Overview

You gain a deeper understanding of the role of clinical psychologists and mental health, while also studying the core psychology curriculum prescribed by the British Psychological Society.

You study four key areas of clinical psychology: adult, child, older adult, and learning disability. You learn about how to make sense of a person's problems and develop assessment and formulation skills, along with having the opportunity to work with local employers. You are taught by qualified clinical psychologists.

Professional accreditation

This course is accredited by the British Psychological Society. However, it does not provide you with counseling accreditation.

Course structure

Year 0 (foundation year) core modules

This module will assist you in developing the personal and academic skills that you will need for undergraduate study. It focuses on developing skills such as information retrieval, evaluation, critical thinking, note-taking, presentation skills, and group work.

Contemporary Issues in Social Sciences

This module will introduce you to the historical and contemporary development of social science disciplines and will provide examples of theoretical challenges and the ways in which research is applied in society. You will gain an understanding of the critical differences between disciplines and how interdisciplinary research is fostered through collaboration. You will also be introduced to academic standards, ethical guidelines and research protocols, personal development planning, and a range of study and transferable skills relevant to your degree course and beyond.

Fake News: Propaganda and Polemics, Past and Present

This module provides you with the opportunity to develop your skills in thinking critically about the information and analysis presented in an array of media in today’s digital world, drawing on the methodologies of a range of disciplines within the social sciences, humanities, and law. You will explore examples of the debates over fake news in both the past and present, and look at how fake news can be used to both support and undermine the status quo, enabling you in the process to become more savvy and engaged citizens.

Historical and Popular Crime, Justice, Laws, and Psychology

This module introduces you to the history of crime and justice, using media representations and crime fiction as a way of exploring crime over time, including aspects such as changes in society, law, and education in this context.

Project

This module allows students to identify an area of interest related to their undergraduate degree and to explore this through a small-scale research project where students will be required to produce an analysis of an area of focus.

Teesside: History, Literature, Culture, and Society

This module provides you with an opportunity to adopt an interdisciplinary approach to the Teesside region. You will learn about Teesside’s history, culture, and society through the examination of various topics which will give you a deeper understanding of the region, both past, and present.

Year 1 core modules

This module provides students with many of the skills needed to critically evaluate psychological theories and studies. It uses examples from psychology to highlight the common errors that people make when assessing arguments and evaluating evidence.

The module provides step-by-step guidance on how to overcome widespread mistakes and how to construct logical, balanced, and coherent arguments. The module also requires students to assess the validity of a number of extraordinary claims, such as parapsychology, alternative medicine, astrology, and mediumship. Students will be encouraged to be open-minded, yet require appropriate standards of proof when evaluating such claims.

Human Development and Social Psychology

You gain an understanding of two of the five core areas of study specified by the British Psychological Society (BPS): developmental psychology and social psychology. You consider theoretical and empirical work within human development and social psychology and are introduced to ethics in psychology, psychological research skills, and report writing.

Introduction to Counseling and Counseling Theories

You are introduced to the field of counseling and the theories it uses, how it relates to other disciplines, where counseling takes place, different kinds of people counseling can support, social problems it tackles, the history of counseling from its beginnings through to modern-day, the contemporary issues it faces. You will develop formative counselling skills including developing a supportive relationship, professional boundaries and using questions appropriately. Major theoretical approaches that may be helpful for counsellors attempting to support people facing life difficulties are considered.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

You are introduced to the field of mental health and wellbeing. The module includes a discussion of key theories and specific conditions which are amenable to psychological intervention. Brief introductions are given to different therapeutic approaches, medical, social, and resilience-based models of mental health and wellbeing. You are given the opportunity to participate in weekly discussion workshops/taster sessions, where topics from the lecture are considered in more depth. During discussion groups, you have the opportunity to work on your interpersonal and group management skills using a compassion-focused approach to group skills management.

Psychology, Cognition and Individual Differences

You gain an understanding of three of the five core areas of study specified by the British Psychological Society (BPS): biological psychology, cognitive psychology, and individual differences. You consider theoretical and empirical work within biological and developmental psychology and individual differences and also develop psychological research skills and report writing in more depth to provide you with the skills necessary to plan, conduct and report psychological research.

Psychological Research Design and Analysis 1

Providing a foundation in psychological research methods and analysis, this module covers a range of experimental and non-experimental methodological approaches.

You are introduced to the Windows SPSS package for statistical analysis and graph drawing, and you learn about simple qualitative research and data collection methods.

The module covers ethics in research, qualitative and quantitative methods, survey design, simple non-experimental and experimental designs, reliability and validity, probability, hypothesis testing, descriptive data analysis, simple non-parametric and parametric statistical analysis, and research report writing.

By the end of the module, you’ll be able to identify the appropriate method for a range of research questions, analyse the resulting data and draw appropriate conclusions.

How you learn

Teaching is delivered using a range of lectures, seminars, and laboratory classes. We emphasize study skills so you learn how to use all our extensive facilities such as electronic journals, virtual learning environments, and computer programs. You also have access to our computer suites and specialist laboratories where you develop practical skills in the investigation of human behavior.

How you are assessed

Our varied assessments develop the skills most valued by employers. They include essays, exams, group, and individual presentations, poster presentations, portfolios, reflective reports, and a dissertation. There is even an opportunity to take part in recorded role play in your second-year assessment.

Career opportunities

Although this is an academic course rather than a professional training course, on successful completion with a 2.2 or above, you will be eligible to apply for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) status with the British Psychological Society (www.bps.org.uk). As with all our psychology degrees, upon graduation, you can proceed to further study in any area of psychology. You can also utilize your enhanced critical thinking, research aptitude, and analytical skill in a range of graduate-level careers. However, the skills and abilities developed in this course are particularly suited to the postgraduate training in counseling psychology you will need in order to become a chartered counseling psychologist.

All programs are designed to incorporate employability skills development alongside your degree course. Our staff utilizes their extensive connections to provide many and varied opportunities to engage with potential employers through fairs, guest lecture sessions, live projects, and site visits. In addition, we offer a series of workshops and events in the first, second and third year that ensure all students are equipped with both degree level subject knowledge PLUS the practical skills that employers are looking for in new graduate recruits.

Our award-winning careers service works with regional and national employers to advertise graduate positions, in addition to providing post-graduation support for all Teesside University alumni.