This is a stimulating pre-registration MSc programme that will equip you with the advanced skills and knowledge necessary to thrive as an occupational therapist in modern healthcare.
Introduction
This course will provide you with an enriching, dynamic educational experience that combines traditional teaching with the advancement of key clinical skills to produce professionals that are equally adept in the practical and theoretic aspects of occupational therapy.
Our traditional classroom teaching will expand your awareness of the sector’s principle themes and challenges, and allow you to develop general professional abilities like report writing, research techniques and critical thinking skills.
Our teaching incorporates the excellent grounding in biological and social sciences that our undergraduate programme is renowned for and we will encourage you to undertake research to develop the evidence base of the profession whilst providing you with opportunities to learn alongside master’s students from our other Allied Healthcare programmes.
You will also be offered a variety of practice placement opportunities which include extended part-time and elective roles that will feature in your first and second year of studies. This will help you develop your clinical skills, and stimulate your leadership, communication and patient care abilities which will all be vital to your career in the future.
Who is this course for?
This course is suitable for graduates from across a range of disciplines, such as biological sciences, social sciences and health sciences, who have gained a 2:1 classification in their degree.
We will also consider those with a 2:2 classification in their degree who are able to provide wider contextual information of recent relevant experience or further study.
What you'll learn
Clinical skills imperative to modern occupational therapists
Research and report writing skills
An understanding of different physical and mental health issues
Critical thinking abilities
An appreciation of other healthcare professionals and their roles
Teamwork and communication skills.
Accreditation
Graduates are eligible for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council, the UK’s prominent regulator of health and care professions.
Course content
Discover what you'll learn, what you'll study, and how you'll be taught and assessed.
Year one
In Year one, you will be introduced to the fundamentals of professional practice, with particular emphasis placed on the science that underpins the industry. You will develop an appreciation for the nuances of occupational therapy provision and begin to understand the research methods which are used to expand the professional knowledge base.
Compulsory modules
Applied Sciences in Occupational Therapy 1: Biological sciences (OCCU470)
Credits: 15 /
Semester: semester 2
This 15 credit module delivered in semester 1 will introduce you to foundation sciences relevant to occupational therapy practice. This will include physiology, musculoskeletal anatomy and neuroanatomy. You will develop skills in the analysis of movement and activity, physiology and dysfunction, health and well-being to aid analysis of human occupation as part of the occupational therapy process. You will learn by attending key-note lectures, participating in small peer group seminars and practical teaching sessions and through self-directed study. You will also attend teaching sessions at the Human Anatomy Resource Centre (HARC), on campus, use online teaching platforms to access resources and participate in group teaching sessions . Service users will be involved with you as part of the learning process of this module.
Introduction to Occupational Therapy Professional Practice (OCCU474)
Credits: 15 /
Semester: semester 2
This year 1 15 credit module will introduce you to occupational therapy professional practice. You will learn about what it means to be an occupational therapist, including the statutory and professional requirements and frameworks, the history and philosophy of the occupational therapy profession, in order to help you establish your professional identity. You will develop occupational therapy specific and generic knowledge and skills required of healthcare practitioners.
You will begin to generate and collate evidence of personal and professional development for inclusion within a personal continual professional development (CPD) e-portfolio. This will use the guidance provided within the RCOT career development framework (2017b) and the HCPC audit process.
Development of your professional identity and the required knowledge and skills will be achieved through a mixed style of learning and teaching strategies including keynote lectures, tutor facilitated seminars, on-line learning, participating in simulated learning activities, directed study and through undertaking a part-time placement of 12 weeks within an occupational therapy practice setting. This module also includes a personal development tutorial with the student’s allocated academic advisor.
Learning is assessed via three components. These include:-
1. A practical exam (OSPE)
2. Assessment of competencies within the practice placement
3. A critical written reflection
All three components of assessment must be passed. Components 1 & 3 must be passed at 50%. The placement element is pass/fail.
Reasoning in Occupational Therapy 1 (OCCU471)
Credits: 15 /
Semester: semester 2
This year 1 15 credit module introduces you to the occupational therapy process. You will begin to develop clinical reasoning skills when working with people with a range of medical conditions, pathologies, social and cultural challenges. You will learn about occupational therapy models of practice, assessment strategies and develop skills in goal-setting.
The module involves keynote lectures, problem-based learning seminar groups where you will develop the required knowledge and skills, particularly in assessment and goal-setting in occupational therapy.
