Birth and Beyond FdA

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of tutorials, study days, journal clubs and assessment days.

In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course.

You have an opportunity to reflect on: personal development through the course, including discussion and reflection on feedback and grades achieved; pastoral or academic issues; study skills; the development of professional attributes, including creating action plans where necessary; future plans and goals with respect to study, profession or career.

Contact time

In a typical month you will have around 14-28 contact hours of teaching. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected and in the final year you will normally have slightly less contact time in order to do more independent study.

Typically class contact time will be structured around:

• Information giving, facilitated discussions, small group work, presentations ·
• Practical skills - the opportunity to practise group facilitation and discussion, communication and listening skills and the development of physical skills ·
• Study skills

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 12-14 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve: reading; completing assignments; preparing for contact days; NCT Practitioner observations and observations with parents; evaluation of observations; completing reflective journals (both personal and shared with tutors as formative assessments); online learning including use of Blackboard, quizzes and watching videos.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes, at level 4: Rebecca Wierenga, Dot Parry, Karen Morgan, Linda Doyle, Laura Jarman; at Level 5: Jane Franks, Sophie MacFadyen, Helen Roy, Charlotte Whitehead, Rebecca Wierenga.

Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy; 14 per cent of course lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification and are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy, while 76 per cent of course lecturers have the NCT Degree in Educational studies. You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or 'formative' assignments. Each module has one or more formal or 'summative' assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade.

Assessment methods include: Practical sessions, Essay, Session plans, Information sheet, Video, Report, Examination, Role play, Evaluation of Case Study.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:

Year 1

• 3 Practical sessions
• 2 examinations
• 3 essays
• 1 video
• Session plan

Year 2

• 3 Practical sessions
• 4 Essays
• Course plan
• Handout

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

Progression

BA (Hons) Birth and Beyond

Students will also be able to study the Level 6 Modules to 'top-up' the Foundation Degree to obtain an Honours Degree. For more information, please visit the NCT course page.

Postgraduate study

We would also like those interested in further studies and research to study with us at the University of Worcester. Areas of interest include:

• Antenatal education and self-efficacy
• Perinatal Mental Health

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.