Psychology, Counselling and Coaching (With Professional Practice Year)
University of Bedfordshire
UCAS Code: CB88 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
University of Bedfordshire
UCAS Code: CB88 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
A science subject is preferred.
96 UCAS Tariff points. A science subject is preferred.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
A science subject is preferred.
96 UCAS Tariff points. A science subject is preferred.
UCAS Tariff
A science subject is preferred.
About this course
This degree offers a unique approach, blending knowledge and practice from counselling and coaching psychology. You study classic and contemporary theories of counselling and psychotherapy including psychodynamic, person-centred and cognitive behavioural approaches to gain a thorough understanding of the core areas. You then have the opportunity to use and develop your skills in real-life, peer-coaching practice and in voluntary roles within relevant organisations.
**Professional Practice Year**
Take your course over four years and include a Professional Practice Year after your second year of studies. It is an opportunity to apply your learning in the workplace while enhancing your knowledge and skills through fee-free paid practice. It also builds your CV and industry contacts with many students progressing to employment within their practice-year organisation or institution.
**Course Accreditation/Industry Endorsement**
- This course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS). Graduating from a BPS-accredited degree with a 2nd-class Honours or above makes you eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) of the Society. It also enables you to enrol for Stage 1 postgraduate training.
**Facilities and Specialist Equipment**
You have access to specialist, industry-standard psychology laboratories and computing environments including:
- Counselling/coaching practice pods to develop counselling and coaching skills
- Two-way mirror observation rooms to assist with counselling/coaching skills development
- Virtual reality software and headsets to support counselling skills development
- Cognitive neuropsychology lab
- Research cubicles
- Eyetrackers
- Physiological data-acquisition system
- EEG
- Podcasting equipment
- Data-analysis software
- Experiment and survey-building software
**Partnerships and Collaborations**
- Specialist units for this course have been developed working with a panel of industry professionals from the NHS, mental health support and other relevant organisations to ensure they align with employer needs.
**Your Student Experience**
- Benefit from friendly, approachable staff, small class sizes and easy access to academic support.
- Get to know your peers and academics well by taking part in the School’s many social events, which run throughout the academic year and include membership of our Junior Research Institute.
- Learn from a highly experienced academic team who are active in industry and are members of the Research Centre for Applied Psychology.
- Our research addresses real-life day-to-day issues including reading development; cognitive function in long COVID; and prevention of gender-based violence.
- Take part in roleplay and peer-coaching practice up to pre-practitioner level to help develop your skills as an effective counsellor or therapist.
- Bring your learning to life through authentic assessments in areas such as counselling and coaching; case conceptualisation; and coaching or clinical supervision.
- Gain insight into psychological practice in the NHS as well as awareness of the career paths offered within the NHS.
- Hear from a variety of guest speakers who share their experience and expertise at special events and masterclasses run by the School of Psychology.
Modules
Areas of study include:
- Foundations to Psychology
- Introduction to Psychological Research Methods and Data Analysis
- Psychology in Everyday life
- Introduction to Counselling and Psychotherapy
- Social Processes and Lifespan Development
- Biological and Cognitive Psychology
- Methods of Research in Psychology
- Counselling and Psychotherapy in Context
Every effort is made to ensure this information is accurate at the point of publication on the UCAS website. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to our website.
Assessment methods
Throughout your degree you will encounter a wide variety of assessment types which are collectively designed to suit the diversity of individual learning styles and preferences. Whilst you will be expected to sit some examinations, the overall assessment diet strongly favours different forms of coursework. This includes: presentations, reports, essays, computer-based assessments, portfolios, reflective journals, and more. You will receive helpful feedback on each assignment which will help you to develop your own academic and transferable skills, and inform the completion of your future assessments. Support is provided through staff office hours as well as statistics drop-in sessions.
Every effort is made to ensure this information is accurate at the point of publication on the UCAS website. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to our website:
https://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/courses/undergraduate/next-year/psychology-counselling-and-therapies/
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if the overall teaching satisfaction score 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.
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.
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.
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.
£18k
£22k
£25k
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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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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