The module is assessed via submission of a 3,000 word written assessment. You will be provided with a choice of case studies, and are expected to develop a fully justified intervention plan, that shows clinical reasoning based on critical application of occupational therapy theory and critical analysis of evidence.
Applied Sciences in Occupational Therapy 2: Social Sciences (OCCU473)
Credits: 15 /
Semester: semester 1
This year 1 15 credit module will introduce you to the underpinning social sciences relevant to occupational therapy practice. This will include psychology and sociology. You will develop an appreciation of society and well-being through the lens of the social sciences to aid your analysis of human occupation as part of the occupational therapy process. You will learn by attending key-note lectures, participating in small peer group seminars and fieldwork visits to local partner organisations and through self-directed and team work.
There are two assessments for the module.
You will attend teaching sessions and access resources both on campus and using online learning platforms. Local partner organisations and service users will work collaboratively with you to ensure that you develop a real-world perspective about the lives of people experiencing barriers to occupational participation and how society and public health practice can impact upon personal and community health and well-being and present this as a written case profile.You will then apply your knowledge of society, well-being and health as you undertake an assessment and critically analyse the accessibility of selected local community organisations, to produce an access audit.
Reasoning in Occupational Therapy 2 (OCCU472)
Credits: 15 /
Semester: semester 1
This year 1 15 credit module will enable you to develop your clinical reasoning in order to make evidence-based, theoretically informed and professionally sound decisions. The academic learning builds on the occupational therapy process knowledge that you developed in OCCU471. Within this module you will further enhance your knowledge and skills in goal setting and intervention planning, and will learn about evaluating therapy outcomes.
You will have an opportunity to apply your learning and further develop your knowledge and skills through undertaking a practice placement in a typical occupational therapy practice environment. This is a full-time eight-week placement, in which you will be supervised by a nominated occupational therapy practice educator from within the placement setting.
The module involves keynote lectures, problem-based learning seminar groups, self-directed learning, and experiential learning within the eight-week practice placement. This variety of teaching and learning approaches will allow you to develop knowledge and skills central to occupational therapy with a particular focus on goal-setting and intervention planning and evaluation.
This module is assessed by means of:
1. A presentation related to a case study of the students choice.
2. An eight-week practice placement in an occupational therapy practice setting
Research Methods in Healthcare Practice (HEAL417)
Credits: 15 /
Semester: semester 1
This module will enable students to develop a research proposal for either a review of evidence, empirical project, clinical audit or service evaluation that will contribute to the development of evidence-based healthcare practice.
The module is aimed at graduates from a range of different disciplines/subjects who have a range of knowledge and experience of research methods at undergraduate level and are looking to develop their research knowledge and skills further and prepare for a masters level research project in their own area of clinical practice e.g. diagnostic radiography, mental health nursing, occupational therapy or physiotherapy. The likely range of research skills in students from different undergraduate programmes is recognised and this module is designed to raise them all to the appropriate master level in the subject.
At the end of this module, students will be able to understand and appropriately critique the elements of ‘the research journey’ from conception of research question, through development of a proposal. They will be both consumers and producers of research who will meet the requirements of the standard of proficiency, for each profession, as laid down by the Health and Care Professions Council and the requirements of each professional body for evidence based practice.
The proposal produced in this module will then be undertaken as the students’ dissertation in the final year of their pre-registration master programme.
The syllabus for this module is aligned to the Curriculum 2021 Hallmarks and demonstrates active learning and authentic assessment, designed to create students with greater confidence to understand research evidence, contribute to that evidence and be able to develop research in their own area of professional practice.
The module delivery will use a blended approach with face to face and online delivery supported with synchronous and asynchronous lectures, quizzes and profession specific interactive discussion boards and tutorials.
The assessments for this module will be a Research Proposal. The assessments can be tailored to focus on the student’s area of interest and area of speciality and will include consideration of the ethical requirements of the selected project.
Programme details and modules listed are illustrative only and subject to change.
Year two
In Year two, you will further develop your professional skills and experience, and be expected to provide a greater level of care to patients than previously. You will also begin to focus on occupational therapy skills that will demonstrate leadership abilities which may prove highly useful to you in your future career. In addition, you will complete a dissertation on an occupational therapy subject of your choosing which adequately displays your professional expertise.
Compulsory modules
Dissertation: Healthcare Practice (HEAL418)
Credits: 45 /
Semester: whole session
This module comprises the dissertation for the preregistration healthcare programmers. It will enable students to undertake a piece of empirical research, a service evaluation/audit or a review of evidence in their chosen field of interest.
