General Information

The Board of Examiners

The progress of trainees will be reviewed regularly at the meeting of the Board of Internal Examiners. The Board will consist of the Programme Team (full and part-time lecturers and teachers in clinical psychology, the Director of Clinical Practice and the Clinical Tutors) and is chaired by the Programme Director. In the event of a recommendation being made for a trainee to be withdrawn from the Programme, the Programme Director, Director of Clinical Practice and External Examiner must normally be present or have been consulted. The Board will normally be chaired by the Chair of the Board of Internal Examiners, and its proceedings minute, in confidence, but (by) the Assessment Administrator. The Board of Internal Examiners will make recommendations to the External Board concerning the pass or failure of individual coursework assignments or placements. In addition, the Board of Internal Examiners will make recommendations on assessment matters to the Programme Training Committee. However, the minutes of the Board of Examiners will remain confidential to the Board and the University, and will not be routinely revealed to the Programme Training Committee.

The Board of Examiners will consider the Supervisor's recommendation on the placement, in the context of the trainee's overall progress on the Programme to date. This is normally upheld. However, if a trainee has been consistently weak/has not met the standard expected on either previous placement assignments or clinically related coursework, the Board may decide to fail the placement, even if this might not be consistent with the supervisor's recommendation. Similarly, if the Board considers a supervisor's recommendation of a fail to be inappropriate, the Board will reserve the right to pass the placement. 

Each trainee's progress will be formally reviewed annually at the External Board of Examiners. The External Board will be composed of the Board of Internal Examiners, the External Examiner(s) and, if appropriate, the Head of the Department of Psychology or a representative. The role of the External Examiner will be mainly to moderate scripts at the marking boundaries, examine theses, consider mitigation, adjudicate appeals/discrepancies, conduct oral examinations and comment on general standards and procedures. The External Examiner may also be asked to meet with a trainee should the Board of Examiners recommend this. The purpose of such a meeting is twofold: first, for the External Examiner to explore with the trainee the Programme's concerns and second, for the External Examiner to discuss with the trainee any concerns the trainee has about the University procedures or support they have been offered. The Board of Examiners meeting makes its recommendations to the Faculty of Science. All External Examiners reports are available for trainees.

Annual Progression

To qualify for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, trainees must pass all aspects of coursework, together with satisfactory assessments of clinical competence on placement. It is anticipated that an increase in complexity of understanding and working is demonstrated developmentally throughout training and is evident in the completed assessments, specifically in the Clinical Practice Reports. The following coursework assignments have to be passed for progression through the Programme, and usually in the following specified order:

In the case of unsatisfactory coursework or a failed placement, trainees may be permitted to progress to the next year of the Programme at the discretion of the Board of Examiners. If, however, a trainee's coursework is unsatisfactory across several areas, the Board of Examiners may recommend that the trainee is suspended from the Programme until satisfactory work is submitted and graded. In such circumstances a trainee's registration will either be continued without attendance, or may be suspended.

*Whilst the research proposal is not formally marked, progression into the third year is normally on the basis of having had the research proposal approved by the Protocol Review Panel, as well as submitting evidence of applying for appropriate ethical approval to the Research Support Officer.

**The Record of Dissemination Activity (RDA) is not formally marked. However, satisfactory completion of a record demonstrating that effort has been put into appropriate dissemination activity is normally a requirement of completion of the programme.