Program Overview

Work Based and Integrative Studies (WBIS)

Overview

Our postgraduate work-based degree offers flexible study that recognises your expertise and allows you to be rewarded for prior experiential learning and will enable you to ‘learn while you earn’.

Course Details

• Level: Postgraduate
• UCAS Code: N/A
• Start date: Oct 2025, Oct 2026
• Duration: 2 years
• Location: Exton Park, Chester
• Course Leader: Dr David Perrin

Course Summary

The course offers flexible and adaptable study for those seeking professional development opportunities, and for whom customised courses relating directly to the work setting are the most effective way of achieving their objectives.

Modules

Self Review and Negotiation of Learning

• Module content:
  • Skills audit and personal review
  • Assumptions analysis and reflective practice
  • Psychological aspects of adult development and learning
  • Needs analysis: identification of needs and the interface with personal and material resources
  • The nature of evidence for a purpose, e.g. c.v., portfolio, record of achievement
  • Experiential learning and work-related learning
  • Academic credit and curriculum development for negotiated learning purposes
  • Negotiation for work based learning: learning agreements, pathways, assessment
  • Planning a claim for prior learning (where appropriate)
• Module aims:
  • To allow participants the opportunity to engage in an exercise of self review, for professional and/or personal reasons
  • To engender enthusiasm for life-long learning, encouraging the development of a reflective approach to experience
  • To enable students to value their experience in terms of self-worth and in relation to currencies in the world of work and academia
  • To develop appropriate goal setting, planning and negotiation skills
  • To allow students to plan a negotiated pathway of learning, addressing their priorities for personal and professional development
  • To encourage awareness of commitment and focus for a course of action, and an awareness of the consequences of that commitment

Skills and Approaches for Work-Based Learning

• Module content:
  • Personal development analysis tools e.g. Hermann, Myers - Briggs, Belbin, Rotter
  • Skills of reflection and critical reflection, including critical incident analysis
  • Theories and models associated with teams and team working, group dynamics, assertiveness, problem solving, feedback
  • Work cultures and values, issues of autonomy
  • The distinctive nature of experiential learning
  • Planning for work-based learning: formulation of a negotiated experiential learning proposal
• Module aims:
  • To develop students’ awareness of approaches to work-based learning and to appropriate tools and methodologies
  • To provide the theoretical underpinning that informs practice, and reflection on practice, in the workplace
  • To provide further opportunities for students to assess their own potential and to develop a greater understanding of themselves and others

Negotiated Experiential Learning Module (single)

• Module content: Details including description, rationale and aims are specified in the Negotiated Experiential Learning Agreement
• Module aims:
  • To enable students to recognise the potential of the workplace as a site of learning and to utilise the working environment effectively for this purpose
  • To provide an opportunity for the achievement and accreditation of experiential learning in the work context
  • To facilitate innovative and strategic development within the work place for the benefit of the employing organisation and employee
  • To enable students to enhance their workplace capability through applying - and reflecting on - the knowledge and skills gained through more theoretical study in the context of practical situations
  • To engender in students a sympathetic understanding of the methods of operation of the reflective practitioner
  • To provide a mechanism that enables Higher Education to work in partnership with external organisations to facilitate accredited learning opportunities at work, meeting specific needs efficiently and economically

Negotiated Experiential Learning Module (double)

• Module content: Details including description, rationale and aims are specified in the Negotiated Experiential Learning Agreement
• Module aims:
  • To enable students to recognise the potential of the workplace as a site of learning and to utilise the working environment effectively for this purpose
  • To provide an opportunity for the achievement and accreditation of experiential learning in the work context
  • To facilitate innovative and strategic development within the work place for the benefit of the employing organisation and employee
  • To enable students to enhance their workplace capability through applying - and reflecting on - the knowledge and skills gained through more theoretical study in the context of practical situations
  • To engender in students a sympathetic understanding of the methods of operation of the reflective practitioner
  • To provide a mechanism that enables Higher Education to work in partnership with external organisations to facilitate accredited learning opportunities at work, meeting specific needs efficiently and economically

Negotiated Experiential Learning Module (triple)

