Overview
We produce physiotherapists who can be defined as professionals who work in increasingly complex environments and demonstrate effective problem solving and critical thinking skills, underpinned by a sound physiotherapy knowledge base and appropriate professional skills. You must possess self-directed learning habits that will enable you to continue as a reflective practitioner and lifelong learner maintaining your fitness to practise throughout your career.
Physiotherapy is a science-based health care profession committed to extending applying, evaluating and reviewing the evidence that underpins and informs its practice. Physiotherapists adopt a ‘whole person’ approach to maximise the potential of a person’s function and movement. Thus, physiotherapists not only help people stay independent for as long possible after illness or injury, but also help maintain health for people of all ages; preventing disease and managing pain.
Patient involvement is at the core of this approach and as such, key attributes a physiotherapist must possess include the ability to empower, relate and educate people to facilitate change in their health and wellbeing. Physiotherapists are autonomous professionals, able to act as first-contact practitioners, as well as accepting referrals from other health care professionals. Consequently, central to physiotherapy practice is the making of clinical judgement and informed interpretation of clinical information.
Our BSc Physiotherapy course is studied full-time over three years and is designed as a continuous progression of integrated theory and practice, which puts emphasis on students being proactive partners in their learning experiences.
Our School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences is a community specifically focused on sports and exercise science, sports therapy and physiotherapy. We are based in the Essex Sport Arena at the Colchester Campus and bring together internationally recognised research, knowledge and placement and vocational opportunities for our students and graduates.
Placement year
Practice placements are organised by our placement team and provide you with the opportunity to undertake a minimum of 1,050 hours in practice. During practice placements, you’ll work with qualified physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals to consolidate learning, gain new experiences and develop and refine their abilities. Learning and teaching within practice placements are facilitated by interactive experiences, facilitating personal and professional growth as a physiotherapist within a variety of settings. The environment is supportive, enabling you to rehearse skills with constructive feedback.
Our expert staff
A unique feature of our School is that most of our staff work or have worked within clinical practice. This enhances our grasp of the contemporary links between academic research, the major issues of the day and real-life practice.
Physiotherapy is taught by a small and friendly team of registered experienced staff with a variety of different backgrounds and research interests. The subject lead is Jackie Clarke, who also leads the BSc (Hons) course. Jackie graduates from the University of East Anglia in Physiotherapy in 1999 and worked for the NHS in East Anglia for 5 years. In January 2005 she brought her enthusiasm for the clinical education of Physiotherapy students into the academic setting at Colchester Institute, followed by a move to the University of Essex in 2009. Jackie’s clinical specialist area is that of Respiratory Care, with experience both in community and acute settings, particularly in the area of Cystic Fibrosis Care.
We also have expertise in the areas of prehabilitation, rehabilitation following sports injuries, first contact trauma management and education in pain management. Full details of our staff can be found on the SRES Staff Profiles.
In addition, our physiotherapy team invite a large number of practising clinicians to contribute to the teaching on this programme.
Specialist facilities
Within our School of Sport, Rehabilitation Exercise Sciences, we have a range of specialist clinical laboratories and IT facilities to assist you with the effective learning and acquisition of new skills; for students of our BSc Physiotherapy, we have three specialist labs on our Colchester Campus which provides you with all the facilities you need to train as a physiotherapist.
We also offer excellent physical and online resources in terms of libraries, computer labs, datasets, archives and other research materials.
You can take advantage of our links with the Institute of Social and Economic Research, which conducts large-scale survey projects, many for government, EU and other public agencies, and has its own library.
The UK Data Archive is also based at our Colchester Campus and stores national research data.
Your future
Successful completion of our BSc Physiotherapy leads to eligibility to apply for registration as a physiotherapist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP), which allows you to practise as a physiotherapist in the UK.
We also work with our University’s Student Development Team to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.
Why we’re great
- We have been delivering Physiotherapy degrees in Colchester since 1998.
- You gain hands-on experience in a range of professional settings through practice placements.
- Our close links with clinicians in practice will strengthen your career prospects.
Structure
Course structure
We offer a flexible course structure with a mixture of core/compulsory modules, and optional modules chosen from lists. These carefully selected modules will give you the chance to explore, question, and create powerful ideas. Picked to give you an extensive and in-depth education, they’ll equip you with the specialist knowledge, vital transferrable skills, and the confidence to make a genuine difference to the world around you.
For many of our courses you’ll have a wide range of optional modules to choose from – those listed in this example structure are just a selection of those available. The opportunity to take optional modules will depend on the number of core modules within any year of the course. In many instances, the flexibility to take optional modules increases as you progress through the course.
Our Programme Specification gives more detail about the structure available to our current first-year students, including details of all optional modules.
Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The course content is therefore reviewed on an annual basis to ensure our courses remain up-to-date so modules listed are subject to change.
Teaching and learning disclaimer
Following the impact of the pandemic, we made changes to our teaching and assessment to ensure our current students could continue with their studies uninterrupted and safely. These changes included courses being taught through blended delivery, normally including some face-to-face teaching, online provision, or a combination of both across the year.
The teaching and assessment methods listed show what is currently approved for 2022 entry; changes may be necessary if, by the beginning of this course, we need to adapt the way we’re delivering them due to the external environment, and to allow you to continue to receive the best education possible safely and seamlessly.
