Welcome to your Psychology and Counselling course

The first semester gives you a taste of your next three years and gets you settled in with your course group. Through semester one’s exciting and informative sessions, you will get a better understanding of core areas of psychology and the different ways these are applied within the real world.

You get to learn about applications of core areas of psychology to tackle real-life issues, how we develop, grow, and change over our life, and some of the ways we carry out psychological research. We will also support you to develop academic and professional skills you will need during your degree and beyond, such as how to write your assignments and developing personal development and career plans.

Alongside your psychology modules, your counselling module will give you a unique opportunity to put all of your psychological understanding from your core teaching into practice. You will have weekly lectures delivered by members of our counselling team who are all active qualified practitioners who work with real life clients regularly. In your seminars, emphasis is placed on your own personal awareness and a regular opportunity to practice your counselling skills in our state-of-the-art counselling suits.

You will have plenty of opportunities to meet the other students on your course and will be working together in small groups so that you have the chance to get to know one another. As well as students on your course you will get to meet your Academic Mentor and also James Vernon, your Course Leader and person responsible for the smooth running of the course.

We want you to feel part of a course team here at Staffordshire and we will give you (at no cost to you!) a purple ‘Psychology’ hoodie, with your course labelled on the back. We’d like to encourage you to wear this as much as you can, especially when you come on to campus, so you can always keep an eye out for others on your course and seek out a friendly face if you need to. We will buy hoodies in a range of sizes so no need to pre-order.

During your first two years of degree study, we put the emphasis on skill development to ensure you grow into an independent and inquisitive learner. In Year 3, you’ll take greater control of your own studies and will be able to choose from a wide range of specialist options to conduct your own piece of empirical research. Your research project lets you put into practice the skills you’ve developed throughout the course.

You will also be encouraged, where possible, to contribute new findings and theory to existing knowledge in your specialist area. A variety of teaching and learning methods are employed to deliver the course and these are tailored to complement your needs through a variety of lecture, seminars, workshops and tutorials and assessed in a range of different ways including: formal essays, exams, case studies, portfolios, presentations and reports.

A crucial part of becoming a Psychologist is learning to understand, conduct, and analyse scientific research. As with all high-quality undergraduate psychology degrees, this means our courses feature modules that focus on teaching these skills. We take great care in closely guiding students through this learning process (via small group teaching, group work with peers, support clinics and step-by-step guides) supporting our students in preparation for the increasingly data-driven world.

The course operates on a modular basis that provides flexibility and choice. Typically, the majority of modules are 20 credits with a smaller number of 40 credit modules. Each credit taken equates to a total study time of around 10 hours. Total study time includes scheduled teaching, independent study and assessment activity. Full-time students take modules worth 60 credits per semester, with part-time students taking proportionately fewer credits per semester. All students take a total of 120 credits per level and 360 credits for the degree as a whole. Your overall grade for the course and your degree classification are based on the marks obtained for modules taken at Levels 5 and 6.

We update our reading lists all the time, so when you join us, we'll give you the most up to date lists. However, if you do want to familiarise yourself with some material in advance, the book below is the recommended text for your first year ‘Adventures in Psychology’ module and covers many of the topics you will encounter in your first year. You don’t necessarily have to buy this book as we have some copies in our library, electronic copies available through the University library, as well as some earlier but still relevant editions.

Martin, G.N. & Carlson, N.R. (2018). Psychology (6th ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.

ISBN-10: ‎1292090588

ISBN-13: ‎978-1292090580

Although you are only at the beginning of your journey with us, it is never too soon to think about where you are going. And so, you might also want to explore possibilities as developing Psychologists and beyond though the British Psychological Society website

There is a variety of software which can be downloaded from the University’s website and can also be accessed via the button below. This software is free for all of our students, as we understand to reach your full potential and succeed in your degree you need the tools to help you. Examples of the software available are:

• Microsoft Office 365
• Microsoft Teams
• SPSS
• NVivo
• Sophos Antivirus
• Asure Dev Tools for Teaching
• VMWare
• Free Training

Click for free software

• Health and Wellbeing
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Getting involved in a student group can enhance your time at University. It’s a great way to make new friends and connections, learn from other students and develop new skills whilst having some fun at the same time.

We have a Psychology Society (winner of the Proud To Be Staffs Award for inclusivity advocacy) with a vibrant and inclusive student community where everyone is welcome. Members of the society pride themselves on supporting each other through their degree. Please check out the Psychology Society page

There are also a range of other student groups. Whether you want to join a group as a member, get involved in running a group as part of a committee or help run an event or organise your own – your Students’ Union is here to make it happen! Please check out the Students’ Union website for more information on all of our groups, volunteering and other opportunities, or get in touch with the Students’ Union if you have more questions.

Click here for a list of the current clubs and societies run through the Students’ Union