Entry criteria and Admissions criteria
The Faculty determines Entry Criteria to a level 7 PPD programme in Education.
The programme manager for the Diploma in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapeutic Counselling course, which is a professional qualification, also applies Admissions criteria.
Entry Requirements
Applicants should:
1. Have relevant experience of working in an education or related professional setting;
2. Demonstrate a reflective and enquiring approach to their work which supports improvement in professional practice and/or policy;
3. Demonstrate the ability to work independently and collaboratively with the support of Faculty tutors;
4. Demonstrate a willingness and ability to engage with academic and professional literature that will support empirical and/or literature-based enquiry into policy and/or practice. It should be noted that Accredited Prior Learning (APL) (i.e. credits gained from other institutions) are not accepted to gain accelerated entry to the PPD programme, although these credits can be considered as part of an applicant’s entry qualifications to support the application, if considered relevant.
Demonstration of Requirements
The PPD application form asks for information relating to the requirements specified above.
Applicants are given the opportunity to demonstrate that they meet requirements 2 and
3 through a personal statement. Demonstration of requirements 1 to 3 should be
supported by a professional reference from a senior colleague in an education context.
Since work produced for the PPD programme will be assessed at Masters level, it is
particularly important that candidates demonstrate requirement 4. This may be through
the following academic qualifications:
• A good honours degree;
• A PGCE assessed at Masters level;
• Recent (within three years) completion of professional qualifications at level six or
above;
• Overseas qualifications equivalent to the above (for an assessment of overseas
qualifications contact National Academic Recognition Centre for the United
Kingdom);
• Non-English speaking overseas applicants may also require an IELTS qualification
with a minimum score of 7 in each element.
Requirement 4 may alternatively be demonstrated through professional writing, for
example:
• Professional documentation, e.g. policy documents for a school or group of schools,
substantial reports on present practice within or between schools, etc;
• Publications in professional journals or other forms of professional communication;
• Reviews of education publications.
Demonstration of requirement 4 should be supported by production of the relevant
certificates and/or by an academic reference from a course tutor, publication editor or
senior colleague who is able to comment on academic capability.
Specific admissions criteria for the Diploma in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapeutic Counselling
The programme is designed for those who work with young people in educational or other settings who have either satisfactorily completed the Introduction to Child and Adolescent Counselling Skills (32-hour course) or have an equivalent qualification. This is a postgraduate professional course and candidates are normally expected to hold a good undergraduate degree.
Applicants must be able to demonstrate:
- the capacity to engage with and work in play and the arts
- a knowledge and use of basic counselling skills and theory
- the capacity for self-reflection and self-awareness
- the potential to develop a therapeutic relationship
- the capacity to undertake academic study at Postgraduate level
- the capacity to receive and work with feedback
- the capacity to work with others
- an awareness of emotion and sufficient robustness to undertake the programme
- enthusiasm for and commitment to learning
Admission to the course is also subject to appropriate suitability checks, which include:
a) obtaining and considering Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) criminal records checks and children’s barred list information (subscribed to the update service) and
b) other appropriate background checks.