MSc Speech and Language Therapy

Program Overview

---

Please note that for 2023-entry, this course is now closed for applications. Are you a graduate who likes working with people? Would you like to become a registered Speech and Language Therapist within two years? If you are keen to become an allied health professional and want to shape the future of speech and language therapy, read on to find out how we can help you achieve those objectives. There's never been a better time to train as you can now apply for a £5000 grant that you won't need to pay back! There is also an extra £3000 funding available depending on your personal circumstances. You can find more information about eligibility and how to apply on the HSC Scholarships and Funding page. Speech and language therapists work with people of all ages who experience communication and swallowing difficulties, enabling them to maximise their independence in their social, academic and working lives. Successful completion of our course leads to eligibility to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a speech and language therapist; this is essential to register and work as a speech and language therapist. This is a two-year fast-track programme for graduates with a related degree (psychology; language and linguistics; social science; biological sciences; medical sciences or equivalent). It is a client-focused programme which uses a wide range of teaching methods, including enquiry-based learning to integrate theory and clinical practice. You will undertake practice education placements with speech and language therapists and members of the multi professional teams in which we work. Our course is continuously developed to reflect contemporary health, education and social care practice. A wide range of stakeholders continue to be involved, in order to ensure that changes in speech and language therapy practice are incorporated in the programme. The School of Health and Social Care is proud to work closely with our Service User Reference Group (SURG). SURG is made up of service users, carers, and volunteers who generously share their first-hand experiences of health and social care. We work collaboratively with SURG to design our courses to ensure that we truly are putting the needs of patients and clients at the heart of what we do. SURG are involved as part of our course application processes and often form part of our interview panels. This helps us to be confident that we are selecting the right applicants for the course and their future careers. SURG members also support the delivery of our teaching sessions and research activity, which means you’ll benefit from an insight into their lived experiences of living with a diagnosis, health condition, or circumstance. You’ll find that not only does your clinical knowledge expand, but your empathy, compassion and ability to advocate develops also. You can find out more about SURG by reading their blog here . The School hosts a range of pre-registration courses including nursing, mental health nursing, occupational therapy, doctor of clinical psychology, oral health and social work; providing opportunities to interact with a wide range of aspiring health and social care professionals. If you are already a registered speech and language therapist, please see Continuing Professional Development on our Health and Social Care web pages. The cost of required uniform will be fully covered by the school.

Placement information

Placements are an integral part of this course and are sourced for you from across a variety of settings (e.g.NHS organisations, independent/private SLT services, charities, and Schools) and client groups (e.g. paediatrics, adults, etc). Your placements will vary in length and are linked to the objectives of the modules you are studying. You will have a minimum of 150 clinical experience sessions (approximately 75 days). Placements will have different structures which include face-to-face, virtual, via telehealth. If you have significant experience in a particular field, we may not return you to that setting so you have the opportunity to advance your skillset. Speech and Language Therapy placements tend to fall Monday-Friday and within office hours (e.g between 8am -6pm). To provide the best opportunities, we use a wide network of placements across the Eastern region, which means you will likely have to travel approximately 90 minutes from campus. We allocate students on placements throughout the entire East of England region (e.g. Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk) and surrounding areas. Subject to eligibility, you may be able to claim the NHS Learning Support Fund which provides reimbursement of excess travel (i.e. above your regular commute to campus, and inclusive of costs such as hire cars, etc) or accommodation costs incurred due to undertaking practical training on clinical placement. When you start your course, the SLT Placements Team will collect information about your previous work experience, whether you can drive, and other circumstances in order to aid placing you.

---

DBS and Occupational Health Checks

This course requires a satisfactory Occupational Health Check and enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check (including child and adult barred list check) - both of these are organised by the University. Please contact our DBS team or Occupational Health team if you have any questions in relation to these checks. You will also be required to register for the DBS Update Service (information relating to this service can be found here ). You will need to register for this within 30 days of your DBS certificate being issues. The Update Service costs £13 per year, which the University will reimburse. You will need to keep the subscription to this Service active for the duration of your course. If you do not register for the Update Service within 30 days, or your registration lapses, and you later attend placement where this is a requirement, you will have to pay for a new DBS check, which will enable you to sign up to the Update Service. Please contact our DBS team if you have any questions relating to this. A satisfactory Overseas Criminal Record Check/Local Police Certificate is also required, in addition to a DBS Check, where you have lived outside of the UK in the last 5 years for 6 months or more. Further information about how to obtain an Overseas Criminal Record check can be found on the Gov.uk website . Mandatory Vaccinations As you may be aware, the UK government has now revoked legislation that requires all health and social care staff working in sites regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in England to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Whilst vaccination is not essential, we encourage our applicants and students to be fully vaccinated. Find out more about what this means for applicants to this course .

