Somerset College

Summary

This course is for students progressing from Foundation Degrees in Health and Social Care and Applied Psychology.  It is a development of our BSc (Hons) Health and Social Care Management course and provides students with a critical understanding of current issues and debates within the delivery of welfare services.

This programme is designed to be both stimulating and relevant in enabling you to develop your academic and professional practice in the delivery of helping services within health, childcare and/or social care.

The programme enables its graduates to prepare themselves for work in the changing contexts of welfare services through developing their capacities to work in a critical and reflective way, to be flexible, and in consultation with others, to appraise the impact of developing policies and make effective use of emerging knowledge and evidence from research.

This programme is also suited for qualified nurses or social workers who would like to top-up their Diploma to an Honours Degree.

Description

The delivery of primary care services is changing. Practitioners working with people need to have up-to-date skills, use appropriate psychology, knowledge and expertise and an awareness of the best available evidence to inform their practice and be able to work within an inter-agency culture. You will be encouraged to reflect critically on your work in terms of what you believe in and develop a moral framework for your practice.

The course will: • Reflect on recent psychological, health and social care research. • Develop your skills in relation to multi-agency collaboration and place practice in a post-modern context.

You will explore in-depth topics such as: • Evidence in Practice • Critical Practice • Inter-agency, multi-agency and collaborative working • Advanced research methods.

You will also choose from a range of options including: • Psychological Strategies • Interpersonal Skills • Managing Your Career
You will also undertake a research dissertation on a subject of your choosing.

Personal Skills

At interview and in your personal statement, we are looking for you to demonstrate the following personal qualities and skills (although all will be further developed throughout your learning): • An interest in social issues and working with people. • Communication Skills. Important in all health and social care settings. Your course could include oral presentations, formal report writing and in-depth research. • Group/Team Work. All jobs in health and social care require the ability to work in groups and teams. • Independent Learning / Study Skills. You will already have some of these skills, although your transition to higher education is supported by your personal support tutor and student support services. • Problem Solving. The new welfare agenda requires health and social care workers to take a more innovative and creative approach to how they work. • Occupation Specific Skills. If you have any prior work experience please tell us, although an integral element of the programme is supervised work experience placements.

Teaching and Assesment

Assessment is through 100% coursework. Teaching and learning is delivered through lectures, supervised discussion, small group work and presentations.

Career Opportunities

This degree will enable you to embark on a career in the health and social care sector at a supervisory, managerial or developmental role, or you may progress to postgraduate study.

Entry Requirements

FdA Health and Social Care, FdSc in Applied Psychology, another healthcare related subject or relevant HND or DipHE Social Work/Nursing or DipHE in Applied Social Sciences.


We also require students to have GCSE English at grade C (or equivalent). Students whose first language is not English will be required to attain IELTS (International English Language Testing System).

If you are an internal student transferring from a Foundation Degree to the top-up degree then please see a member of the admin team as there is a specific application form.

Interviews last approximately 25 minutes. Normally there are two interviewers, this is a valuable opportunity for you to show and discuss your application and demonstrate your personal skills.

This course may involve regular access to children and/or vulnerable adults (also known as regulated activity).

All students applying for this course will be legally required to register with the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) which is administered by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). The ISA has recently been established as a single agency to monitor all individuals who want to work or volunteer with vulnerable people. Registration with the scheme will cost £64 (as of April 2009) and is a one-off payment which will cover both the cost of registration and a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check. Following successful registration you will be issued with an ISA Registration Number which will stay with you for the rest of your career. The College will send further instructions on registering with the VBS as part of the admissions process.

The VBS is a new system recently introduced, so it may be subject to change and modification. For up-to-date information and further explanation please visit http://www.isa-gov.org.uk/ or contact College Information.

Cost

Full-time: £3225 per year (for 2009/10)

Part-time (assumes 2 years part-time study to complete): £1612.50 per year (for 2009/10)

Materials: tbc  Registration Fee: tbc

Fees for 2010/11 will be confirmed in March 2010

Contact

Tel:  01823 366 331;  Email:  enquiries@somerset.ac.uk