Occupational therapy practice is concerned with enhancing the daily lives of individuals with a very broad range of physical, mental health or social needs. As an occupational therapist you will work with clients to improve function and enable them to fulfil the demands of their daily lives with greater satisfaction. You will work with people of all ages from all walks of life, in hospital, in the community, in their place of employment or in their home, and have the opportunity to work in a very wide variety of professional practice areas.
The fundamental aim of the MSc Occupational Therapy (pre-registration) programme is to enable you to graduate with a master’s degree in occupational therapy and be eligible to apply for registration as an occupational therapist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) in the UK. The Degree does not provide eligibility to practice in any other country although the degree is WFOT recognised.
HCPC approved and COT/WFOT accredited
See the website
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/occupational-therapy-pre-registration/ Why choose this course?
- Graduates from this programme will be fit for purpose, practice, and award in the UK. We enable you to develop a profound understanding of the potential for occupational therapy to promote the health and wellbeing of the population. Skills acquired will be evidenced based, innovative and give you the capacity to make a significant contribution to the profession, specifically contribute to excellence in client care and the professional knowledge base. On successful completion of the degree and 1000 hours of clinical practice education you will be eligible to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council as a registered Occupational Therapist in the UK.
- Many of our graduates go on to further educational development at PhD/DPhil and professional doctorate level. We are mindful of the anticipated transformation of practice over the next 20 years as well as the changes to demographics and the political innovation resulting in the widening participation agenda. We therefore aim to attract graduate students, who are academically able, demonstrate appropriate values of self-determination, motivation and critical awareness of learning needs and show potential for leading leadership, innovation and research.
- Based in Oxford, the environment for learning is rich with diversity, culture, specialist health and social care resources, academic resources as well as close commuting links to London.
- Our programme is staffed by occupational therapists expert in diverse clinical specialities, and supported by occupational therapy practice educators from all areas of mainstream and specialist practice. Our lecturers are experienced in their specialist practice areas and have reputations for excellence with established links with colleagues, organisations and institutions at national and international level.
- This course benefits from shared and inter-professional education opportunities, in addition to profession specific ones, to develop the professional qualities and attributes for current and future health and social care practice.
- Our ongoing investment in a new technology infrastructure is enabling the teaching team to exploit successful technology-enriched learning throughout the programme. We have a large and dedicated building in Oxford (Marston Road) equipped with state-of-the-art classroom and clinical skills and communication suites and resources. We run a weekly Hand Therapy clinic and a monthly Community Occupational Therapy Assessment Clinic for the public. Students are invited to observe other qualified OT's working in these clinics.
- We have a strong research profile, with experienced researchers working in established areas of cancer care, children and families, drug and alcohol, physical rehabilitation and enablement, inter-professional education and collaborative practice.
- Established in 1938, we are the oldest School of Occupational Therapy in England, and have one of the best occupational therapy library collections in the country.
- We have an excellent track record of high levels of student satisfaction, low student attrition rates and high employability.
Teaching and learning
MSc in Occupational Therapy is taught alongside the well-established and highly-regarded BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy.
Pre-registration Masters students will be taught alongside the undergraduate students in all occupational therapy specific modules. These will be identified with different module numbers and names to those of the undergraduate programme. This dual level teaching in classroom will provide you with the opportunity to learn the core skills and specific attributes of occupational therapy alongside the BSc (Hons) Occupational Therapy students.
However, the pre-registration Masters students are provided with an enhanced level 7 learning experience with module specific tutorials to explore a more critical and evidence based approach to the subject matter and thus develop professional competence in academic, research and digital literacy, critical thinking and personal self-awareness.
Our approach will require you to actively engage in these Masters level tutorials and become self-directed, innovative, creative and critical learners. Teaching will assist you to construct knowledge through the analysis, synthesis and conceptualisation of your learning experiences, thus developing a lifelong approach to learning. This supports employability in a marketplace that demands adaptability, continuous development and leadership.
You will have the opportunity for face-to-face and virtual learning activities. Our inter-professional module is taken alongside other health and social care pre-registration master's level students, enabling you to prepare for the interdisciplinary work you will encounter in the health and social care environment.
Working at master’s level, you will focus on developing your knowledge in occupational therapy, which is evidence-based and strongly underpinned by research.
This master's degree will:
- Enable you to be a reflective, proactive, innovative and adaptable occupational therapy practitioner, with the ability to critique research and evaluate the effectiveness of evidence in a wide variety of practice settings.
- Develop a critical understanding of the theory of occupation and teach you to challenge existing models and approaches used in occupational therapy from an informed perspective.
- Provide opportunities to develop your ability to work both independently and as part of a team in the context of social, technological, administrative and policy changes.
How this course helps you develop
This course is mapped against the University's postgraduate attributes so that all occupational therapy graduates are equipped with the skills of academic literacy, digital and information literacy, global citizenship, research literacy, critical self awareness and personal literacy. These attributes are in addition to the NHS core values of respect and dignity, commitment to quality of care, compassion, and aspiring to improve the lives of others where everyone counts and we work together for patients.
Careers
The majority of graduates from the occupational therapy degrees work as qualified and registered occupational therapists, but there are increasing opportunities to work in non-specified professional roles in mental health and community settings. There are also increasing numbers of employment roles that are not explicitly described or advertised as an ‘occupational therapist’ but match the skills specification of an occupational therapist. This is due to the changing nature of health and social care practice and the new and emerging roles and opportunities for occupational therapy.
Free language courses for students - the Open Module
Free language courses are available to full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students on many of our courses, and can be taken as a credit on some courses.
Please note that the free language courses are not available if you are:
- studying at a Brookes partner college
- studying on any of our teacher education courses or postgraduate education courses.
Research highlights
The Centre for Rehabilitation within the Department of Sport and Health Sciences has strong leadership in the director, Professor Helen Dawes. The Centre brings together research, education and care. It is underpinned by a strong, well-published research group, the Movement Science Group, along with clinical expertise, rehabilitation, knowledge and care of adults and children with neurological conditions. Within the Centre, staff, students and alumni across the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences are engaged in a number of research projects.
Examples of ongoing research projects within the faculty:
- Driving rehabilitation - cognitive mechanisms of driving and performance implications for clinical populations
- Fatigue management – Central and peripheral fatigue and mechanisms in clinical populations
- Dual task control in Stroke - influence on community mobility
- Efficacy of Intensive motor learning programmes – Themed (Magic) camps for children with hemiplegia
- Arts in Health Research – collaboration with Breathe Arts Health Research with research opportunities across many arts related activities
- Virtual Reality (VR) technologies – development and implementation of VR technologies in rehabilitation
- Early identification of motor and sensory processing impairments in children
- Sensory processing disorders and impact on function and behaviour in children with autism
- Measurement and monitoring of rehabilitation participation- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Systematic Review of Vocational Rehabilitation for people with TBI
- Therapy for hand writing in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD)
- Monitoring movement in people with neurological conditions – mechanisms and impact e.g. head drop in Parkinson Disorder
- Physical activity impact on sleep, behaviour cognition, health and wellbeing in children with neurodisability
- Falls in people with learning disabilities – an understanding of the impact of anxiety
- A Functional Electrical Stimulation Plantar flexion System for Bone Health Maintenance in Spinal Cord Injury Patients
- Professional development Perspectives of Occupational Therapists working in the NHS and concepts of Occupational Balance, Cultural perspectives and attitude change in professional identity acquisition.
Research areas and clusters
Our staff are involved in research both independently and collaboratively.
Read less