---

Professional accreditation

Approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) for the purpose of providing eligibility to apply for registration with the HCPC as a speech and language therapist. Recognised by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) for the purpose of applying for newly qualified practitioner membership. Why we're great.

• Work with partnership organisations to share and develop the evidence base, knowledge and skills.
• We have a Communications Lab which is exclusively for our Speech and Language Therapy students
• Provide a wide range of high quality practice placements leading to excellent employment opportunities.

---

Placement year

In order to prepare you for the workplace, opportunities are provided in practice placements, where you work with speech and language therapists and their teams in a wide variety of settings. This workplace learning provides essential practical experience of working with service users with communication and swallowing problems. We are committed to embedding the values of the NHS Constitution into everything we do. They define the behaviours and expectations of our staff and students, underpinning the work we do. Our students and graduates work in a wide variety of locations where these values help shape the underlying principles of excellent care.

---

Specialist facilities

The School of Health and Social Care is located at two sites; in the Kimmy Eldridge building at our Colchester campus and in the Gateway Building at our Southend campus. This programme is located on the Colchester campus. Within our School of Health and Social Care, we have a range of specialist clinical laboratories and IT facilities to assist you with the effective learning and acquisition of new skills; for students of our MSc Speech and Language Therapy, we have a specialist lab with equipment for researching speech including aided simulations and speech recognition. We offer excellent physical and online resources such as libraries, computer labs, datasets, archives and other research materials. You can take advantage of our links with the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), which conducts large-scale survey projects, many for government, EU and other public agencies, and has its own library. The UK Data Archive is also based at our Colchester Campus and stores national research data.

---

Your future

We currently have graduates working in clinical, management and education positions in local Trusts, Hospitals, Schools, care organisations, and Higher Education Intuitions. Speech and language therapists are employed in a wide variety of contexts including the NHS, education and health and social care. Find out more about careers in speech and language therapy from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists . 91% of our postgraduate graduates are in highly skilled employment (Graduate Outcomes 2022)

Program Outline

Course structure

Postgraduate study is the chance to take your education to the next level. These carefully selected modules will give you the chance to explore, question, and create powerful ideas. Picked to give you an extensive and in-depth education, they’ll equip you with the specialist knowledge, vital transferrable skills, and the confidence to make a genuine difference to the world around you. Attendance at the university is full time, along with your clinical placements. We’re reactive, we’re pioneering, we never stand still, so modules might change from year to year in response to new developments and innovation. Those listed below show how a typical course might look, but more detail on course structure, including details of all optional modules, is available on our Programme Specification . We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We’ll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, or in response to COVID-19, we’ll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

---

---

Components

Components are the blocks of study that make up your course. A component may have a set module which you must study, or a number of modules from which you can choose. Each component has a status and carries a certain number of credits towards your qualification.

Status	What this means
Core	You must take the set module for this component and you must pass. No failure can be permitted.
Core with Options	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component but you must pass. No failure can be permitted.
Compulsory	You must take the set module for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.
Compulsory with Options	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.
Optional	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.

The modules that are available for you to choose for each component will depend on several factors, including which modules you have chosen for other components, which modules you have completed in previous years of your course, and which term the module is taught in.

---

---

Modules

Modules are the individual units of study for your course. Each module has its own set of learning outcomes and assessment criteria and also carries a certain number of credits. In most cases you will study one module per component, but in some cases you may need to study more than one module. For example, a 30-credit component may comprise of either one 30-credit module, or two 15-credit modules, depending on the options available. Modules may be taught at different times of the year and by a different department or school to the one your course is primarily based in. You can find this information from the module code . For example, the module code HR100-4-FY means:

HR	100	4	FY
The department or school the module will be taught by. In this example, the module would be taught by the Department of History.	The module number.	The UK academic level of the module. A standard undergraduate course will comprise of level 4, 5 and 6 modules - increasing as you progress through the course. A standard postgraduate taught course will comprise of level 7 modules. A postgraduate research degree is a level 8 qualification.	The term the module will be taught in. AU : Autumn term SP : Spring term SU : Summer term FY : Full year AP : Autumn and Spring terms PS: Spring and Summer terms AS: Autumn and Summer terms

Year 1 Final Year You will have the opportunity to build on your existing knowledge of research by exploring a variety of methodologies. This will prepare you for your second year of study when you will conduct your own original research project in an area of interest that is relevant to health care practice. View Using Evidence in Health Care Practice on our Module Directory Paediatric speech and language therapy focuses on treating children that are experiencing communication and/or feeding problems. This module will develop your understanding of language processes from a linguistic perspective. You will look at the structure and function of normal speech and language; language development and breakdown; and the rationale for clinical analysis and planned intervention studies. You will also be introduced to current research in the field. View Speech and Language Therapy - Paediatrics 1 on our Module Directory Building on your knowledge gained from earlier modules, you will further develop your understanding of the structure of language and look at the basic principles of speech and language pathology in children. Key topics include phonological and language impairments; evidence based practice; multidisciplinary working; and assessment tools and techniques. You will also be introduced to a range of skills and concepts fundamental to the practice of speech and language therapy. View Speech and Language Therapy - Paediatrics 2 on our Module Directory The aim of this module is to advance your experience and understanding of aspects of speech and language pathology in children. You will be introduced to more specialist areas of study and a number of discreet pathological conditions, their aetiology and presenting characteristics. Language impairment in children will be analysed more deeply and issues related to intervention planning, techniques and appropriateness for treatment will be considered. View Speech and Language Therapy - Paediatrics 3 on our Module Directory This final module of Year 1 builds upon and extends the knowledge and skills you have acquired in earlier modules, to develop your experience and understanding of specialist areas of paediatric speech and language therapy. You will explore fundamental concepts such as special needs, cleft lip and palate, hearing impairment and mental health at an advanced level, and have the opportunity to develop your clinical skills through a 5 week clinical paediatric placement. View Speech and Language Therapy - Paediatrics 4 on our Module Directory View Interprofessional Collaboration and Development on our Module Directory What is speech and language therapy? The focus of this module is on broadening your core knowledge and deepening your understanding of the nature and practice of speech and language therapy. You will study five topic areas to ensure you meet the required level of learning to proceed with further study. View Speech and Language Therapy Foundation Studies 1 on our Module Directory The aim of this module is to further advance your research and problem solving skills enabling you to carry out your own research in your future practice. This will involve the critical appraisal of research from a variety of sources to inform your own practice. View Research Activity on our Module Directory The focus of this module is on the introduction of the core adult pathology of dysphagia, voice disorders and head and neck cancer. You will study the anatomy, physiology and neurology of the aero digestive tract and develop your understanding of the typical disease process and the impact that problems in this area can have on a patient’s quality of life. View Speech and Language Therapy - Adults 1 on our Module Directory What impact does progressive neurological disease have on speech and communication? You consider the answer to this question by examining the effect of conditions such as motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and tumour on adult patients. You will also study the impact of these conditions on a patient’s family and your role in assessing and managing ways to enhance their quality of life. View Speech and Language Therapy - Adults 2 on our Module Directory When the area of the brain responsible for language is damaged, for example as a result of a stroke, it can lead to a language disorder known as aphasia. This module looks more deeply at the condition, and the ways in which rehabilitation can be used to enable communication, reduce impact, and enhance quality of life. View Speech and Language Therapy - Adults 3 on our Module Directory This module looks at a wide range of communication disorders in adults including learning difficulties, autism, dementia and traumatic brain injury and the methods of reducing their impact through rehabilitation and enabling strategies. You will also consider disorders of fluency and enhance your clinical reasoning skills by examining wider management strategies and potential service improvements. View Speech and Language Therapy - Adults 4 on our Module Directory This module looks at the ways in which disease and disability can lead to speech, language and communication problems in adults. You will deepen your knowledge and understanding of the pathology of neurological and oncological diseases, paving the way for further study of the disease process in relation to stroke, progressive neurological disease and cancer in later modules. View Foundation Studies 2 - Pathology for Speech and Language Therapy on our Module Directory

---

---

Teaching

• Teaching staff in the School include clinically qualified lecturers in speech and language therapy, adult and mental health nursing, occupational therapy and a range of other health and social care professionals.
• The multidisciplinary nature of our School and its rapid growth has fostered a dynamic and innovative learning environment
• Practical skills classes, workshops and placements are used to integrate the theory and practice of speech and language therapy

---

---

Assessment

You are assessed through a range of techniques including, course work, examination, portfolio, vivas, presentations and essays and research dissertation. All clinical placements are assessed and must be passed in order to pass modules.