Sports Therapy BSc (Hons)

Teaching and Learning

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support through the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of traditional and online lectures, theoretical and applied seminars and practical sessions in clinical and applied settings. You will learn the therapeutic skills of detailed anatomy, examination and assessment, joint mobilisations, massage, sports rehabilitation and other electrotherapy modalities. The course will also develop academic skills such as of scientific writing, researching, critical thinking and clinical reasoning utilising the current evidence base.

In addition, meetings with Personal Academic Tutors (PAT) are scheduled on four occasions in each year of a course. The purpose of these meetings is to support your progress and enhance your learning through a personalised approach to meet individual student needs.

You have an opportunity to consolidate your practical skills and communication skills in clinics, at external events and placements throughout the course. Links have been forged with a number of local professional and amateur football, rugby, cricket and basketball teams - other sports also provide placement opportunities. 

Contact time

In a typical week at levels, 4 and 5 students will have a minimum of 10 - 12 contact hours of teaching per week. In levels 6 and 7, students will normally have slightly less contact time (6-8 hours plus clinic and placement hours) to do more independent study and undertake placements.

Typically class contact time each week will be structured around either:

• A 1 to 2-hour lecture and a two hour practical
• A 1-hour lecture and a two-to-three hour practical

Students will undertake placement hours internally at levels 4 and 5, and internally and externally at levels 6 and 7, all of these learning hours will be formally recorded and signed by an authorised signatory. 

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 24-28 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve using textbooks, journal articles and video or web-based resources to learn the theoretical aspects of the course and independently directed consolidation of practical skills involving handling, palpation and movements.

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

Students 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 senior academics with research and consultancy experience, postgraduate students, laboratory technical staff and demonstrators. In addition, you can expect to receive sessions with guest lecturers who are currently engaged in Sport Therapy and Exercise science activities outside of the university.

Teaching is informed by research and consultancy, and the majority of lecturers on the course have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. 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 is graded and count towards the overall module grade.

Assessment methods include traditional laboratory reports, practical examinations and video-based assessments. A typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is: 

Year 1

Laboratory Reports, Literature Review, Practical Examinations, Online Examinations, an Anatomy Spotter Exam, a Video Presentation, an exercise-based portfolio and completion of hours in the Sports Massage Clinics. 

Year 2

Online Examinations, Practical Examinations, Leaflets designed to inform Athletes, a Video-based submission, a Literature Review, Small Group Presentation, completion of a research-based Ethics Form, a Scientific Report, a small Project and completion of hours in the Sports Massage Clinics. 

Year 3

Research Project, Practical Examination, Trauma Examination, Online Examinations, Professional Practice and Reflective portfolios, Business Plan Presentation, Job Application, Presentations, a Skills-Based competency document and completion of hours from internal and external placements. 

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.

Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with Personal Academic Tutors (PAT) and module tutors as appropriate.

Additional qualifications

Throughout both the Sports Therapy MSci and Sports Therapy BSc (Hons) courses there are opportunities for students to gain additional qualifications if they do not already hold them.

The Level 2 Emergency First Aid , AED and Level 3 Trauma Management qualifications are included in the tuition fee.

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.