MSc Speech and Language Therapy (Pre-registration)

On our MSc Speech and Language Therapy course, you’ll explore some of the issues you might face working as a modern speech and language therapist. We aim to prepare you to work across a range of settings and support clients and their families across their lifespan.

The curriculum will be delivered via an active learning approach and leaners will benefit from digital flexibility whereby they can prepare in advance for on campus teaching sessions and work through their own learning. This delivery of the curriculum will also be combined with lectures and seminars workshops, problem based and innovative simulation-based learning, clinical placements and independent study. This will enable our graduates to enter the workplace with the confidence and abilities to flourish in a variety of clinical and research contexts and provide a comprehensive grounding for their future as lifelong learners.  

The programme incorporates teaching and learning in the university in conjunction with a minimum of 525 hours of work-based learning in health and educational settings. Students will have the opportunity to apply skills and knowledge on placement with speech and language therapists, working with children and adults experiencing a range of speech, language and communication needs and difficulties with eating drinking and swallowing. Simulation based education and inter-disciplinary learning with Occupational Therapists and Dieticians, is threaded throughout the department, so that students are fully prepared for clinical placement learning, as well as being competent professionals of the future.

The programme will be approved by the Health and Care Professions Council and accredited by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT).

In your first year, we usually focus on teaching you the theory to develop your knowledge of speech, language cognitive and communication development, alongside the psychological and social factors that affect individual communication across the lifespan. You will also learn about eating, drinking and swallowing throughout the lifespan. There will be a focus on health and well-being of people, families and communities.

You’ll learn through a variety of methods, including case-based learning. This allows you to practice assessing scenarios and applying the theory you have learned to cases you may come across on your placement.

You’ll learn how to use intervention materials, assessments, and specialist computer programmes. We have a team of technicians to help you master specialist equipment and you’ll use these skills on your clinical placements which occur in year 1 and 2 of the programme

In your second year of our course, you will continue to attend placements which occur on both the Autumn and Spring terms, and alongside this you will further develop your knowledge of developmental and acquired communication conditions, as well as the psychosocial factors and mental health and how these impact speech and language therapy practice. This year also focuses on research and evidence-based practice in the field of speech and language therapy through your choice of a self-selected topic of interest, which can include an empirical research project.

Past topics have included research projects investigating midwives’ experiences of multi-disciplinary working with speech and language therapists, investigating staff experiences of managing children’s swallowing difficulties in a school setting and, investigating support workers’ understanding of supporting speech, language and communication.

Outside of studying, you can join our Speech Society which is mainly run by the speech and language therapy students on our undergraduate degree. They organise a series of talks, workshops and events to help promote speech and language therapy and develop your knowledge outside of the classroom. You can also join and our Community of Health Professions, where you can learn with, and from, other students in the department who you will work alongside in practice when you qualify as a speech and language therapist. The Community of Health Professions also has a focus on engagement with the local community, fundraising for charities and opportunities for students to participate in social events.

You may also have the opportunity to apply to work on research projects with our academic team.

Applicants will have a minimum 2:1 UK undergraduate degree, or equivalent and evidence of academic or professionally related study in the five years prior to application. Applicants must meet requirements for NHS values-based assessment at interview, have Occupational Health Assessment and a satisfactory enhanced DBS report. Applicants whose first language is not English must be able to communicate in English to the standard equivalent to level 8 of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), with no element below 7.5. This is a requirement of the Standards of Proficiency for Speech and Language Therapists (HCPC 2023).