Overview

If you enjoy working in a business environment and are interested in how to improve effectiveness at both a corporate and individual level, this professionally accredited course sets you on the path to becoming a practising Occupational Psychologist and Chartered Psychologist.
Accredited by British Psychological Society (BPS), the course confers stage one of two training levels required to be a registered Occupational Psychologist. You’ll be taught by our highly respected and experienced course team, which includes staff who are qualified themselves, who sit on the BPS Board of Assessors in Occupational Psychology and the Division of Occupational Psychology Training Committee, which promotes the professional interests of occupational psychologists.

You should gain a thorough grounding in the theory and practical skills necessary to apply evidence-based social psychological research in the workplace. We cover a wide range of topics, such as work and wellbeing, psychological assessment at work, leadership, engagement and motivation and learning, training and development.

Course information

The course has been designed to meet the accreditation criteria of the British Psychological Society (BPS) Division of Occupational Psychology and provide Stage 1 of the occupational route for eligibility to chartered membership, provided you possess Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) from your undergraduate studies.

As such, it provides a thorough empirical, theoretical and methodological introduction to the field of occupational psychology.

We place a significant emphasis on professional research methods, developing your knowledge and skills in planning, carrying out, analysing and writing about research in applied psychology. You’ll gain a sophisticated awareness of problems, issues and ethics in applied research in psychology, such as confidentiality and data protection.

A core part of the degree will be your dissertation, which enables you to engage in a supervised but independently undertaken empirical research project. This offers a unique and exciting opportunity to provide a noteworthy contribution to the current understanding and practice of Occupational Psychology. You will investigate in depth an area of specific interest – anything from zero hour contracts to workplace bullying.

Why choose this course?

The course covers the five core areas of the new BPS Occupational Psychology curriculum – psychological assessment at work; learning training and development; leadership, engagement and motivation; wellbeing and work; and work design, organisational change and development.

Intended for Psychology graduates, this is a practice-oriented course with the vast majority of assessment based on your ability to practically and effectively apply the principles, theories and research of psychology to workplace case studies and scenarios. You’ll have an opportunity to explore diverse organisational or workplace phenomena, such as ergonomics, personnel management and time management, choosing the focus of your research.

We have a number of strong links with numerous public and private, commercial, not-for-profit and charitable organisations, which offer placements, internships or provide interesting contexts for research. For example, the course team is currently working with West Midlands Fire Service to develop and evaluate a situational judgement test to assess situational preparedness.

International experience opportunities

We offer a multicultural, international experience attracting students from a wide range of diverse backgrounds and different countries, particularly Malaysia, China, India, Nigeria, Germany, Bulgaria, who provide an insight and experience into different organisational cultures.

Many of the organisations we have links with for commercial activity and research, operate on an international basis. We also collaborate with internationally renowned researchers across the globe, with past projects including topics such as work-life balance and meaningful work.

Career prospects

Occupational psychologists work with organisations and businesses of all sizes across the private, public and voluntary sectors. According to the BPS, the Civil Service is one of the largest single employers of occupational psychologists, but they are also used by the Prison Service, the Home Office, the Employment Department Group (including the Employment Service), the Ministry of Defence and the Civil Service Commission.

There are two stages to becoming a Chartered Member of the BPS through the occupational psychology training route – requiring a combination of professional education and practice. In the first instance, you need the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC), which is achieved by completing an accredited undergraduate degree or conversion course, followed by an accredited Masters in Occupational Psychology, like this course. The second stage requires two years of supervised practice. In order to use the title Occupational Psychologist, you need to have completed both stages and register with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

The skills gained from successfully completing this course will help prepare you for senior management roles in a range of different settings, including human resources, business development, personnel selection, career development, training, marketing, advertising and management. The learning and teaching style is designed to aid independent learning and develop entrepreneurial skills, so that you may also consider self-employment as an option.

Coventry University is committed to preparing you for your future career and giving you a competitive edge in the graduate job market. The University’s Careers and Employability team provide a wide range of support services to help you plan and prepare for your career.