Leadership and Service Development for Occupational Therapy Practice (OCCU477)
Credits: 15 /
Semester: semester 2
This year 2 15 credit module will introduce you to leadership theory and skills for use in occupational therapy practice. You will learn about service improvement and how services are delivered. You will have the opportunity to apply learning about quality assurance, entrepreneurship, change management and business planning and to design a proposal that enhances an occupational therapy service and to develop leadership skills to promote the required service changes.
This module will also provide you with an opportunity to integrate prior learning from a previous degree or prior work experience through engaging in a practice placement. This is a full-time placement of six-weeks duration undertaken in a non-traditional environment. Within Occupational Therapy this is known as a contemporary placement. This practice placement (PP3), could take place in for example, a third sector charity, public sector employer such as the Fire and Rescue Service or with a private employer situated within occupational health services. This is an opportunity for you to use your knowledge and skills in an environment that does not have an established occupational therapy service but there is a potential role for occupational therapy. This placement will provide you with the opportunity to develop identity, self confidence and strengthen your emerging occupational therapy professional identify, to raise and promote the profile of the profession and become politically and socially aware. You will engage in preparatory, clinical skills teaching sessions prior to commencing the practice placement.
This module will incorporate a mixed style of learning and teaching strategies including keynote lectures, tutor facilitated seminars, tutorials, and opportunities for developing skills through experiential learning prior to and during practice placements. You are also expected to engage in self-directed learning.
This module is assessed by means of two components:-
1. Completion of a defended poster presentation, proposing leadership of a service development project based on an authentic practice scenario identified by the student
2. An assessed six week practice placement
Lifestyle Transformation through Occupation (OCCU476)
Credits: 15 /
Semester: semester 2
This module provides opportunities for you to focus on an area of specialist interest and utilise your creativity to design an intervention to facilitate occupational participation for an identified population. You will have opportunities to establish and develop collaborative relationships with community organisations and service users whilst enhancing your awareness of health and well-being from a global, national and local perspective.
Through clearly articulating and defending your occupational intervention, you will develop a strong professional identity and increase your confidence to prepare you for future employment in traditional and role-emerging healthcare settings.
The assessment is designed to actively engage students and allow you to exercise your creative design skills and choice over the development of a specialist area of interest.
Personal Readiness for Occupational Therapy Practice (OCCU478)
Credits: 15 /
Semester: semester 1
This year 2 15 credit module will focus on preparing you, the occupational therapy student, for being ready for employment in occupational therapy practice. Following critical evaluation of progress using the Career Development Framework (RCOT, 2017), in collaboration with a University tutor, you will develop a learning contract that addresses your selected individual learning outcomes to be achieved within this module.
You will generate, critically evaluate and reflect on knowledge and skill development and present appropriate evidence from a completed personal continual professional development (CPD) e-portfolio.
This module will incorporate a mixed style of learning and teaching strategies including tutor facilitated tutorials, synchronous seminars, self-directed study and opportunities for developing skills through experiential learning, prior to and during practice placement. You will undertake an 8 week elective Practice Placement (PP4) in a placement environment of your choice.
This module is assessed by means of two components:
1. A 2,000 written synthesis and reflection on the achievement of the negotiated learning outcomes
2. An eight week elective practice placement.
Both components of assessment must be passed. Component 1 must be passed at 50%.
The external examiner for this module is to be confirmed.
Programme details and modules listed are illustrative only and subject to change.
How you'll learn
Our teaching is rooted in real world problems, and as such we implement case studies and experiential learning so that you can acquire knowledge and skills that you can critically apply to current health care delivery.
The teaching methods that we use include simulation activities, clinical skills development sessions, practice placements, interactive seminars, interprofessional learning and case-based learning.
These will enable you to demonstrate your learning and start to apply your knowledge to occupational therapy practice as a member of a multidisciplinary healthcare team at an early stage.
Online learning will be used where effective to promote digital literacy, permit synchronous and asynchronous activities and incorporate the use of video-conferencing and communication platforms.
These varied approaches are used to increase retention of knowledge, self-evaluation and deeper learning in students and are relevant for educating future occupational therapy practitioners.
How you're assessed
Our assessments have been designed to allow you to demonstrate the development of your professional and scientific knowledge, clinical skills and critical reasoning abilities.
More specifically, they have been designed to mirror the real-life tasks that you will be required to undertake in practice.
Clinical skills examinations, written assignments, personal reflections, oral presentations and the development of patient information documents are some examples of the various assessment methods that we use.
Regular opportunities for meetings with academic advisors will be scheduled to facilitate your reflections on assessments and feedback to consolidate your learning and to collaboratively plan your future development.
