Our programmes are designed and implemented in collaboration with service colleagues, supporting the development of a workforce that is not only fit for the here and now, but will be able to lead and innovate into the future.
Continuing Professional Development
Newly Qualified in Practice
Advanced Mental Health Practice
Practice Education
Best Interest Assessors (BIA)
Safeguarding and Decision making in Practice
Leadership and Management pathways
FAQS
Welcome to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) at BU.
We are proud to teach across Health and Social Sciences with a focus on advancing practice by linking the educational offer to our research activities. As academics, we are keen to include the voice of the people we serve in practice through close collaboration with the PIER partnership.
Whilst some of our units are specific to some professions, others are relevant for advanced practice across Health, Social Sciences and the Public Sector.
Our leadership pathway thrives on multi-professional input to break down the barriers of siloed practice and drive forward public facing, accountable strategy.
Our CPD pathways seek to meet the needs of professionals who are occupying complex and busy workspaces. We appreciate the need to provide flexible education, whilst driving up teaching standards though practice and research informed resources.
Flexibility – your personal learning journey:
No career pathway is the same and at BU we understand the challenges that come from the duality of being a student and practitioner.
Bournemouth University has long history of delivering CPD across industries. Our large portfolio of workforce development and CPD opportunities reflects practice transformations across health, social care and public sector. It is constantly updated to ensure that it meets the needs of our stakeholder organisations and students.
We understand that fitting study in and around your busy working life can be a challenge, so we have a number of flexible courses that allow you to study bite-sized units at your convenience, while working towards a final qualification, such as a Masters award. You may wish to complete one unit at a time, or more, or enrol on a full pathway – the choice is yours. Please feel free to reach out to our academic staff to discuss your options.
Workforce development – Practice Partner arrangements
Our units and pathways are designed and implemented in collaboration with practice colleagues, supporting the development of a workforce that is not only fit for the here and now, but will be able to lead and innovate into the future.
We also run bespoke provision tailored to your specific personal and organisation’s needs, which can be requested upon demand from the CPD team.
We take pride in our approach, which facilitates flexible partnerships with employers, and meets the needs and requirements of candidates, workforce development managers and agencies. Delivering tangible and measurable results in our courses is rooted in all that we do!
For more information and CPD enquiries, please visit our Online Course Information: https://www.applycpd.com/bu
If you would like to speak to one of our team about which course might be best for you, please email: hss-cpdadmin@bournemouth.ac.uk.
Graduate Certificate in Professional Practice (GCPP ASYE)
This is a portfolio-based unit in which students are required to reflect on aspects of their practice and provide evidence that they have demonstrated professional competence and judgement within their practice context. The Unit is largely self-managed with support provided to students via workshops, often facilitated by the employing agency in collaboration with BU. Workshop support is primarily focussed on the further development of skills required for critically reflective practice and self-managed learning.
Developing Professional Practice (DPP ASYE)
This unit aims to enable students to provide evidence that they have consistently and competently demonstrated capability in their professional practice from the point of qualification to the present time. Effective practice is dependent on developing a critical understanding of the context of service delivery as well as critical awareness of their own role and impact. This unit will encourage students to develop critical reflective skills to enhance professional expertise. It will also provide a foundation for further professional development within their chosen context.
Links to book course
Graduate Certificate in Professional Practice (GCPP ASYE)
Developing Professional Practice (DPP ASYE)
Postgraduate Diploma Advanced Mental Health Practice
This full-time postgraduate course meets the professional standards and requirements for the role of Approved Mental Health Professional (Mental Health Act 1983 amended 2007).
The principal aim of the programme is to prepare suitably qualified and experienced practitioners to undertake the role of Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) under the Mental Health Act 1983 (amended in 2007). Practitioners who successfully complete the programme can then be considered for professional warranting by their local authority as Approved Mental Health Professionals under the Mental Health Act. You can only act as an AMHP once you have been approved by a Local Social Services Authority (LSSA) in England.
Links to book course
AMHP (South West)
AMHP (London)
Social Work Practice Education
When social work students are on their placement, practice educators take responsibility for the social work student’s learning and assessment and makes the recommendation regarding the student’s competence to the practice assessment panels and the examination boards. Being heavily involved in the student’s practice education, means that they are being supported to learn not only from the practice educator and professionals they are working with, but also, people with lived experience of social work.
Our Practice Educator Course
The course consists of two units;
Enabling Work Based Learning (EWBL – Unit 1) and
Supervising a Learner in Practice (SLP – Unit 2).
By the end of the first unit, successful candidates will have developed the skills and confidence to contribute to the learning and assessment of a range of work-based learners and take full responsibility for the learning and assessment of a first placement social work student (or equivalent).