• Module content: Details including description, rationale and aims are specified in the Negotiated Experiential Learning Agreement
• Module aims:
  • To enable students to recognise the potential of the workplace as a site of learning and to utilise the working environment effectively for this purpose
  • To provide an opportunity for the achievement and accreditation of experiential learning in the work context
  • To facilitate innovative and strategic development within the work place for the benefit of the employing organisation and employee
  • To enable students to enhance their workplace capability through applying - and reflecting on - the knowledge and skills gained through more theoretical study in the context of practical situations
  • To engender in students a sympathetic understanding of the methods of operation of the reflective practitioner
  • To provide a mechanism that enables Higher Education to work in partnership with external organisations to facilitate accredited learning opportunities at work, meeting specific needs efficiently and economically

Designing Practitioner Research

• Module content:
  • Practitioner-researcher contexts and stances
  • Positions and perspectives in/of practitioner research
  • Validity, reliability, generalisability and ethics
  • Formulating a research focus
  • Sources of knowledge
  • Research purpose, research questions and data
  • Approaches to and strategies for practitioner research
  • Methods (tools and techniques) for data collection and analysis for practitioner-researchers
• Module aims:
  • To identify a problem, issue or area for development in the workplace capable of investigation and likely to generate useable findings as the basis for future actions
  • To choose a suitable range of investigative methods appropriate to a level 7 investigation in a Negotiated Experiential Learning Module
  • To design a practitioner research proposal which is valid and ethical

Exit Review and Forward Planning

• Module content:
  • Self-management and development
  • Critical reflection and the model of the reflective practitioner
  • Lifelong Learning and the learning society
  • Self-assessment
  • Integration of learning – work and subject knowledge
  • Personal transformation
  • Making sense of experience – models of experiential learning
  • Learning organisations
  • Planning for future learning and development
  • Disseminating learning - through writing, professional networks, roles of leadership
  • Career planning
• Module aims:
  • To help students deconstruct and contextualise their learning experience on the WBIS programme, together with its impact on the workplace
  • To provide a context in which students can reflect on their ability to manage their own learning and to devise plans for their future learning
  • To engender in individual students a culture of Lifelong Learning

Academic skills for work related study

• Module content:
  • Academic skills and capabilities expected for successful work based/ related learning at this level
  • Strategies to support and develop academic performance in reading, writing, critical reflection, referencing
  • University and external resources relevant to academic performance
  • Learning style preferences
  • Characteristics which support or hinder organisational learning
  • Planning for work-based and work-related study
  • Approaches for self-assessment of learning
• Module aims:
  • To assist students embarking on their postgraduate programme of study to help them develop skills, techniques, confidence and independence for academic study at this level
  • To provide a repertoire of tools, resources and theory which students might draw on to support and develop their academic performance in work based and work related learning
  • To consider the impact of the organisation on their own and colleagues’ learning

Who You’ll Learn From

• Dr David Perrin: Deputy Head of Division
• Dr Lisa Rowe: Associate Professor
• Karen Cregan: Senior Lecturer in Human Resources & Business Management
• Dr Pip Weston: Senior Lecturer
• Paul Mckie: Senior Lecturer

How You’ll Learn

• The course is a blended learning experience and can involve workshop-led modules, online tuition and experiential learning at work (such as work-based projects)
• It is flexible, and within certain agreed parameters you can work at your own pace
• There are no formal exams
• You will be assessed through a variety of formats – for example, reflective assignments, portfolios, reports, presentations, and dialogue assessment

Entry Requirements

• Home Students: Most applicants will already have a first degree; however, applicants who are operating at a high, strategic level in the workplace but do not possess a first degree will, on agreement with staff, be allowed to take a diagnostic module to assess their suitability for Master’s study
• International/EU Students: Most applicants will already have a first degree; however, applicants who are operating at a high, strategic level in the workplace but do not possess a first degree will, on agreement with staff, be allowed to take a diagnostic module to assess their suitability for Master’s study
• English Language Requirements: For more information on our English Language requirements, please visit International Entry Requirements

Fees and Funding

• Home Students: Guides to the fees for students who wish to commence postgraduate courses are available to view on our Postgraduate Taught Programmes Fees page
• International Students: The tuition fees for international students studying Postgraduate programmes in 2025/26 are £15,000
• Additional Costs: Your course will involve additional costs not covered by your tuition fees
• Bursaries: The University of Chester supports fair access for students who may need additional support through a range of bursaries and scholarships

Your Future Career

• Job Prospects: Students on the programme are all professionals in the workplace and many report significant career enhancement from study on the WBIS programme
• Careers Service: The University has an award-winning Careers and Employability service which provides a variety of employability-enhancing experiences; through the curriculum, through employer contact, tailored group sessions, individual information, advice and guidance