A candidate for the Doctor of Applied Educational Psychology must:
a) Be a graduate of an approved university holding a Bachelors degree in Psychology or an equivalent subject recognised by the British Psychological Society as conferring Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership. This will normally be a first or upper second class honours but candidates with a lower second-class honours degree or other equivalent qualification may be considered if they have evidence of academic ability in psychology at postgraduate level.
b) Have the personal and intellectual resources to pursue a challenging and demanding research-oriented programme, including the:
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- Capacity to be critical and analytical
- Ability to work in a self-motivated, independent way and to set personal priorities
- Capacity to carry out sensitively practical fieldwork tasks
- Strong commitment to the positive contribution of psychology and education
c) Have previous supervised practical experience relevant to training as an educational psychologist that demonstrates:
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- Interpersonal skills at a level appropriate for dealing with people in distress
- The ability to work collaboratively with colleagues
- Long-standing interest in educational psychology
d) complete Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for acceptability for working with children and young people.
2. A candidate for the Degree of Doctor in Applied Educational Psychology must have pursued in this University a full-time course of study comprising taught, professional practice and research components. The minimum period for registration for this programme will be three years full time supervised study. Candidates will also be entitled to a thesis pending period of one year.
3. The course has a modular structure and credits will be awarded on the basis of successful completion of each module. The 540 credits will comprise 7 postgraduate taught modules (140 credits), 3 placement modules (240 credits), and research components (200 credits) contributing to a research portfolio (60 credits), a research project (80 credits) and a research dissertation (80 credits).
4. All taught modules will be at NUQF level 5 (QAA Level 8). The taught component of the course will continue throughout the three years of the course. The minimum pass mark for all taught modules will be 50%. All taught modules are compulsory and non-compensatable. The modules to be taken will be as notified to students in the School's programme handbook.
The assessment will enable candidates to demonstrate a systematic acquisition and understanding of a substantial body of knowledge, which is at the forefront of educational psychology professional practice. The assessments for the research methods training will be by research portfolio. The maximum number of modules which may be reassessed is two.
5. The University's Regulations for Taught Master's Degrees, Postgraduate Diploma and Postgraduate Certificate courses shall apply with regard to satisfactory progression on the taught element of the degree.
Submission of research portfolio, project and dissertation
6. The assessment will comprise a portfolio of research activity completed as part of the research methods, taught modules and placement modules, a research project and a thesis. Students will complete three assignments as part of the portfolio of research.
Students will complete three professional placement modules during which they will be required to produce a portfolio of fieldwork activities for each placement. The assessment of this professional practice component will comprise professional practice portfolio and placement evaluation.
7. The research development project (12,000 words) will extend over year 2 and comprise developing a research and ethics proposal and systematic literature review presented at the end of that year. Students research topics will be informed by the priorities of their placement provider, student personal and professional interest, and national developments in educational psychology. The project will contain the literature review for the Year 3 research thesis.
8. The research thesis (35,000 words) will extend over years two and three and be presented toward the end of the third year. The research thesis shall be of a standard to indicate the creation and interpretation of new knowledge through original research, which will extend the forefront of the discipline. The work reported will be of a quality to satisfy peer review and merit publication in a scientific journal. Normally candidates will submit their thesis at the end of the spring term in year 3. The viva will be carried out in the summer term of year 3. In exceptional circumstances candidates may submit the research thesis up to one year after the period of supervised study.
9. The degree of Doctor of Applied Educational Psychology (DAppEdPsy) will be conferred on candidates who have completed and reached a satisfactory standard in all of the taught modules, professional practice placement modules and research components of the programme, as defined above.
10. Candidates who either do not undertake or fail components but successfully complete part of the programme may be considered for the following awards: Postgraduate Certificate in Applied Educational Psychology (60 credits), Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Educational Psychology (120 credits) and Masters in Applied Educational Psychology (240 Credits) depending on the number of credits accrued and the point/year of exit. These exit qualifications will not confer eligibility on a student to register with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), the profession’s statutory regulator, as a Practitioner Educational Psychologist.