Occupational Therapy BSc(Hons)

Course structure

This part-time programme runs over 4–6 years. You will attend classes on campus two days per week, 32 weeks per year. Within those 32 weeks you will also complete seven or eight weeks of full-time practice placement in each year of the course. You should also expect to spend 20 hours per week (on average) on course-related independent study during term time. 

The innovative curriculum uses a problem-based learning approach, where you will examine real-life scenarios in small groups with a tutor. This type of education has been found to deepen understanding and promote lifelong learning. You will practice a variety of creative skills, for example in arts and crafts, cooking, ceramics, and horticulture.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through our applicant portal.

Syllabus

Modules

• Human Occupation

  This module will introduce you to professional standards of practice, the study of occupational science, the theories and practice of occupational therapy, and will also help you to develop skills inactivity analysis, study skills, and computer skills.

• Beginning Practice

  This module will provide you with the opportunity to observe an occupational therapy service that you're not already familiar with. You will observe the occupational therapists at work, including the therapeutic process, and team meetings. You may also have opportunities to assist in the occupational therapy process if appropriate, and interview service users to find out more about the experience of occupational loss in this setting.

• Assessing Occupational Capacities 1

  The in-depth study of the occupational therapy process begins. Although the whole procedure will be considered, focus will be on the theory and strategies of the first phase - the assessment of occupational risk factors -and on some causes of occupational loss. You will develop your communication skills, and demonstrate how you can use these to develop a rapport with a client, carry out an interview, and reflect on the interview and your interview skills.

• Assessing Occupational Capacities 2

  In this module study of the occupational therapy process continues with in-depth focus on the theory and strategies of assessment of occupational risk factors and occupational performance. Valid and reliable assessment measures now play a larger and more formal part in evaluating practice and in research. You will consider the clinical reasoning that facilitates this initial collaborative phase between service-user and therapist.

• Novice Practice

  This six-week placement occurs at the end of year one and will enable you to develop confidence in working with service users and reinforce your assessment skills. With assistance, you will develop the ability to assess and identify occupational issues, on which to base principles of intervention.

• Maximising Occupational Participation 1

  Building on your placement experience where assessment skills were refined, work in this module will focus on the therapeutic process itself, using occupations to maximize capacities and foster improved quality of life. The problems presented to you in this module will take the form of completed assessments of persons with occupational dysfunction; you will develop goals and plans for occupational therapy for a variety of persons.

• Maximising Occupational Participation 2

  The problems presented to you in this module take the form of completed assessments of persons with occupational dysfunction; from which your action, learning goals and plans for occupational therapy will be generated. Treatment plans will be justified through clinical reasoning and evidence. In skills workshops, you will learn how to analyse and adapt activities to be used as therapy.

Year 2

• Maximising Occupational Participation 1
• Maximising Occupational Participation 2
• Occupational Therapy in Teams
• Intermediate Practice

Year 3

• Evaluating Therapeutic Occupations 1
• Occupational Therapy in Diverse Settings
• Diverse Practice
• Evaluating Therapeutic Occupations 2

Year 4

• Competent Practice
• Person-centred Occupational Therapy
• Achieving Best Practice 1
• Achieving Best Practice 2

Facilities

Problem-based learning

Our educational philosophy mirrors the philosophy of occupational therapy. We believe that an individual's positive engagement in (learning) activity leads to advanced productivity, increased perception of self worth, improved quality of life and enjoyment (of the course).

Our occupational therapy courses use problem-based learning (PBL), a technique recommended by authorities around the world. All subjects covered are integrated around problem-solving within a real life situation. We find that learning in this way significantly increases our students' engagement with the subjects.

The pre-registration occupational therapy programmes incorporate the experience of doing and making, in order to engage with, analyse and develop skill in therapeutic media. We have creativity studios for cooking, ceramics, crafts, and performing arts, and we have developed gardens for the practice of horticulture.

Around the world, many academic courses in occupational therapy are losing this aspect of their education, to give over more time to ‘theory’, but here at the University of Brighton we believe that it is vital to retain these embodied learning experiences – which utterly link theory and practice – as they are indeed central to the understanding of the true essence and potential of occupation. Recent research has revealed the connection between skilled hand use and the development of thinking. As one student, who could not imagine a course without these sessions, said “how can we learn about doing without doing?” These classes are central to the philosophy of our occupational therapy education at Brighton and they have become one of its hallmarks.

About the profession

Occupational therapists work with individuals and their families to identify where change is needed. The individual might not be able to feed or dress himself independently if he can only use one hand following a stroke, or they may be too depressed to get out of bed to go to work.

They try to discover what the impediments are, and how the person might be able to resolve them practically.This often involves demonstrating new techniques that allow the individual to undertake everyday activities independently again.

Alternatively, occupational therapists might introduce new activities, such as cooking or pottery, for the individual to find enjoyment or improve their self-confidence.

Occupational therapists believe that humans are creative beings who thrive when engaged in a balanced range of enjoyable activities. They seek to understand peoples' motivations and needs and try to match activities to a person's existing skills.

Activity analysis exposes that although the things people do may seem deceptively simple, human occupations are actually incredibly complicated.

Occupational therapy is the study of what people do, how they do things, the effect these activities have on human health, and the reasons why people choose to do what they do (the meaning behind the doing).

