Designed with you and your workplace in mind, our course will help you achieve the professional development needs of employers
Our specialist course gives you the flexibility to customise your studies to suit your professional development needs, and those of your employer. Designed to build on your existing accredited activities, higher apprenticeship or other qualification in the health, social care and education sectors, we’ll help you develop your knowledge, skills and experience in the context of your current workplace.
You’ll build your confidence in presentation and dissemination through group seminar presentations and written reports, while developing the advanced practitioner inquiry, leadership, and project skills that will let you advance in your chosen career.
You’ll be able to optimise your career ambitions through negotiating your own programme and specialist award title to suit your individual needs, and that of your employer and industry.
Studying online gives you the flexibility to plan your study around your current work requirements. You’ll also get plenty of peer support through our community of learning and one-to-one academic supervision.
You’ll have the opportunity to design and lead a work-based project that has the potential to transform both your own practice and that of others.
While you’re an undergraduate or foundation year student, you’ll have a Personal Tutor directly related to your course. If you need support with academic writing, numeracy and library skills, we’ll be sure to provide it. Our Student Learning and Graduate Academic Assistants have studied specialist areas within Professional Practice and can support you based on their own experience.
Taking into account the changing needs of the health, social care and education sectors, our flexible learning programme gives you the professional skills, knowledge and professional development that will help you achieve your career ambitions.
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During the course of this programme, you will develop your knowledge and understanding of a range of relevant theoretical concepts, practice and evidenced based knowledge that can be applied to real work contexts and complex issues. You will study ethical principles, values and codes of practice and explore how these can be applied to your own practice. You will also explore the influence of current policy, organisational context, and workplace priorities on practice development. You will also look into relevant methodologies and approaches for developing your own practice and/or that of others in health, social care and education settings.
On completion of this programme, you will be able to effectively engage, network and communicate with relevant stakeholders and academic audiences, and take initiative and leadership for practice development in your own setting or work context (within limits of role). You will understand how to evaluate practice or identified issues and apply appropriate problem solving techniques, inquiry and action planning. You will have the ability to systematically design, undertake and manage a work-based project that has the potential to improve your own practice and/or that of others. Finally, you will learn to critically reflect and evaluate your own practice and systematically plan professional development.
This module runs throughout the programme and is designed to enable you to critically evaluate your personal and professional development needs and develop a professional development plan. It will also support the academic skills needed to succeed at graduate level.
This module will support you to undertake a real work-based project that is designed to develop or inform areas of your own or your colleague’s professional practice with service users/children, in a healthcare, social care or educational setting. You will plan, carry out and evaluate a project and critically discuss the learning gained, as well as the outcomes of the project for your area of practice. The focus of the project is negotiated and can be related to individual or team practice development and/or wider organisational development aims.
This module is designed to develop practitioner inquiry skills and understanding of inquiry methodologies in order to design a work-based project that has the potential to improve your own and others’ practice for service users. It will explore approaches to practitioner inquiry appropriate for your area of work/ practice and enable reflection upon your position as a practitioner researcher and the potential ethical implications that could arise during the project.
This module aims to provide the support and structure for you to review your professional learning and development to date. It will enable you to undertake tasks that develop the skills of reflection and analysis appropriate for study at level 6. In achieving this, you will be in a position to be able to recognise and define your own personal perspective on work and practice. The module will also engage you in a process of recognising experiential and certificated learning, leading to the accreditation of learning. On completion of this module you may be in a position to enter the final year of an undergraduate programme
This module will support you to undertake a real work-based project that is designed to develop or inform areas of your own or your colleague’s professional practice with service users/children, in a healthcare, social care or educational setting. You will plan, carry out and evaluate a project and critically discuss the learning gained, as well as the outcomes of the project for your area of practice. The focus of the project is negotiated and can be related to individual or team practice development and/or wider organisational development aims.
This module will support you to undertake a small work based project or activity that is designed to develop areas of your own or others professional practice. You will plan, carry out and evaluate a small project and critically discuss the learning gained, as well as outcomes of the project for your area of practice and setting. The focus of the projects are negotiated and can be related to individual or team practice development aims. As these small projects are not usually ‘research’ based it is not envisaged that formal ethical approval will be required. However relevant workplace permissions will still need to be gained.
This module will support you to undertake a small work based project or activity that is designed to develop areas of your own or others professional practice. You will plan, carry out and evaluate a small project and critically discuss the learning gained, as well as outcomes of the project for your area of practice and setting. The focus of the projects are negotiated and can be related to individual or team practice development aims. As these small projects are not usually ‘research’ based it is not envisaged that formal ethical approval will be required. However relevant workplace permissions will still need to be gained.
The Graduate Certificate is particularly suitable for practitioners who have undertaken accredited CPD modules with their organisation or a University and want to achieve a small graduate award in the first instance. Progression from an accredited course(s) to a named award may have been negotiated by your organisation as part of the accreditation.
This module will support you to undertake a small work based project or activity that is designed to develop areas of your own or others professional practice. You will plan, carry out and evaluate a small project and critically discuss the learning gained, as well as outcomes of the project for your area of practice and setting. The focus of the projects are negotiated and can be related to individual or team practice development aims. As these small projects are not usually ‘research’ based it is not envisaged that formal ethical approval will be required. However relevant workplace permissions will still need to be gained.
This module will support you to undertake a real work-based project that is designed to develop or inform areas of your own or your colleague’s professional practice with service users/children, in a healthcare, social care or educational setting. You will plan, carry out and evaluate a project and critically discuss the learning gained, as well as the outcomes of the project for your area of practice. The focus of the project is negotiated and can be related to individual or team practice development and/or wider organisational development aims.
More information about this course
See the course specification for more information about typical course content:
Optional modules are usually available at levels 5 and 6, although optional modules are not offered on every course. Where optional modules are available, you will be asked to make your choice during the previous academic year. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.
On all programmes, modules are supported through an online learning approach, including online workshops, supported (online) peer interaction, tutor support and guided self-study.
Most modules run over 12 week semesters from October to January or January to May. The final project module can run over 2 semesters.
All modules are assessed through course work that is directly relevant to your own practice and work context. Key assessment requirements are:
These programmes are designed to support your professional development requirements. Previous graduates have progressed successfully to School Direct Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programme or Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS) programme and gained employment in Schools and early years settings.
Other graduates have gained promotion to care manager in social care residential settings.
Ruth is the Director of Programmes for Accreditation, RPL and Work-Based Learning across the School of Health and Education. She has extensive experience across FE and HE developing programmes in response to workforce development needs across the sector. She has a particular interest in the recognition of students experiential learning and developing their project skills to lead real practice development.
Dr Nottingham is based in the Department of Education within the Faculty of Professional and Social Sciences working on the professional doctorate programme and degree apprenticeships. Her research interests are in higher education and work-based pedagogy, lifelong learning and professional doctorates. She has been the co-covenor for the UALL Work and Learning Network since 2015 and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education academy.
We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.
Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.
Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.
At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.
Start: January 2024
Duration: 18 months (over 3 terms)
Code: B70C, 144B7NN
Start: January 2024
Duration: 18 months (over 3 terms)
Code: B70D
Start: January 2024
Duration: 18 months (over 3 terms)
Code: B7MM
