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Teaching

You are taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, experiential exercises, group work, action methods, discussion groups, modelling, audio-visual input, clinical skills, creative work and personal research.

In addition, individual meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled outside of class time on at least 3 occasions per academic year, with additional group tutorials occurring in class time if required.

The programme provides the opportunity to develop a specialism in a professional area of choice, and we also place emphasis on your own personal development throughout the programme. Your supervised placement practice will allow you to apply your learning and gain valuable experience and confidence.

Contact time

In a typical week you will have around 6.25 contact hours of teaching. The precise contact hours will depend on the module. You will also be expected to carry out independent study to consolidate and enhance your learning on this programme, and to address the assessments.

Typically class contact time will be structured around:

• 2 x hours of interactive lectures, workshops and creative experiential exercises
• 1 x hour seminar and group discussion/ activities
• 2 x hours supervision, clinical work and applied learning
• 1 x hour group work

Independent self-study

This full-time programme involves a high degree of self-directed learning at approximately 22 hours per week.

Typically, this will involve:

• reading of text books and journals
• professional portfolio activities, organisation and writing
• work based learning activities and project
• placement/ workplace counselling practice - a minimum of 50 hours
• supervision of counselling practice - a minimum of 1.5 hours per month
• personal therapy and/or similar therapeutic reflective development activity - a minimum of 20 hours
• preparation for assignments

Time spent on the above activities will vary from student to student but all of the above must be included in the learning process.

There are additional costs related to most counselling programmes, such as professional body membership fees, supervision if not provided by the placement, and personal therapy costs. For a breakdown of expected additional costs on this programme, please see the 'Fees' tab on the of the Iron Mill College website.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes experienced practitioners who are MBACP, UKCP, or MBACP (Accred.), and who are also in ongoing supervised practice as therapists. The academic team aim to create a colourful and varied learning experience, combining up to date theory, experiential activities, practical work, and reflective opportunities. Teaching is informed by research and consultancy, and all lecturers associated with the course have teaching qualifications and / or substantial teaching experience at HE level, with three members of the team being Fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). You can learn more about our staff by visiting our Staff Profiles on the Iron Mill College website

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to enhance and assess understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or 'formative' assignments. Each module has one formal or 'summative' assessment that is graded and counts towards the overall module grade.

• Summative assessments, such as essays, case studies, recorded practice assessments, projects and research, are formally marked. You will be awarded a grade or percentage which indicates whether you have successfully passed the module.
• Formative assessments such journal writing, feedback on skills practices, and participation in experiential work, as well as feedback from your placement and supervisor, are not formally marked, but are an important element of the course.

Summative assessments:

• Essays
• Oral exams and interviews
• Written assignments
• Professional portfolio (work based learning and placement)
• Case presentation and discussion
• Poster/exhibition
• Work based learning conference presentation
• Counselling skills work and recordings
• Journal-based reflective writing

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with module tutors as appropriate. We provide opportunities for you to receive feedback in the following forms:

• Verbal documented feedback provided in your 1:1 tutorial sessions
• Written comments from your tutor, usually attached to your assignments
• Verbal comments from your tutor associated with your work
• Generic feedback from tutors covering particular strengths/ weaknesses found in the work of a particular student group
• Comments from other students about your work (peer feedback)
• Your own comments and reflections on your work (self-assessment and feedback)

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

The BA programme directly addresses the recent BA QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Counselling and Psychotherapy (2013):

'As those entering the counselling and/or psychotherapy fields require understanding of a complex body of knowledge, clinical skills, self-awareness, analytical techniques and problem-solving skills, and the ability to evaluate evidence, arguments and assumptions to reach sound independent judgements, it is likely that they will need to be qualified to at least the level of a bachelor's degree with honours.' (Section 1.4).

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please