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Occupational Therapy

BSc (Hons)

UCAS code: B920

Start dates: September 2024 / September 2025

Full time: 3 years

Location: Headington, Headington (Marston Road site)

Department(s): Department of Sport, Health Sciences and Social Work

Overview
Course details
Careers
Entry requirements
How to apply
Tuition fees

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Overview

On your Occupational Therapy course, you'll gain an understanding of how to help people overcome daily challenges. With your vision, you'll be able to help people achieve and progress in their everyday lives, and help them improve their quality of life.

You’ll meet people from around the world who share your values and can broaden your perspective on looking after others. You’ll also take part in a supervised practice placement each year. This gives you opportunities to apply everything you learn on the course in a professional context. Placements take place in or outside of the Oxford area, in professional settings, giving you the chance to learn and practice on location.

This degree is approved by the Health and Care Professions Council. It is accredited by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists. Successful completion allows you to register as an occupational therapist in the UK. So you can be confident you’ll be learning the right skills for a lifelong and rewarding career.

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Why Oxford Brookes University?

  • Personalised support

    By joining a close-knit community, you’ll have easy access to help and guidance.

  • Diverse perspectives

    You’ll meet people from all over the world on this course, and learn from their perspectives and experiences.

  • Community spirit

    Engage and collaborate with the Oxford Brookes Occupational Therapy Society to enhance your learning.

  • Practical experience

    Hone your skills by practising occupational therapy in simulated learning environments.

  • Focus on sustainability

    Learn how climate change affects everyone’s wellbeing, and how to consider this in your practice.

  • Free language courses

    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.

  • Accreditation(s)

    Approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and accredited by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (on behalf of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists - WFOT)

    • Royal College of Occupational Therapists

Course details

Course structure

In Year 1, you'll develop the knowledge that is essential to shape your professional identity. You’ll start to hone your skills as an occupational therapist and build your understanding of anatomy and patho-physiology. To prepare for your first clinical practice placement, you’ll engage in learning activities that aim to improve your critical thinking and academic development.

In Year 2, you’ll progress your population-specific learning. You'll study working with children and those with long-term conditions, and improve your collaborative skills working with other health and social care colleagues. Your second clinical placement will allow you to advance your growing professional competencies.

You’ll start your final year with your final clinical placement. After this you'll explore the occupational therapy role in relation to complex health and social care issues. You will also have the opportunity to develop your employability skills, through your self-directed research project and dissertation. In addition, you'll have the chance to select practice-specific workshops. 

Occupational Therapy

Learning and teaching

You will have online and experience-based learning opportunities.

You will also learn through:  

  • lectures 
  • seminars
  • group work 
  • self-directed study.

You will have access to an extensive range of learning resources through our online learning platform. 

Throughout the degree, there are a range of assessments, including: 

  • skill-based assessments
  • coursework
  • exams.

We assess each of your three practice placements. This counts towards to your final degree.

You will share some of your learning with other health and social care students, including those studying: 

  • nursing (adult, children and mental health)
  • midwifery
  • operating department practice
  • paramedic emergency care
  • physiotherapy
  • social work.

This is essential to develop your teamwork skills and your understanding of other roles you will encounter in practice.

Assessment

Students normally take four modules per semester. You will be assessed through a combination of:

  • written exams
  • practical exams
  • coursework. 

You will receive feedback on your draft work before your final submission. This feedback is given verbally or in written form. This feedback helps you to make modifications to your coursework before the final hand-in. 

Study modules

Year 1

Compulsory modules

  • Therapeutic Use of Self

    Understand the significance of the use of oneself as a therapeutic tool in current occupational therapy practice. You will focus on analysing a therapeutic encounter by looking into three elements: therapist, client and therapeutic event. You will get to develop communication skills for building and maintaining therapeutic relationships required for your effective practice.

  • Structure and Function of the Human Body

    You will develop the knowledge and understanding of the structure (Anatomy) and function (Physiology) of the human body.  You’ll have the practical opportunities to develop the skills of surface anatomy, movement analysis and physiological measurements.

    Through the module you will fully understand the impact of health and disability occupational participation and wellbeing.
     

  • Skills for Health Informatics

    This module is your introduction to key principles and skills for selecting, collating and managing digital information in both the delivery of technology-enabled health care and the contemporary management of health conditions.

    You will have opportunities to work alongside other health and social care students, developing the essential digital skills required to effectively practice in an evidence based and digitally enhanced health care environment. You will develop collaborative strategies essential for health care delivery.
     

  • Enabling Occupational Participation 1

    This module is your introduction to the occupational therapy process in the context of working with older people, across a range of community, health and social care settings. You will explore concepts of active ageing and health promotion whilst examining stereotypes and cultural beliefs about older people. 

    Also you’ll also develop understanding of common health conditions experienced by older people and their effect on occupational and social participation. You will have a focus on using occupational analysis to develop occupation focused assessment and interventions, as well as developing skills in professional reasoning, occupational analysis, risk assessment and safeguarding.
     

  • Occupational Therapy Foundations

    This module is your introduction to concepts of occupational science, health, wellbeing, lifespan development, occupational participation and engagement. You will learn to apply occupational therapy models, frameworks and related theories in order to analyse and support occupational performance, participation and engagement across the lifespan. Also you will have opportunities to practice skills in activity and occupational analysis, and therapeutic/professional reasoning.

