UDCRIPSY - BSc Criminology and Psychology

The course is delivered through a range of pedagogic methods including formal lectures, seminars, workshops, project-based research activity, group work and individual tutorials held in staff feedback hours. There is an emphasis upon the link between teaching and research so that staff research provides the basis for teaching on a range of modules.

The course integrates face-to-face with online learning. All modules use Weblearn/ Blackboard facilities making key information available and also providing a convenient place for handbook information, calendars and class announcements. Some modules, for example, Analysing Crime Statistics and Analysing Crime Narratives, focus specifically on the development of CIT skills. The course will also progressively examine ways of further developing the link between face-to-face and online learning as ideas and technology develop and as resources permit. The course encourages contact between you and your tutors and, in the course of this, encourages active learning. CIT and other media are used to encourage collaboration among the cohort of students on your course.

To accommodate research leave for academic staff and to ensure that modules are viable in terms of student numbers, the Criminology subject group may withdraw one or more optional modules for a year. To gauge the number of students on optional modules at levels 5 and 6 in the following academic year, module conferences will take place in the spring semester on the core modules SC4058 and SC5062, to ensure that students are informed about their options, are able to select their modules at the next level of study and to enable the subject group to make adjustments for any modules which need to be temporarily withdrawn.

This course features core modules from both criminology and psychology so that, as a graduate, you will have developed key skills and knowledge from both disciplines. The course includes core modules where you learn research methods, how to analyse and read data, as well as core substantive modules where you learn key issues from a range of topics. In the second year there is the option of studying a module from outside of Criminology and Psychology which can broaden your knowledge. You must complete a final year research project where as well as gaining research skills, you also gain detailed knowledge on a topic of your choice. The course aims to:

1. develop the intellectual skills necessary for the understanding, critical evaluation and application of a range of theoretical approaches across both disciplines
2. develop competence in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies
3. develop an ability to manage your own independent learning and research skills
4. offer the opportunity to develop a specialist area of interest which crosses both disciplines culminating in the production of an in-depth piece of independent research at level 6.

On successful completion of this course you will be able to:

1. deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within Criminology and Psychology

2. devise and sustain arguments, and/or solve problems, using ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of Criminology and Psychology

3. describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in Criminology and Psychology, recognising the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge

4. manage your own learning to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, research articles and/or original materials appropriate to Criminology and Psychology)

5. apply the methods and techniques that you have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply your knowledge and understanding to initiate and carry out projects

6. critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a problem

7. communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences

8. exercise initiative and personal responsibility, including decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts

9. undertake appropriate further training of a professional or equivalent nature

10. demonstrate confidence, resilience, ambition and creativity and be able to act as inclusive, collaborative and socially responsible practitioners/professionals in their joint discipline.

QAA Statement for Criminology https://www.qaa.ac.uk/the-quality-code/subject-benchmark-statements/criminology

A range of assessment methods are used, with the choice of assessment instrument chosen to test the specified learning outcomes. Overall the strategy is to promote your written, oral and research skills within the context of your understanding of criminological and psychological theory.

Level 4 formative assessments help support and prepare you for summative assessments and seek to encourage you to assimilate and describe theories, facts and figures and connect with academic literature. You are also given tools and guidance to encourage independent research and to develop your time management and critical thinking skills. Level 5 assessments require you to critically evaluate the knowledge and theories you have encountered and practically demonstrate your ability to undertake independent research. Level 6 assessments test your critical knowledge of applied areas of criminology and psychology and your ability to be an independent researcher.

Assessments are part of the learning process and confirm the outcomes of the learning process. The marking criteria for coursework and examinations are published with the assessment details for clarity and the moderating process is articulated. Each assessment offers constructive, timely

feedback to further develop your written and oral communication skills and help you develop and demonstrate good academic practice. The assessment process also provides an insight into learning problems and thus triggers individual intervention and remedial action. Furthermore, the assessment process helps by providing module leaders with feedback on curriculum design and

delivery and – via the ongoing iterative process of module monitoring – make a significant

contribution to the continued development and improvement of the course.

A variety of assessment methods are used including coursework essay and reports, unseen and seen written examinations, individual and group assignments, laboratory and computer-based investigations, poster, podcast and oral presentations and a level 6 research project.

At level 6 there is an optional work experience module providing you with an opportunity to apply for a placement either in the criminal justice sector or in a private, statutory or voluntary

organisation related to criminal justice and criminology. If you take this module, you produce

a reflective report on your experience and an appraisal of your skills and abilities in the placement to enhance their personal development.

There may also be opportunities for you to study for part of your degree in another country.

In level 4, you begin processes of personal development planning in core modules and start to build up a record of achievements. You are encouraged to participate in workshop discussions, reflecting specifically on what you have learned from modules and the ways in which this knowledge may be used in, or applied to, the wider social world. Level 5 and level 6 modules in both disciplines contain embedded activities and opportunities to reflect on your learning process and personal development planning. Modules focused on research methodologies provide a forum in which you reflect on your practice as a researcher, the ethical dimensions and the ways in which this practice may be applied to solving problems in the context of volunteering activity and/or employment. Self-directed project research at level 6 provides an opportunity for you to consolidate this reflection, bringing together particular substantive areas of interest with methodological issues and considering how this might provide a basis for their further self-development and contribution to the wider social world in the future.

Successful completion of this course offers improved employability in the criminal justice and security services sector as well as many career opportunities in the private and public services and charity sectors. You will be able to apply specialist subject knowledge gained from both disciplines and critical life skills developed during three years of study. The course is also excellent preparation for research, further professional development and postgraduate study.

Our criminology and sociology graduates have gone on to careers including police officers, counter fraud criminal investigators, support workers, probation officers and teachers, securing jobs at the Metropolitan Police Service, HM Government, Rethink Mental Illness and the National Probation Service.

Continuing your studies with us

The School of Social Sciences and Professions has a wide range of exciting industry-linked postgraduate courses available on a full-time and part-time basis in criminology, security, diplomacy, international relations, sociology and psychology. The following courses would be ideal for progression after this course:

• Human Rights and International Conflict - MA
• Organised Crime and Global Security - MA
• Criminology and Psychopathology - MSc
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability - MSc
• Get into law with our Common Professional Exam - GDL

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• a minimum of grades BBC in three A levels (or a minimum of 112 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC National or Advanced Diploma)
• GCSE English grade C/4 or above (or equivalent)

If you don’t have traditional qualifications or can’t meet the entry requirements for this undergraduate degree, you may still be able to gain entry by completing our Criminology (including foundation year) BSc (Hons) or Social Sciences and Humanities (including foundation year) BA (Hons) degree.