Occupational Therapy (Pre-Registration) MSc (PGCert PGDip)

International equivalencies

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Course structure

This intensive programme runs over 45 weeks per year, for two years. Your time on the course will be balanced between campus-based study and clinical practice.

Sessions are held in small groups, they are interactive, integrated, self-directed, and focus on problem-solving, to examine real-life situations. The use of problem-based learning is considered crucial to students' fast attainment of masters-level standards, and for critical evaluation.

Other learning experiences are arranged according to the need of the problem; these may be lectures, practical sessions, skills classes, debates or seminars. Most importantly, all subjects are integrated around the problems.

Our postgraduate programmes are taught by a wide variety of methods – small active learning groups, seminars, action learning sets, PBL, lectures, self-directed literature searches.

Understanding the relationship between occupation and human health and wellbeing is also explored through student participation in a variety of activities such as cooking, craft, horticulture, performing arts and pottery.

Assessments allow for individual feedback in essential professional skills including written critique, report writing, team working, presentation skills, and verbal/written presentation of intervention.

Areas of study

You will examine topics such as:

• theories of occupation and occupational science (causes of occupational problems)
• occupation related to population health
• clinical reasoning
• occupational therapy process (assessment, treatment, and evaluation)
• occupational therapy skills (creative, productive, leisure and daily living)
• research methods and professional issues.

Syllabus

Year 1 modules

• Human Occupation (including two-week beginner practitioner placement)
• Assessing Occupational Capacities
• Novice Practitioner (practice placement)
• Maximising Occupational Capacities
• Intermediate Practitioner (practice placement)
• Evaluating Occupational Therapy

Year 2 modules

• Occupational Therapy: Teams
• Diverse Practice (practice placement)
• Occupational Therapy: Settings
• Competent Student Practitioner (practice placement)
• Occupational Therapy: Consumers
• Achieving Best Practice
• Research project

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.

Exchange visits

The student exchange programme is for occupational therapy students registered on the Occupational Therapy (Pre-Registration) MSc at the University of Brighton, Occupational Therapy MSc students at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse (UWC) and Occupational Therapy BSc students at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen (RGU).

There are two options.

• Host option (year one)
• Travel option (year two)

First year students host visiting students during their Maximising Occupational Capacities module which runs from February to April each year. During the second year students have the option of visiting either UWC or RGU during their spring break.

The programme offers students the opportunity to see firsthand similarities and differences in occupational therapy practice and experience life in the USA, if taking this travel option. Exchange experiences will also enhance your CV and give you a wider experience base to refer to and draw upon in your future practice.

Students participate in various learning activities while in the USA or Scotland including attending classes with the occupational therapy students, completing job shadowing in the community and participating in cultural events such as visiting castles, museums and socialising with their host students.

While in either the USA or Scotland, Brighton students are hosted by UWC or RGU students which provide an insight into the daily life of a university student. First year University of Brighton students can choose to host a UWC or RGU occupational therapy student. These students travel to the University of Brighton during their spring break and join in classes, as well as completing job shadowing and participating in cultural activities.

University of Wisconsin La Crosse

Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen

Our philosophy

The pre-registration occupational therapy programmes incorporate the experience of doing and making, in order to engage 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 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. 

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 eight-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 seven weeks preceded by an induction day a week over five 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 profile

Channine Clarke – Academic lead

"I am the Academic Lead for our Occupational Therapy courses. As a University of Brighton Occupational Therapy BSc(Hons) graduate myself I can say that doing my training was the best thing I ever did. Occupational therapy is such a diverse career and there really is an area of practice for everyone, whether your interest lies in physical, mental health, learning disabilities, paediatrics or diverse settings.

"Once qualified (in 1998) I started my career in a forensic mental health team, helping to set up and run a rehabilitation hostel. I spent 10 years in the service, developing my career to become a Head Occupational Therapist before coming to the university in 2007 as part of the teaching team and taking on the role of practice placement tutor. I have also worked at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists helping to develop occupational therapists’ knowledge, understanding and practice related to clinical audit and effectiveness. I completed my PhD here at Brighton in 2013 and my areas of interest are occupational therapy in diverse settings, problem-based learning, practice-based education and professional development of our students.

"I know that the occupation focused and self-directed nature of my training enabled me to work passionately and autonomously from the start of my career and I use the knowledge, skills and attributes I learnt every day and am now able to share these with, and hopefully inspire, the next generation of therapists.

"Many of the staff team here are also Brighton graduates, which is a testament to what a great place it is to study and work. It is a very supportive team and a lovely campus where you get the opportunity to train alongside other health students with a variety of inter-professional learning events. We are all highly committed to working with you to ensure that you become the occupational therapist that you want to be."

You can read Channine's full academic profile.

Dr David Haines

David joined the University of Brighton School of Health Sciences as a Senior Lecturer in 2006 and became the Course Leader of the part-time BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy in 2012. He teaches on both this and the MSc Occupational Therapy (pre-registration) course. He became a Principal Lecturer in 2017 and took on the role of School of Health Sciences Apprenticeships Lead.

He was formerly Research and Development Lead and Education Lead on the National Executive Committee of the College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section – People with Learning Disabilities and completed research with this specialist section into occupational therapy and people with learning disabilities.

He has recently completed research for a PhD exploring the ways an occupational therapist supported people with profound and multiple learning disabilities to engage in their occupations at home.

You can read his full academic profile.

Meet the team

Dr Channine Clarke (Academic lead), Tania Wiseman (Course leader), Heidi Von Kurthy (Admissions tutor) and Audrey Yong (Placement tutor).

Additional teaching team: Dr Jon Wright, Victoria Lovell, Dr Lee Price, Tracy Szekely, Dr Josh Cameron, Sue Wheatley, Paul Boyle and Dr Tara Sims.

Location

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Maps

Accommodation

University building

Eastbourne campus map