  • Occupational Therapy Core Skills

    Understand and develop your core skills fundamental for professional practice. You will have the opportunity to practice some of the core assessment and intervention skills implemented by occupational therapists to address the occupational needs of people using health and social care services.

  • Professional Practice 1

    This professional development module provides the essential pre-requisites to enable you to gain “fitness to practise” authorisation. This is prior to the practice module PD1a. You will participate in statutory and mandatory training requirements of the National Health and Social Care Services. 

    You will complete preparatory work for practice including reflecting on and developing the values skills and knowledge for professional practice. Your learning will be recorded and submitted as part of the professional portfolio in order to meet the “fitness to practise” requirements for practice placement. The portfolio will provide you with a basis for the continual professional development requirements of the College of Occupational Therapists and the Health and Care Professions Council.
     

Year 2

Compulsory modules

  • Enabling Occupational 2

     

     

  • Research Methods

  • Enabling occupational Participation 3

  • Collaborative Practice in Health Care

  • Professional Practice 2

Year 3

Compulsory modules

  • Professional Practice 3

  • Specialist Practice

  • Advancing Occupational Therapy

  • Leadership and Management in Health and Social

  • Occupational Therapy Dissertation

Work placements

Compulsory modules

  • Work placements

    Practice placements occur each year and form an integral part of your course. You will complete three placements, each consisting of supervised workplace learning in a selected health or social care setting, which may be located in a hospital or in the community. You will become increasingly involved in the treatment of clients of different ages and with a diversity of needs. We offer a range of support mechanisms, both within the University and in the placement area, to support you through your programme of study. While on placement, you will be supported by a named member of staff known as a practice educator. We have a dedicated Practice Education Unit that provides administrative and academic support for placement learning/practice education for all pre-qualifying courses.

Please note: As our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, the modules you can choose from may vary from those shown here. The structure of the course may also mean some modules are not available to you.

Careers

You’ll have the opportunity to get involved with different groups and communities. This will help you develop skills useful in your occupational therapy career. This includes communication, research, and collaboration with sector professionals. You’ll graduate with the knowledge and skills to add real value to the role of occupational therapy.

You’ll find you can work in any field where an occupational therapist is needed. Our graduates have secured employment across various sectors, including social care, charities, and in policy development.

Entry requirements

Wherever possible we make our conditional offers using the UCAS Tariff. The combination of A-level grades listed here would be just one way of achieving the UCAS Tariff points for this course.

Standard offer

UCAS Tariff Points: 104

A Level: BCC

IB Points: 29

BTEC: DMM

Contextual offer

What is a contextual offer?

UCAS Tariff Points: 88

A Level: CCD

IB Points: 27

BTEC: MMM

Further offer details

The following are intended to give you a general guide to the attainment levels we expect for this course:

Access to Higher Education Diploma: to include 12 Level 3 credits in Biology/Human Biology. English and maths level 2 credits will no longer be accepted as GCSE equivalences.

Mature students are welcome to apply but will have to show evidence of recent academic study at A-level standard or above in the last three years. They will also have to have GCSE English grade 5 and Mathematics at Grade 4 qualification, or equivalent.

International qualifications and equivalences

How to apply

Application process


Full time Home (UK) applicants
Apply through UCAS


International applicants
Apply direct to the University

Full time international applicants can also apply through UCAS

Tuition fees

Please see the fees note
Home (UK) full time
£9,250
International full time
£17,200
Home (UK) full time
£9,250
International full time
£18,050

Questions about fees?

Contact Student Finance on:

financefees@brookes.ac.uk

Tuition fees

2023 / 24
Home (UK) full time
£9,250
International full time
£17,200
2024 / 25
Home (UK) full time
£9,250
International full time
£18,050

Questions about fees?

Contact Student Finance on:

+44 (0)1865 534400

financefees@brookes.ac.uk

Please note, tuition fees for Home students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students in line with an inflationary amount determined by government. Oxford Brookes University intends to maintain its fees for new and returning Home students at the maximum permitted level.

Tuition fees for International students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students. 

The following factors will be taken into account by the University when it is setting the annual fees: inflationary measures such as the retail price indices, projected increases in University costs, changes in the level of funding received from Government sources, admissions statistics and access considerations including the availability of student support. 

How and when to pay

Tuition fee instalments for the semester are due by the Monday of week 1 of each semester. Students are not liable for full fees for that semester if they leave before week 4. If the leaving date is after week 4, full fees for the semester are payable.

  • For information on payment methods please see our Make a Payment page.
  • For information about refunds please visit our Refund policy page

Financial support and scholarships

All eligible Occupational Therapy students on courses from September 2020 (new and continuing) will receive a payment of at least £5,000 a year which they will not need to pay back. For more information please visit NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF).

For general sources of financial support, see our Fees and funding pages.

Additional costs

Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.

Placement costs

There are costs that need to be paid for by students in travelling to and from practice placement and/or potential accommodation costs (a minority of students require additional accommodation for placement(s) during the course). Currently these can be as much as £1,500 per placement for accommodation and/or travel but will depend on location and type of placement. Eligible home students will be able to claim reimbursement of these additional placement costs but will need the money to pay upfront.  Currently, the average travel cost per placement is £300 and for placements that require accommodation the average cost per placement is £800. There are 3 placements during the course (but more may be required if students are obliged to re-take with potential resulting additional costs).

 

Information from Discover Uni

Full-time study

Programme changes:
On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been published on the website. For more information, please visit our changes to programmes page.