All students should be in sufficiently good health to be able to comply with the programme requirements, with reasonable adjustments and support where necessary.
Physical or sensory disability or mental health difficulties do not preclude a student from entering onto, and completing, a speech and language therapy degree programme, so long as the student can meet the learning outcomes of the programme. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are required to comply with the Equality Act (2010) in respect of providing support and making reasonable adjustments for learners with additional needs. RCSLT publishes guidance for students with disabilities and other guidance on health and disability issues is available from the HCPC. The BMedSci SLT Degree Placement Handbook details the process for students with a disability or long term health condition in terms of undertaking placements on the BMedSci Speech and Language Therapy Degree.
Mandatory Attendance
Attendance is monitored by the University of Sheffield (UoS Attendance Policy) and by the School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery. AHPNM has a policy on attendance monitoring for clinical students. This is to ensure equity of treatment across the whole student population and enable attendance monitoring to be an effective tool for identifying any problems at an early stage and offering students appropriate support. AHPNM are therefore required to monitor attendance and review engagement with the programme of study, for all students.
Attendance on practice placements is also mandatory. If you have a short-term absence from a practice placement (e.g., due to illness, personal problems etc.) or an ongoing problem you should inform your practice educator (PE) and complete the Placement Absence Form.
Attendance will be monitored and used to assess if a student is engaged in their studies. The University of Sheffield uses an app-based system for taking and monitoring attendance. See Digital Check-in for more information.
A student will automatically be counted as engaged with their studies on a module so long as
i. they attend at least 75% of the taught sessions for a module and
ii. they hand in assessed coursework as required in time for deadlines (taking into account any extensions granted) and
iii. they attend any examination associated with the module.
A student will automatically be counted as not engaged with their studies on a module if
i. they miss more than 25% of the taught sessions for a module or
ii. they fail to hand in a compulsory piece of coursework without authorisation or reasonable explanation or
iii. they fail to attend an examination without reasonable explanation.
If a student has extenuating circumstances which mean that they cannot attend a scheduled examination, the student should complete the Extenuating Circumstances form which the ECs Board will consider'
If appropriate, lack of engagement will result in the department notifying the Engagement and Progress Team in the Student Administration Services, and there may be issues arising from this for on-going completion of the programme.
The cases of students who are not automatically counted as engaged or as not engaged with their studies on a module will be considered via a departmental review process. This will determine whether the student is recorded as Engaged or Not-Engaged at each of the biannual Attendance Check Points run by the University’s central administration.
Consideration will be given during that process to issues such as the following
● Are there a number of consecutive absences?
● Is there a continuous period of absence?
● Are there a number of sporadic absences? If so, how many are there, and what is their frequency/timing?
● Is any non-attendance coupled with late submission/non-submission of coursework?
● Have any formal examinations been missed?
● Is lack of attendance/engagement impacting on learning/academic progress?
Any student who is counted as not-engaged with just one of their modules will normally be recorded as not-engaged overall at the appropriate University Attendance Check Point.
The Engagement and Progression Team will review the checkpoint data and take follow up action in cases where lack of engagement or non-engagement has been reported by the department, e.g., referral to support services, formal action by the department/Faculty (e.g., Fitness to Practise review), deemed withdrawal proceedings, reporting to UKVI for non-engagement (Tier 4 overseas learners only).
Please note that records of attendance are kept by the University, a summary of this information is recorded on learner records, and this information is used when writing references. Potential employers standardly ask about patterns of attendance when requesting references.
In line with the RCSLT Curriculum Guidelines and the SETs (Standards of Education and Training) from the HCPC, all students on the BMedSci SLT Degree must complete a minimum of 150 placement sessions where a session is 3.75 hours on average. This is mandatory for all learners.
In line with the RCSLT Curriculum Guidelines and the SETs from HCPC, there is a maximum time limit within which all students are expected to complete the programme. This is in order to preserve academic and clinical coherence.
Students need to complete additional annual mandatory training prior to commencing the practice placements. This covers Patient Safety, Information Governance, Fire Training, Equality & Diversity, Child Safeguarding, Adult Safeguarding, Basic Life Support, Infection Control and Manual Handling.
Students are required to be ‘fit to practise’. Where a student is considered not ‘fit to practise’, the department will initiate a fitness to practise review of the student. The University of Sheffield guidance on Fitness to Practise, Health Requirements Regulations and Unsatisfactory Progress and Faculty Student Review is available here Fitness to practise guidance.
Successful completion of this programme provides eligibility to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). It is a legal requirement that anyone who wishes to practise using a title protected by the Health and Social Work Professions Order 2001 is on the HCPC Register. For more information, please see the HCPC website. 'Speech and Language Therapist' is a protected job title and therefore falls under these regulations.
The Student Services Department at the University of Sheffield is extremely valuable to all students. Here, students can find out all they need to know about their studies, the University and how to access advice and support about any aspect of their time at the University.
Disability and Dyslexia Support Services
HCPC Standards of Proficiency for Speech and Language Therapists
Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT)
Health and Care Professions Council