The September 2023 intake of this course is now closed to international applicants. Home applicants can still apply.
Overview
Our Occupational Therapy programme offers you an active, collaborative learning experience in a friendly, supportive environment.
You’ll gain the theoretical understanding and hands-on practical experience you need to become a professional Occupational Therapist.
You develop knowledge of:
- occupational needs of people and populations
- professional skills to address barriers to occupation
- maintaining and enhancing peoples occupational performance
Occupational Therapists help people recover from physical or mental illness, supporting them to live their life to the fullest.
You’ll work with both adults and children in a range of health and social care settings, finding creative solutions to day-to-day problems.
You'll learn from highly experienced practising Occupational Therapists in a small cohort, and develop your skills in real-life environments and situations, both in our outstanding simulation facilities and on our diverse range of practice placements, undertaken in all three years.
Professional accreditation
The successful completion of BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy will allow eligibility to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as an occupational therapist.
The course is also approved by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists.
I work with service users who are experiencing an acute relapse in their mental health. My job is to ensure that they have a smooth transition back into the community & are engaging in a purposeful routine. My role is extremely stimulating - no two days are the same & I gain a lot of satisfaction from seeing the impact on people's lives. Bradford educated me on the importance of being a client-centred, competent practitioner, and I would recommend Bradford to anyone passionate about the wellbeing of others.
Placement
You will undertake five placement experiences across a range of clinical areas over the duration of the programme.
These increase incrementally from six weeks in the first year to ten weeks full-time in the final year.
Role Emerging Placement
The nine week placement will take place in a diverse practice setting, where there is minimal or no occupational therapy service. Placement locations are sourced for you by the Faculty, with the opportunity to complete 1080 hours of placement learning over the three years of the programme. Placement experience allows you to:
- experience real world clinical environments
- problem solve with real problems
- integrate theory into practice
- learn practical skills
- consolidate learning from modules
- begin to use reflection in and on action
- experience multi professional working
- develop your professional identity and communication skills
Placement experiences will reflect the diverse nature of the profession and also enable you to work with diverse populations and differing multi-disciplinary teams. The map illustrates the geographical area in which placements will occur.
Pre-placement lectures ensure you are prepared for each placement and each placement ends with a debrief session at the university to support your integration of theory and practice learning.
All placements are assessed with marks from placements in year two and three contributing to your overall degree classification.
Learning and assessment
The BSc (Hons) in Occupational Therapy uses a wide range of teaching and learning strategies that reflect the diversity of the student population and accommodate differing learning styles.
This varied approach seeks to facilitate the success of all students and the all-round development of a competent Occupational Therapy practitioner able to meet the learning outcomes for the programme.
The curriculum has a central focus on occupation, including occupational science throughout the programme - ensuring you recognise this as a central tenet of the profession.
The curriculum supports your application of theory into practice in order to develop your skills in addressing occupational limitations and enhancing performance.
You will be supported by the programme team and other University services to develop your academic skills following the period of transition into Higher Education and then throughout the programme. Graduates from Bradford will be critical thinkers, able to use reflection and analysis to identify their future learning needs.
They will be personally and professionally resilient. Research informed lectures are supplemented with group tutorials and practical sessions to facilitate an active and collaborative approach to learning.
Case-based scenarios are used to facilitate the development of your clinical/professional reasoning skills, and the inclusion of service users and carers within the learning and teaching experience will provide a person-centred perspective and further develop your understanding of the relationship between, health, wellbeing, occupation and occupational performance.
The programme team work in close alliance with local and regional stakeholders from a range of NHS, private, independent and voluntary organisations to ensure that the content of the programme is appropriate for your future professional career.
Throughout the programme you are encouraged to use a reflective e-portfolio to record learning experiences. The use of an e-portfolio is an ideal way to continue to evidence reflection and Continuing Professional Development, a statutory part of continued professional registration, with the University of Bradford enabling you to have a life time account with Pebblepad, (an e-portfolio system), when you convert to an alumni account at graduation. Assessments will include professional practice placement assessments, written assignments, reflective portfolios, practical assessments, oral and poster presentations.
Service users, clinicians and academic staff will be involved in marking assessments across the three years.