PSY-30131 - Module Specification
School of Psychology
Faculty of Natural Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

Students wishing to take the International Year cannot take the Placement Year option.

Description for 2024/25

The Psychology with Placement Year module offers you a unique opportunity to enhance your employability skills by taking one year between Level 5 and Level 6 to work within an applied psychology setting, such as community health and wellbeing, adult mental health, a research environment, or similar. In preparation for the placement you will have had the opportunity of developing important employability skills in areas such as CV writing and interviews. The placement itself will provide the opportunity to apply psychological knowledge in a practical context, to work within a multidisciplinary team, and gain invaluable practical experience in an area relevant to psychology.

The aim of the placement is to enable students to develop a critical and reflective understanding of some of the issues arising from the application of psychology to the workplace and also to develop enhanced generic and subject-specific employability skills.

Intended Learning Outcomes

use and evaluate psychological literature, some of which is at the forefront of the discipline, relevant to the placement organisation: 1,2
enhance employability skills through the development of the student's CV and application process (which includes interviews in the School and the placement), written and oral presentation, observation, data collection, time management and personal organisation: 1,2,3
deploy established techniques of analysis and enquiry to review, consolidate, extend and apply own knowledge and understanding and to initiate and carry out own projects: 1,2,3
critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data, to make judgements and frame questions to achieve a solution: 1,2
critically reflect on the placement experience and consider the strengths and weaknesses of applying a psychological perspective in the placement organisation: 1,2
communicate information, problems and solutions to a specialist audience: 1,2,3
exercise initiative and decision-making in complex contexts: 1,2,3

Study hours

The majority of hours will be dedicated to participating in the placement with the expectation of ongoing independent study and some scheduled preparation sessions.
Placement related activity hours will vary to some extent due to variations between provider expectations, but are likely to approximate 1000, spread across the year.
Scheduled learning and teaching hours (5) include a session to prepare for the placement, plus university supervisor meetings and support before and during the placement. Independent study hours (195) are for preparation of the assessments on the module.

School Rules

Students will progress to the placement year subject to achieving an average of around 60% or better across year 1 and 2 modules in psychology, and a satisfactory interview with a member of the programme team conducted early within the second year. Students failing to meet the criteria for entry onto the module will continue with the 3 year traditional single honours psychology programme.

Description of Module Assessment