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Summary:
Course Code: B810
Where Are You Applying From?
How Would You Like To ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½?
When Do You Want To Start Your Studies?
Which Campus Would You Like To ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ At?
Which Options Would You Like With Your Course?
Why choose the School of Society, Community and Health
Our strong links within the sector offer plenty of opportunities for work placements.
Designed for healthcare workers currently working in an assistant capacity across a range of healthcare settings and looking to develop their role.
About the course
This work-based Foundation degree builds on your existing practice experience, setting you off on a journey of active independent learning with appropriate support from academic and clinical staff. It develops your skills and equips you to become a reflective and compassionate healthcare practitioner, able to promote, provide and maintain safe, effective care within a multidisciplinary context and in multicultural settings.
Industry links
This course is designed and delivered in partnership with local employers and service users. Our established links within the health sector offer opportunities for real-life work placements.
Your student experience
Learn how to plan, implement and manage tasks under the supervision of a registered practitioner.
Experience practice-based learning with a skills focus in a friendly and supportive environment.
Enjoy our flexible, work-based approach to teaching and learning which encourages reflective practice and confident skills development.
Access state-of-the-art facilities to tackle real-life scenarios in a safe and supported setting.
Develop transferable skills in team-working, communication, critical thinking and analysis as well as learning to be responsible for your professional conduct.
On successful completion of the course, you can take a one-year top-up course to complete a full Honours degree, opening up wider career opportunities.
with Professional Practice Year
This course has the option to be taken over four years which includes a year placement in industry. Undertaking a year in industry has many benefits. You gain practical experience and build your CV, as well as being a great opportunity to sample a profession and network with potential future employers.
There is no tuition fee for the placement year enabling you to gain an extra year of experience for free.
*Only available to UK/EU students.
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with Foundation Year
A Degree with a Foundation Year gives you guaranteed entry to an Undergraduate course.
Whether you’re returning to learning and require additional help and support to up-skill, or if you didn’t quite meet the grades to pursue an Undergraduate course, our Degrees with Foundation Year provide a fantastic entry route for you to work towards a degree level qualification.
With our guidance and support you’ll get up to speed within one year, and will be ready to seamlessly progress on to undergraduate study at Bedfordshire.
The Foundation Year provides an opportunity to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy, and will also cover a range of subject specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree.
This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your bachelor’s degree.
Why study a degree with a Foundation Year?
- Broad-based yet enough depth to give you credible vocational skills
- Coverage of a variety of areas typically delivered by an expert in this area
- Gain an understanding of a subject before choosing which route you wish to specialise in
- Great introduction to further study, and guaranteed progression on to one of our Undergraduate degrees
The degrees offering a Foundation Year provide excellent preparation for your future studies.
During your Foundation Year you will get the opportunity to talk to tutors about your degree study and future career aspirations, and receive guidance on the most appropriate Undergraduate course to help you achieve this; providing you meet the entry requirements and pass the Foundation Year.
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Course Leader - Dr John McCarthy
I started out as a registered (NMC) nurse specialising in Intensive Care and Cardiothoracics before moving into exercise physiology as an academic and practitioner.
I became an accredited Exercise Physiologist and Laboratory Director at the National Sports Medicine Institute (NSMI) of the UK (London) where I worked in both applied sports and clinical domains. These roles involved me working with elite sports, Olympic athletes as well as on medical research projects (chronic fatigue, ankylosing spondylitis, etc).
I joined the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ in 2005 to focus on education and research.
Course Leader - Dr John McCarthy
I started out as a registered (NMC) nurse specialising in Intensive Care and Cardiothoracics before moving into exercise physiology as an academic and practitioner.
I became an accredited Exercise Physiologist and Laboratory Director at the National Sports Medicine Institute (NSMI) of the UK (London) where I worked in both applied sports and clinical domains. These roles involved me working with elite sports, Olympic athletes as well as on medical research projects (chronic fatigue, ankylosing spondylitis, etc).
I joined the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ in 2005 to focus on education and research.
What will you study?
- Academic Skills for Assistant Practitioners
- Health and Well-Being: Fundamentals
- Foundations in Values-Based Practice (WBL)
- Person-Centred Holistic Care
- Professional Identity (Assistant Practitioners)
- Safeguarding Health and Wellbeing
- Health Care Policy and Quality
- Collaborative Therapies (Assistant Practitioner)
- Enhancing Care in Practice
How will you be assessed?
The course assessment strategy is closely aligned to the teaching and learning strategy which is designed to have: immediate relevance to practice; draw on expertise-by-experience; foster active learning and be leaner-centred in approach. A distinct feature of the course is the range of assessment tasks, including those that allow you to undertake workplace relevant assessments that can have an immediate impact in practice. Examples include: written assignments ranging from reflective pieces to academic essays, assessed practice within the student’s workplace; computer-based examinations and oral presentations.
Your use of professional and theoretical literature will increase in complexity, depth and breadth as you progress through the course. In the first year, you will be expected to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the evidence-based literature and apply this to practice. In contrast, the second year will demand deeper analysis and evaluation of the literature and its applications. For example, you will develop your ability to study and practice more independently. You will be expected to identify a subject that particularly interests you based upon the NHS values, and conduct an audit on your workplace that could potentially develop into a service improvement project.
Assessments of your clinical skills will begin with observation of the care you provide to patients/service users during work-based learning experiences. Expectations of the levels of skill demonstrated by students will increase over time and by the final assessments you will be expected to manage more complex and challenging encounters in a non-judgemental, empathic manner in accordance with NHS values.
Formative assessment is used within units to enable you to gain feedback from your lecturer, and on occasion peers, to support and enhance your development and progress towards the summative assessments. A variety of strategies at the formative stage will be employed, tailored to best suit the summative assessment. An example of a formative assessment used within the course includes a discussion in class with peers and lecturer based on an anonymised case study which will be developed later within an essay for the summative assessment. In another unit you will engage in a formative in-class reflection on the communication methods you have employed within your workplace. The reflective model or framework used during this exercise is relevant to the summative assessment.
Careers
If you are undertaking this course you are already employed in a healthcare role so after completing it is most likely you will continue to work as an assistant practitioner within your place of current employment with enhanced opportunities for additional responsibilities and advancement.
Students may also wish to continue their academic studies and top up their Foundation degree to a full Honours degree. For example, you can apply for direct entry to year two of a pre-registration Nursing course which leads to registration with the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC).
Other courses at the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ that might interest you include:
Entry Requirements
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 Maths
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 English
Entry Requirements
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 English
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 Maths
Entry Requirements
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 Maths
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 English
Entry Requirements
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 Maths
- GCSE grade 4/Functional Skills Level 2 English
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard fee for a Foundation Degree for the Academic Year 2024/25 is £9,250. These are the full course fees covering each year of study.
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
International
International students cannot apply for Foundation Degrees.
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard fee for a Foundation Degree for the Academic Year 2024/25 is £9,250. These are the full course fees covering each year of study.
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
International
International students cannot apply for Foundation Degrees.
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard fee for a Foundation Degree for the Academic Year 2024/25 is £9,250. These are the full course fees covering each year of study.
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
International
International students cannot apply for Foundation Degrees.
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard fee for a Foundation Degree for the Academic Year 2024/25 is £9,250. These are the full course fees covering each year of study.
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk
International
International students cannot apply for Foundation Degrees.
Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk