University Diploma in Personal, Social and Health Education drafted

Program Overview

What makes Personal, Social and Health Education at Worcester special?

We've designed this diploma with practitioners such as teaching assistants, SENCos, teachers, charity workers, nurture group leaders and nursery practitioners in mind. The course is open to anyone who works in a PSHE capacity.

There's a growing need to support children and young people with a wide range of personal and social skills in keeping with the statutory Personal Social Health and Economic Education (PSHE Education) and Relationship and Sex Education (RSE). This diploma encourages the use of a variety of practical and creative strategies and theory. The course addresses areas such as managing emotions, problem solving, critical thinking and decision making, as well as supporting emotional, social and behavioural development.

This fully online course supports the development of pedagogies which will enhance teachers’ and practitioners’ ability to ensure they are developing Personal, Social and Health Education skills within their classrooms and settings.

Key features

• The course runs in October to June and consists of online sessions which are a mixture of both asynchronous and synchronous teaching
• Builds confidence, knowledge and skills in all aspects of personal social education pedagogy
• Focuses on PSHE support strategies for teaching current issues such as mental health, online resilience, bullying and relationship education and social and emotional development
• Suitable for a range of educational practitioners including nurture group leaders, teachers, teaching assistants, special educational need support, forest school leaders and nursery educators
• This course is suitable across all age ranges from Nursery to Further Education

Program Outline

What will you study

Study for this diploma will begin in October and conclude in June. This is a single module course which results in a university diploma at level 5. The content of the diploma will include: teaching strategies and exploration of pedagogies to effectively plan and teach PSHE in a range of educational settings such as nurseries, nurture groups, schools, outdoor learning facilities and specialist behaviour or special educational needs provisions. It will look at the ways in which practitioners can deal with the teaching of controversial and sensitive issues within PSHE. The online activities enable a personalisation to the students’ context and promotes inclusion for the practitioner as a learner and as an educator. The content will mirror current changes within personal, social and health education in England and the UK and how these can be taught effectively, as well as global issues such as mental health, relationship and sex education and social skills.

Our diploma course is informed by research and current developments in the discipline and by feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Content does therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. The assignment is based upon the students own setting or job role and allows for reflection and deeper insight into current issues within PSHE education.

How will you be taught?

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support through the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.

Teaching

Teaching

Synchronous and asynchronous sessions

You have an opportunity to discuss your progress with your academic tutor and access feedback on formative and summative assessment tasks

You will be taught using a range of active teaching strategies and online teaching best practice to ensure that you are engaged with both the course content and your fellow cohort peers

Contact time

Contact time

You will have a series of 9 synchronous teaching sessions which will take place as twilight sessions as well as independent asynchronous sessions with reading and online activities.

These sessions will be structured around the exploration of the specific skills required to support personal social education as developed in line with the PSHE curriculum in England as well as global agendas.

Independent self-study

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 2 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve researching specific aspects of pedagogical skills in delivering personal social education and preparing for the assessment element of the diploma. It will also include the completion of online tasks and set reading.

Duration

Duration

The online element of the course begins in October with completion in June.

Timetables

Timetables

Please note that online sessions will begin in October with an online induction and nine synchronous teaching sessions will be held as twilight sessions.

Teaching staff

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes tutors from the School of Education at the University of Worcester.

Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy, and 100 per cent of course lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Assessment

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments.  The diploma has one summative assessment which is graded and counts as the overall module grade. There is also a formative presentation task which will help you to prepare for the summative assessment.

Assessment methods include a presentation and the submission of a portfolio of evidence of pedagogical critiques, focusing on a project bespoke to your school or setting.

Programme specification

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please

download the latest programme specification document.

This diploma offers a career-enhancing opportunity to demonstrate teaching skills, develop strengths in supporting children throughout the primary classroom and other settings with PSHE skills. If successful, it will allow you to demonstrate extra qualifications that are desired for progress within the teaching and education profession as a whole.

It allows you to demonstrate how you meet essential government agendas such as supporting personal social education within schools and meet global agendas such as mental health, bullying, online resilience and sexual harassment.