Degree with Placement Year (PSYU09)

The Degree with Placement Year is available to all of our students on our degree course and allows you the opportunity to take a placement year in between level 2 and your final year.

The first step is to find a placement that is full time and lasts for 38 weeks. 

Standard graduate placements (e.g. working with the police, the government, IBM, business etc.) can be found via careers connect. Careers connect can be accessed via MUSE.

Clinical placements working with a service providing psychological therapies are harder to find and many are not advertised via careers connect. Some opportunities will arise as the year progresses and the departmental employability lead will include these in her fortnightly email bulletins which will be sent via the psy-employability@sheffield.ac.uk email address.  We will also host a ‘Placement Information’ session in the department towards the end of semester 1. This session is specifically tailored for psychology students so keep an eye out for it being advertised. 

More opportunities can be found via online searches, but make sure you search for 'undergraduate psychology placements'. 

A placement needs to be approved by the department. Once you have found something contact the Placements lead (Dr Harriet Smith) (psy-employability@sheffield.ac.uk) and they will advise whether the placement is appropriate or not. 

If you decide to go on a placement for a year between your 2nd and 3rd year, providing the placement is full time, lasts for 38 weeks and has been approved by the department, you can transfer to a 'Degree with employment experience'.   Please note that all level 2 exams must have been sat and passed before you can commence your placement.

On completion of your placement you will return to the department to complete your 3rd year of study. Consequently you will graduate from your Psychology degree 4 years after starting your 1st year of study. 

For more information check out the ‘Psychology Careers Area’ folder on Blackboard or the Careers Service placement website (https://students.sheffield.ac.uk/careers/find/placement-or-internship)