Doctorate in Educational Psychology

This Professional Doctorate programme will equip you with the necessary knowledge and skills to qualify as a practicing Educational Psychologist.

This fully funded, doctorate programme aims to provide you with an advanced level of knowledge in educational psychology and, upon completion of the course, you will be qualified to practice as an Educational Psychologist.

You will also be eligible to apply for registration as a practitioner psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), and to the British Psychological Society (BPS) for Chartered EP status.

You will spend each year of study in practical fieldwork placements in local authority (LA) Educational Psychology Services as well as attending university-based sessions within the Cardiff University Centre for Human Development (CUCHDS) - our dedicated developmental psychology centre.

This programme provides you with the opportunity to develop your critical and reflective skills to the relevant theories and approaches which comprise the subject. By the end of the three years, you should:

• Have a detailed knowledge of educational psychology, its key theories and the findings which support or challenge those theories.
• Have an ability to use your knowledge of the subject in original and creative ways.
• Have the ability to conduct research within different paradigms.
• Be able to apply your research findings in creative, novel ways.

Programme aims

The aim of the programme is to offer knowledge and expertise for a career as an educational psychologist (EP), via doctorate-level study. Completion of the programme confers eligibility to apply for registration as a practitioner psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and to the British Psychological Society (BPS) for Chartered EP status.

Applicants should note the following:

Cardiff University has in place a Policy for Determining Applicants’ Fitness to Practise and Eligibility to Pursue Regulated Programmes of Study. This policy will be followed where information is disclosed or received about applicants, which suggests that a fitness to practise assessment is required.
Eligibility to enrol on the programme, if offered a place, is dependent upon satisfactory completion of an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check, i.e., one that does not reveal any information that suggests a trainee would be unsuitable for work with children, young people and vulnerable adults.
The HCPC carries out its own health and character checks to determine whether individuals are fit to practise and can be included on the Register. So passing all elements of this programme does not guarantee automatic inclusion on the HCPC’s Register.

Distinctive features

• Fully funded by the Welsh Government, with trainees receiving a bursary for all three years;
• You will undertake three placements across Wales and England, which are negotiated prior to commencing the course. This provides you with greater flexibility and enables you to plan and prepare effectively.
• This programme is underpinned by a psychologically informed framework for educational psychology practice called COMOIRA (The Constructionist Model for Informed and Reasoned Action: Rhydderch & Gameson, 2008; 2010; 2017) which was developed within the Cardiff DEdPsy Programme itself.
• Successful graduates will meet all of the HCPC’s Standards of Proficiency and the BPS’s Required Competencies for Practitioner Psychologists. They are also eligible to apply for registration as Practitioner Psychologists with the HCPC and for Chartered status with the BPS.