Pre-Registration Occupational Therapy (MSc)

This programme is designed for those who hold a degree, and provides a two year fast-track route into a professional career in Occupational Therapy.

Our MSc Pre-Registration Occupational Therapy programme is designed for those who already hold a degree and it provides a two year fast-track route into a professional career in Occupational Therapy. On successful completion of the programme, you will be eligible to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as well as professional membership of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT). Our programme is also recognised by the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT).

Our course fully prepares you to join the future generations of occupational therapists. It focuses on developing your competence and capability in key areas such as critical thinking, problem solving, professional reasoning, research, and leadership. You will also learn professional values and behaviours and develop an understanding of the nature and meaning of occupation in human life, the relationship between occupation, health and wellbeing and the power of occupation to transform the lives of individuals, groups, and communities.

A varied profile of placement experience undertaken across the two years of the programme will allow you to integrate academic theory with actual occupational therapy practice and gain an insight into the wide-ranging employment opportunities available to you upon registration. Your practice-based learning will be facilitated by experienced occupational therapy practice educators who will support you in becoming the best occupational therapist you can be.

We promote compassionate and aspiring leadership. You will be introduced to the NHS Wales Gwella Leadership Portal as a key learning resource. We also use the Cardiff University ‘Becoming a Caring & Compassionate Practitioner’ website-hub to support your learning and reflection on effective and evidence-based leadership models.

Accreditations

• Health and Care Professions Council, the (HCPC)
• Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT)

Careers

There are excellent employability options for those pursuing a career in occupational therapy and Cardiff University occupational therapy graduate prospects were rated at 95% by the Complete University Guide 2022.

This programme of study will equip you with a sound understanding of the changing landscape of health, social care, and wider community services, supporting your development as a creative, dynamic, and innovative occupational therapist and will provide opportunities to develop the leadership and research skills you will require to shape current and future services.

If you are in receipt of an NHS Wales Bursary you are expected to gain employment as an occupational therapist in Wales within three months of completing your programme and gaining registration with the HCPC. Traditionally Cardiff University pre-registration postgraduate students have been highly successful in securing posts in Wales and are considered very desirable employees by NHS and Local Authority employers.

In addition to these established traditional areas of practice within statutory sectors, the unique occupation-focused contribution of occupational therapists is increasingly recognised and valued within public organisations such as prisons and schools, private-sector organisations such as residential homes and housing associations and by third sector organisations such as charities and social enterprises.

Placements

All occupational therapy students must complete a minimum of 1000 hours of supervised and successfully assessed practice-based learning as a requirement of the professional body (WFOT 2016). The programme includes three placement modules which will enable you to apply and build upon the theoretical knowledge and practical skills you will have acquired in the academic setting. Practice-based learning placements occur in each year of the programme, they are all full-time and range in duration as follows:

Year One

• Assessment and Planning Placement 8 weeks (February – March).
• Intervention Placement 10 weeks (June – August).

Year Two

• Critical Evaluation Placement 11 weeks (March – May).

During your first placement you will focus on developing your assessment and planning skills akin to the initial stages of the problem-solving process in occupational therapy. The focus of the second placement is on occupational therapy approaches and intervention and the third and final placement considers the implementation and evaluation of the complete problem-solving process as well as critical appraisal of your own personal practice and of occupational therapy service provision.

The development of inter-professional team-working skills will be a key focus of practice-based learning across the two years. You will therefore work with your fellow MSc pre-registration Physiotherapy students in an interprofessional study group to reflect on and support your learning and professional practice.

Practice-based learning placements will be carefully planned and organised for you to ensure that you complete the programme having experienced and been assessed in a range of practice settings. Our placement providers are primarily situated in health and social care settings across South East Wales, although you may also pursue non-traditional placements in the private and third sectors as well as non-frontline opportunities if appropriate to your learning requirements.