Modules

Year One of the programme provides an introductory year for students transitioning to higher education. The year is shared with BSc Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences. You will have weekly tutorials with a personal tutor to support the development of your academic and professional skills while also studying the basic and applied sciences underpinning physiotherapy (anatomy and movement, human physiology and exercise, exercise and health psychology). In Year Two, there is a strong emphasis on developing your clinical knowledge and related physiotherapy skills. Physiotherapists work in diverse settings (e.g. hospital-based acute care and rehabilitation, community-based rehabilitation for long term conditions, clinic-based physiotherapy for musculo-skeletal disorders) and you will be prepared for practice-based placements in each of these areas. As part of the programme, students undertake six practice-based placements in total; the first of these takes place towards the end of Year Two. In Year Three, you will complete two practice-based placements and further develop your clinical reasoning. University-based study will focus on more complex clinical cases and other specialist areas where physiotherapists practice. You will continue to develop your academic and research skills, completing a literature review in an area of interest and studying a module focusing on research design and service evaluation. You will also select and study two optional modules. Current options include (but are not limited to) Analysis of Motor Performance, Exercise as Medicine, Athletic Training and Conditioning, Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Mental Health and Sport. In the summer period/holidays between Years Three and Four, you will complete an elective placement. Students arrange these placements themselves (with support) and often travel to different countries, providing a unique opportunity to experience healthcare in an unfamiliar setting. Elective placements also provide an opportunity for students to gain experience in a specialist clinical area of particular interest. In Year Four you will complete your final two practice-based placements, developing your critical thinking and clinical reasoning based on these experiences. This work will prepare you for employment as a physiotherapist and your continuing professional development post-registration. Another major focus in your final year will be your research project. Options here are varied, reflecting the diversity of research in the school with many opportunities to undertake laboratory or field-based studies exploring contemporary issues relating to exercise, health and rehabilitation.