By the end of the second unit, successful candidates will have fully developed the skills, knowledge and confidence to take a leading role in supporting and assessing workplace learning including the assessment of qualifying and / or post-qualified professional learners at all levels and stages of study.
What to expect from the course
Each unit offers live workshops (please see link to Wozzad for the available dates) which provide an opportunity for learners to come together either in person or via a virtual classroom to gain information, share ideas and discuss their experiences. They introduce and encourage critical debate about key themes related to enabling work-based learning and supervising a learner in practice and will support you to explore the work that you have carried out independently.
There is also an expectation to complete self-managed learning. You will be provided with a package of reading and reflective exercises that have been designed to help you critically explore your practice-based experiences and develop a deeper understanding of links between practice and theory. Successful candidates will have free access to the BU library, including its online resources.
Each unit requires the successful candidate to meet the BASW Practice Educator Professional Standards (PEPS) as well as submit a focused assignment which meets the intended learning outcomes of each unit. This will be discussed within the workshops as well as access to guidance on the expectations and how to complete the assessment.
Eligibility Criteria
BASW has set the eligibility criteria for enrolment onto practice education courses: these are:
“ i. Practitioners must have practised for at least two years following qualification and should demonstrate ability to practice at PCF Experienced Social Work level.
ii. During this minimum two-year period, practitioners interested in qualifying as a practice educator should demonstrate their interest and commitment to practice education through activities such as supporting students and other new staff.
iii. Candidates for a PE qualification will participate in a selection process for acceptance on a course” (BASW Practice Educator Professional Standards for Social Work, 2019, p.13 For more information please follow link to https://www.basw.co.uk/system/files/resources/peps-for-social-work.pdf).”
Applying for the course
Students whose fees are to be paid by their employer should follow their employers application procedures prior to applying online. Anyone who is paying their own fees should apply through Wozzad the online booking system.
Links to book course
Enabling Work Based Learning
Supervising a Learner in Practice
Best Interest Assessors (BIA)
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 was amended to provide safeguards for people who lack capacity specifically to consent to treatment or care in either a hospital or a registered care home and where, in their own best interests, the care that is deemed necessary for their health and wellbeing can only be provided in circumstances that amount to a deprivation of liberty. The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) provides a legal framework for the assessment and management of these complex situations.
A best interests assessment is a process to consider authorisation of deprivation of liberty for individuals who do not have mental capacity to make decisions about their own care. Statutory organisations need to ensure that they have a group of staff members who are qualified to undertake the statutory role of Best Interest Assessor (BIA).
Bournemouth University has been approved by the Department of Health to provide this programme. During this unit, you will be able to develop your existing professional knowledge and skills within new legislative and ethical frameworks in order to carry out this statutory safeguarding role.
Preparation to become a Best Interest Assessor (BIA) is delivered via two units which explore relevant legislative frameworks, together with the accompanying principles and processes:
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 in Practice (previously known as “Best Interest Assessors”)
Professional Use of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
Other units considering Safeguarding include:
Risk Assessment and decision making in Practice
Safeguarding Adults at risk of Abuse and Neglect
The Care Act (2014) and Professional Practice
Links to book course
Mental Capacity Act 2005 in Practice (cohort 7)
Risk and Decision Making in Safeguarding Adults and Children unit
This unit focuses on enhancing students’ understanding of the contextual nature of professional safeguarding practice via enhancing the role of critical reflection as a potential research tool.
The content of the unit provides an additional theoretical framework to health and social care practitioners and students extend their knowledge base into socio-economic and legal policy analysed via social theory. This enhances clinical knowledge and provides health practitioners with the shared theoretical basis necessary for joined-up working with social care colleagues.
Development of the unit content and assessment was informed by the ‘Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel; analysis and reflection on English safeguarding practice’ (Dept of Education, 2021) and the ‘Professional curiosity in safeguarding adults: Strategic Briefing’ (Research in Practice, 2020). Both documents highlight the importance of enabling practitioners to develop ‘professional curiosity’ and the ability to ‘read between the lines’ of multiple sources of information to enhance decision making in their safeguarding adults and children practice.
The review of Safeguarding Practice with Children and Families (Dept of Education, 2021) identified critical thinking as a key theme within its analysis, particularly as part of the reflective process. Research suggests unhealthy patterns of practice may become entrenched within an organisational culture (Research in Practice, 2020), and such environments may numb professional curiosity, creating a negative reflective space for practice to occur. Critical thinking, particularly as part of reflective education/CPD, provides a framework for practitioners to develop and exercise analytical skills.
The unit has been comprehensively evaluated,click hereto find out more.
