courses requiring Medical Fitness Assessment should they have any individual medical needs that may need to be accommodated.

Please note:  Applicants from under-represented groups are encouraged. Please refer to the University's Equality and Diversity Policy for further information.

• Download the  Procedure For Admitting Applicants For Courses Requiring Medical Fitness Assessment  (PDF Document, 54 KB)
• Read the  University's Equality and Diversity Policy

Structure

The programme will run for 36 months from 1 September 2018 to 31 August 2021.  In view of the significant fieldwork requirements of the programme, it will not be confined to university semesters.

The five modules of the curriculum plan are designed to provide effective coverage of the required core curriculum for training in educational psychology provided by the British Psychological Society.

These concurrently taught modules are:

• Research in Educational and Child Psychology 
• Consultation, assessment and intervention 1: Social, Organisational and Ecological Context
• Consultation, assessment and intervention 2: Child and Adolescent Development
• Mental Health and Wellbeing
• Communication and Interpersonal Effectiveness 

Practical placement requirements

Practical work is a central component of the programme and learning outcomes specific to fieldwork activity are identified.  Trainee psychologists will undertake supervised practical placement activity, overseen by programme staff, for one day per week in Year 1 until December and then two days per week in Year 1 thereafter.  These placements are normally within the North West.  There is a requirement for three days placement per week in Year 2 and three days placement per week in Year 3.

Further details about how trainees may pursue assistant educational psychologist posts or bursary placements will be provided to applicants before accepting a place on the programme.

Assessment

For assessment purposes, the programme is divided into four parts.

Part 1 -  

      Three research-based Assignments of 10,000 words each:

•    Evaluating the social, organisational and ecological context of children's learning
•    Placement based systematic literature review
•    'The psychologist as practitioner'  - two case work analyses linked by a critical synthesis

Part 2 -  

       A Professional Practice Portfolio of 20,000 words, submitted in three parts.

Part 3 -  

       Three practice placement supervisor reports and three tutor observations of placement practice.

Part 4 -  

        Written thesis comprising 2 academic papers plus a dissemination evaluation with satisfactory 

        oral defence (viva voce)

We welcome the opportunity to meet potential applicants to the Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology programme on our Information Evening; this is an opportunity to find out more about the programme and to ask questions to a panel of tutors and trainee psychologists.

The information evening for 2018 entry took place on Tuesday 10th October 2017. For further information, watch the accompanying video or view the 2017 Information Evening Presentation slides .

The information evening for 2019 entry will be held on Tuesday 9th October 2018, 7.00pm - 8.30pm in the Samuel Alexander Building, room SLG.12 - booking is not required for this event.