The videos here show students Rhys Philips and Troy Croxton, in the role of Occupational Therapy Support Workers explaining how occupational therapy helps people live meaningful lives and carry out activities of importance to them. 

Two students explain how they mix practical experience with their degree in occupational therapy.

Reece and Troy, fourth year students, talk about how they became interested in occupational therapy.

Practice placements 

Occupational Therapy Practice Placements

What are practice placements and why are they necessary?
You will undertake five placements of between two and eight weeks, working alongside an occupational therapist in a practice setting. Placements make up approximately one third of the course and meet the World Federation of Occupational Therapists requirement that all students complete a minimum of 1000 hours supervised practice. This enables you to acquire an understanding of the centrality of occupation in human life and the possibility of transformation through occupation. Placements provide opportunities for you to develop your professionalism, knowledge and skills under the guidance of an occupational therapist. Your skill development might be related to many areas of practice including group work, creative activities, mobility, communication, and the use of technology.

What type of placement?
You will practice in many different settings including the National Health Service, social care organisations, schools, the voluntary sector, hospital in-patient settings, community settings and mental health services.

Where are the placements?
Placements take place across the South-East of England, including Sussex, Surrey and South London. It may be necessary for you to travel up to 90 mins or to stay away from home.

What support can students expect?
We provide preparation sessions in advance and a practice educator will support you on placement. We select your first two-week placement, than you can provide your preferred options (not guaranteed). If you have commitments outside of university, such as childcare, we will try and accommodate (not guaranteed). A tutor will visit or call you and your practice educator half way through the placement to discuss your progress.

What is the role of the practice educator?
The practice educator decides if you meet the required competency level in order to pass the placement. Practice educators are experienced occupational therapists that are trained with specialist knowledge in order to prepare and provide a positive placement for our students.

What if a student fails a placement?
The majority pass their placements. Should you fail, we treat this as a development opportunity and we will provide a second opportunity for you to undergo the placement in a similar, but different setting. Should you fail the second attempt you can no longer proceed and will normally be required to leave the course. This is unusual but is possible, in this event we would endeavour to support you through this process and you may be able to leave with an academic award at a lower level than a degree depending on the modules completed.

Diverse practice placements 

Occupational therapy in diverse settings placement 

Our diverse placements include both non-traditional and role- emerging placements (those which occur at a site where there is not an established occupational therapy role (COT 2006)).

One of the placements you undertake is an 8 week placement in a non-traditional/ diverse setting. This can include collaborative projects with community organisations including homeless day centres and hostels; residential and nursing homes; physical disability charities and day centres; young people’s projects and schools; mental health hostels; sheltered housing facilities; a podiatry clinic; mother and baby services; a prison; an inter-generational dementia project; critical care unit; mainstream primary schools. Placements have also taken place in traditional hospital in-patient physical settings, focusing on promoting the use of meaningful activity to enhance health and well-being on the wards, for example breakfast clubs, Ipad internet shopping.

Research carried out at the university has identified that these placements are significant in helping you to develop your professional identity and confidence to practice and there is a national trend for this development in Occupational Therapy education (COT 2006). You normally go on these placement in pairs for 7 weeks preceded by 1 induction day a week over 5 weeks. This provides the opportunity for you to complete your induction and negotiate your plan for the placement with your on-site supervisor. During this time you have the opportunity to attend university based action teaching groups to discuss assessment and intervention issues. You will receive an hour’s supervision each week from both an onsite supervisor and an Occupational Therapist who is normally a clinician, or a university Occupational Therapy tutor.

There has been much success with these placements; specific feedback from the placements has included a decrease in evictions and challenging behaviour in homeless projects and a decrease in falls in nursing homes. Since this placement has become compulsory students have received very positive feedback from their final traditional placements and when going for ‘traditional’ job interviews regarding their ability to articulate their professional skills and identity. In addition some students have been confident to apply for jobs in emerging role settings for their first post. Examples of this include a mental health hostel; a young people’s charity; a special school; an elderly carers’ project; a vocational service.

Staff profiles

Other requirements and interview

Writing the reports: events to help applicants

Local trusts and social services departments organise events to help applicants with the writing of the two 500 word reports. You will only need to attend one physical and one mental health. These events do get booked up very quickly so I would advise you to book a place as soon as possible. There will be no other events available after these dates.

For full details and to book a place, visit our subject open days page or contact Lisa Harford at l.e.harford@brighton.ac.uk.

Selection events

Interviews are held in May each year. Applicants will be interviewed individually within a group to allow them to demonstrate their communication skills as these are so important both during the course, and for future practice. The interview is an opportunity for applicants to find out more about the course, see the campus, meet some of the existing students and staff, and to meet other applicants. 

We are looking for students who have a very good understanding of the profession, are highly motivated, have excellent communication skills and are able to accurately evaluate their own performance.

All candidates must be able to demonstrate (in both application form and at interview) a sound knowledge of occupational therapy as a profession. This could come from, for example, experience of working in occupational therapy departments, talking to qualified occupational therapists, visits to departments, open days/ other events and reading relevant material. 

Course fees

Funding arrangements for part-time students

Students can apply for a loan if this is their second degree providing it is not in the same profession/subject.

Further information can be found on the gov.uk website.

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2019–20.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply check with us for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly. You can chat with our enquiries team through the Stay in touch panel at the end of this page.

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Local area

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Eastbourne campus map