Visit our Application portal to find out more and apply
Yes, you can! We have well-established relationships with employers across health, social care and the public sector. Your application will be processed through our online application system and many employers are already set up. If we do not have a pre-existing contact, this can be easily put in place.
The Faculty of Health & Social Sciences has contractual arrangements with NHS organisations and Local Authorities for pre-paid places on specified modules including NHS South of England and the Pan-Dorset and Wiltshire Social Work Teaching Partnership. If you work within Dorset & Somerset or Hampshire & Isle of Wight you may be able to access the pre-paid places. These arrangements allow NHS Trusts and Local Authorities to nominate the staff they wish to send on each unit or course.
The pre-arranged agreements allow individuals, such as yourself, a route to access appropriate professional development opportunities that are seen as strategically important to your organisation (in consultation with your Line Manager/Education Co-ordinator). All requests for pre-paid places must be agreed by your organisation prior to completing an application.
Yes, you probably can. Please contact cpdadmin@bournemouth.ac.uk with the details of your previous courses and the academic team will review if academic credits can be acknowledged towards a CPD pathway, for example the MA in Advanced Practice.
Some of our units are offered at Level 6 and 7. The teaching is the same and all students are taught in the same cohort. However, the assessment criteria is different and studying at Level 7 requires a higher standard of academic skill. You will need to decide when you apply which Level you choose to enrol but you can reach out to the unit lead to discuss which Level would suit you best (please be aware the level is fixed at the point of enrolment).
If you aim to study for a Masters qualification, you need to enrol onto Level 7. If you take lone-standing units, such as Practice Education, Level 6 may be more suitable for you, as it is less difficult to pass.
Apart from the teaching, you will be able to have tutorials with your unit lead. This may be face-to-face or online and can be directly arranged with the academic staff.
You will have access to many learning materials on our student platform Brightspace and our library has 24/7 online and physical access.
We offer Critical Thinking Workshops 3 times a year that you can sign up for and attend in-person at BU. These are in addition to the unit content and teaching.
At BU, all students, including those on CPD units have access to learning support through our student platform Brightspace and the library. There is also a dedicated team to support those with additional learning needs once you are enrolled.
Our units can act as lone standing CPD opportunities and you will get academic credits awarded. If you decide at a later stage that you would like to add to those and continue studying towards a qualification, you can do that. You have 5 years to complete a qualification.
Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Practice: Complete 60 credits from our continuing professional development framework.
Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Practice: Complete an additional 60 credits (120 credits in total) from our continuing professional development framework.
MA in Advanced Practice: having competed 120 credits at Master’s level, you will need to complete a further 60 credits in an independent study in Service Improvement Project, focusing on an aspect of your professional practice and/or service.
It depends on the unit: The Social Sciences and Leadership units are usually taught online but some of the Health Care units are skills based and therefore, face-to-face teaching takes place.
Yes, for each unit you will need to undertake learning in addition to the teaching and beyond the materials supplied by the tutor. It will depend on your own learning style, subject knowledge and academic abilities how long it will take for you to complete an assignment task.
Some agencies do offer their staff time to not just attend the teaching but also to complete their assignment tasks. It will be down to you to negotiate this with your employer.
A transcript is a detailed record of your marks or grades that has been generated by your current or former University. Usually this will be a document, either paper or online, with a list or table of the individual modules you have completed with a numerical and/or letter grade against each.
Yes, you will be required to upload your certificates to the Online Portal when you apply. However, this is not applicable if you have studied at Bournemouth University within the last 10 years. If your qualification is in a different name to the one stated on your application, please provide proof of your name change, i.e. marriage certificate or decree absolut.
You will need to log into your Wozzad (the online application portal) to view the joining instructions and these will be available as soon as you receive your offer email.
If you have problems logging into Brightspace or have not received or forgotten your username and password, please contact the IT Service Desk on 01202 965515, they are available 24/7. You can also log the issue online, here: https://bournemouth.service-now.com. If you have any problems submitting your assignment online, you must contact the IT Service Desk immediately and before the deadline. You must not wait and do nothing. You will be given an Incident Number, make sure you keep a record of it. The IT Service Desk will then advise you what to do next. If you have trouble submitting online and do not log the issue with the IT Service Desk, it will be assumed that you have not completed the assignment on time.
You must be logged into Office 365 to access the form, not your personal Outlook or Hotmail account. If you are using a shared computer, you must ensure that you have logged in to BU Office 365 and that previous users have been logged out. Your Office 365 login details are the same as your Brightspace login details.
You must complete your form and provide supporting evidence at least two weeks before your submission date.
If you are struggling to upload your supporting evidence, please email it directly to hss-cpdadmin@bournemouth.ac.uk