In addition to feedback from programme tutors, students are encouraged to recognise and use informal feedback from their peers, service-users and particularly through learning opportunities they encounter on practice placements, during group work and from oral presentations.
Liverpool Hallmarks
We have a distinctive approach to education, the Liverpool Curriculum Framework, which focuses on research-connected teaching, active learning, and authentic assessment to ensure our students graduate as digitally fluent and confident global citizens.
Course options
Studying with us means you can tailor your degree to suit you. Here's what is available on this course.
Occupational therapy students can benefit from the School of Health Sciences’ experience of being at the forefront of healthcare education for over 100 years. We place particular emphasis on cross-School education, and the diversity of disciplines we specialise in has created a stimulating environment which enriches our student’s academic experience.
Support for students with differing needs from the Disability advice and guidance team. They can identify and recommend appropriate support provisions for you.
An exciting place to study
Major centre for education and research in health sciences
State-of-the-art facilities
Opportunities for in-depth study and development of advanced clinical skills
Flexible programmes for postgraduate study
Active research environment
Provides specialist training with taught and clinical placement components.
Graduates in Occupational Therapy are a vital part of modern health care and employment opportunities are available in the UK and abroad. This is a vocational programme and aims to fill a skill shortage area within the National Health Service.
Career support from day one to graduation and beyond
Graduates from the University of Liverpool have an excellent employment rate and are highly regarded by local employers and successfully achieve employment nationally entering a wide variety of roles and services.
99% of Health Sciences students find their main activity after graduation to be meaningful.
Graduate Outcomes Survey, 2018-19.
Fees and funding
Your tuition fees, funding your studies, and other costs to consider.
Tuition fees
UK fees (applies to Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland)
Full-time place, per year
£9,250
International fees
Full-time place, per year
£24,200
Tuition fees are for January 2023.
Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching and assessment, operating facilities such as libraries, IT equipment, and access to academic and personal support.
We understand that budgeting for your time at university is important, and we want to make sure you understand any course-related costs that are not covered by your tuition fee. This could include buying a laptop, books, or stationery.
You will normally need a 2:1 honours degree, or above, or equivalent. This degree should be in a relevant subject across a range of disciplines, for example biological sciences, social sciences or health sciences.
Applicants with a 2:2 honours degree will be considered with supporting information outlining relevant recent experience or further study. Non-health related degrees and professional qualifications may also be accepted. Each application will be assessed on its own merits.
Five GCSEs at grades A*-C or 5-9, or equivalent, are required, including English language, mathematics and a science. Dual science awards are accepted.
You must demonstrate a good understanding of the occupational therapist profession, including an awareness of the procedures undertaken. You are encouraged to arrange a shadowing visit with a registered occupational therapist in their area of practice in support of your application.
An interview forms part of the selection process. The interview follows the values-based recruitment (VBR) process and you will be expected to demonstrate the relevance of the NHS’ values and pertinent skills required within the radiographic role.
Please note: meeting the minimum criteria does not guarantee a place on the programme as competition is high. You are encouraged to present with the strongest possible application.
Declaration of Criminal Background
You will understand that as a health sciences student, and when you qualify, you will be asked to treat children and other vulnerable people. We therefore need information about any criminal offences of which you may have been convicted, or with which you have been charged. The information you provide may later be checked with the police.
If selected for interview you will be provided with the appropriate form to complete.
Health Screening
The University and the School of Health Sciences has an obligation to undertake health screening on all prospective healthcare students. Any offer of a place to study is conditional on completion of a health questionnaire and a satisfactory assessment of fitness to train from the University’s Occupational Health Service. This will include some obligatory immunisations and blood tests. Please visit the Higher Education Occupational Practitioners website for further information.
International qualifications
If you hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, but don’t meet our entry requirements, a Pre-Master’s can help you gain a place. This specialist preparation course for postgraduate study is offered on campus at the University of Liverpool International College, in partnership with Kaplan International Pathways. Although there’s no direct Pre-Master’s route to this MSc, completing a Pre-Master’s pathway can guarantee you a place on many other postgraduate courses at The University of Liverpool.
Liverpool bursts with diversity and creativity which makes it ideal for you to undertake your postgraduate studies and access various opportunities for you and your family.
To fully immerse yourself in the university experience living in halls will keep you close to campus where you can always meet new people. Find your home away from home.
Discover what expenses are covered by the cost of your tuition fees and other finance-related information you may need regarding your studies at Liverpool.
Contact us
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