Psychology and Counselling Studies
About this course
Psychology and Counselling Studies is an ideal combination of subjects for those wishing to move into a career in the helping professions or those intending to undertake postgraduate training in applied psychology professions. Students on this course will gain knowledge and understanding in all the core domains of Psychology alongside carefully curated counselling modules which link theory, research and skills to the therapeutic context and reflective practice. Psychology is the study of human behaviour and involves the scientific examination of how we think, how we see other people, how children develop, how relationships are formed and how we can help people in mental distress.
This course enables students to explore professional and ethical issues in psychology and counselling context, and it is applicable to many professional contexts where listening, and understanding are important, such as teaching, nursing and social work. Whilst it is important to note that the course does not provide a professional training as a counsellor, it does place students in an excellent position to apply for such training on successful completion of this programme.
This programme is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), such that students gaining at least a Lower Second Class Honours Degree are eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) with the BPS, which means you will have taken your first step towards becoming a professional psychologist.
**Why study this course?**
• This programme is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).
• Students on the Psychology & Counselling Studies programme gain knowledge, understanding and skills in all the core domains of psychology, whilst also studying key areas of counselling theory, ethics, and their applications.
• Due to the wide range of generic skills, and the rigour with which they are taught, training in psychology & counselling is an excellent foundation that supports entry into a broad range of careers.
• The psychology subject area aims to lead the way in their support of students’ employability development. The subject area has its own employability coordinator and enmeshes employability at all levels of the degree programme.
• The psychology subject area aims to enact best practice in supporting students’ learning. At the start of your programme you will be allocated a member of the academic Psychology team who will be your personal tutor and who will take an active interest in your academic progress and experience on the programme throughout your three years of study.
What does the course cover?
During the first year of study (level 4), students are introduced to psychology and counselling studies as related yet distinct disciplines. During this year of the study, students are introduced to the core domains and applications of psychology and learn a range of study skills and research methods that will form the building blocks for their studies at levels 5 (second year) and 6 (final year ). Alongside this, students are introduced to core counselling theories and the associated skills taking under consideration the professional and ethical issues within psychology and counselling context.
In the second year of this programme (level 5), quantitative and qualitative approaches of scientific inquiry are further explored, providing deeper understanding of research methods.
In the final year (level 6) students undertake an empirical dissertation in psychology and counselling studies.
Modules
Please refer to the Birmingham Newman University website for details.
Assessment methods
Please refer to the Birmingham Newman University website for details.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Birmingham Newman University
Psychology
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Counselling, psychotherapy and occupational therapy
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Psychology (non-specific)
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Counselling, psychotherapy and occupational therapy
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
Psychology (non-specific)
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
20 years ago, this was a specialist degree for would-be psychologists but now it is the model of a modern, flexible degree subject. One of the UK's fastest-growing subject at degree level, and the second most popular subject overall (it recently overtook business studies), one in 23 of all graduates last year had psychology degrees. As you'd expect with figures like that, jobs in psychology itself are incredibly competitive, so to stand a chance of securing one, you need to get a postgraduate qualification (probably a doctorate in most fields, especially clinical psychology) and some relevant work experience. But even though there are so many psychology graduates — far more than there are jobs in psychology, and over 13,800 in total last year — this degree has a lower unemployment rate than average because its grads are so flexible and well-regarded by business and other industries across the economy. Everywhere there are good jobs in the UK economy, you'll find psychology graduates - and it's hardly surprising as the course helps you gain a mix of good people skills and excellent number and data handling skills. A psychology degree ticks most employers' boxes — but we'd suggest you don't drop your maths modules.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Counselling, psychotherapy and occupational therapy
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£20k
£24k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Psychology (non-specific)
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£17k
£19k
£22k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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