Child, community and educational psychology (M4)

Entry requirements

In line with national training requirements, applicants need to:

• have the minimum of a psychology degree (with honours, preferably 2:1 or above) or a qualifying conversion course or Master’s degree, with eligibility for the British Psychological Society (BPS) Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC);
• have gained a minimum of one year’s full-time (37 hours a week or the equivalent if part-time) experience of working with children and young people by the application deadline. This is usually within an educational, health, social care, youth justice, childcare or community setting.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Completing this three year, full-time course will enable you to work as a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)-registered practitioner educational psychologist, and to be chartered with the British Psychological Society (BPS).

Taught in-person, this highly regarded professional doctorate training course has been recently re-validated with commendations by the University of Essex, and accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).

The Tavistock and Portman has a long-standing reputation for innovation and thought leadership, nationally and internationally, and the course draws heavily on applying systemic, psychodynamic and attachment-informed perspectives to professional psychological practice in schools and in communities.

We emphasise understanding oneself in the professional role and the ways in which relationships influence all aspects of support and intervention for children, young people, families, schools and other services in the community.

Valued features of our programme include:

• our clinician-trainer approach where those who see our patients teach our trainees
• the central significance of experiential learning and a variety of opportunities to engage in such learning
• training in a working mental health Trust alongside students from a range of other disciplines and modalities
• a clinical placement in the first year in one of our child and adolescent mental health teams
• a privileging of supervisory relationships with a committed and thoughtful personal supervision team
• an emphasis on reflection individually and in groups, and attention across all three years to group process and group dynamics
• creative application of technology-enhanced learning, including the use of video to support professional development.

Over the three years, you will learn experientially and through lectures, seminars, tutorials and workshops. You will gain professional experience through placements in child and adolescent mental health and educational psychology services. The overall aim of the programme is to equip our students with the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to practise ethically, effectively and responsibly.