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PGDip

Behaviour Analysis Supervised Practice

The Postgraduate Diploma in Behaviour Analysis offers a unique opportunity to gain experience in behaviour analysis under the close supervision of a UKBA (cert).

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Key Course Details

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £7,200*

  • International students

    £11,267*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
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The course is designed to provide you with experience in the ethical application of behaviour analytic assessment and intervention strategies across a range of settings and populations.

DESIGNED FOR

Students who are currently enrolled in or have completed a masters course in Behaviour Analysis and are committed to pursuing certification as a behaviour analyst in the UK.

Career paths

  • Working within the NHS
  • Working within Education 
  • Positive Behaviour Support Practitioner 
  • Independent Consultant 
  • Behaviour Analysis Researcher 

Skills taught

  • Advanced problem solving 
  • Advanced evidence-based solution finding 
  • Research and evaluation 
  • Advanced scientific reasoning 
  • Professional communication 

We make a difference in practice, not just on paper. Our courses are designed by people who offer jobs - and taught by people who have real work experience.

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An empty therapy room. There is a desk with a computer, two chairs and a small table.
play therapy lecturer standing at the front of a classroom - students sat around a table listening to lecturer

Course Highlights

Placement Learning

Guaranteed placements in a range of settings that offer you the opportunity to apply diverse assessment and intervention strategies.

USW Behaviour Analysis Clinic

Guaranteed opportunity to work at our on-site clinic, providing early intervention therapy to young children with autism.

Supervised Practice

You’ll be supported and supervised by a UKBA (cert), helping you advance your skills and reflect on your practice.

External Links and Partnerships

Our links with external agencies and partners help you to source varied placement settings to gain the placement hours needed for professional certification.

Module Overview

This course is among only few in the UK to offer a practicum option for supervised practice, providing a unique opportunity to gain a sophisticated, critical understanding of the application of behaviour analytic principles within a range of settings. On successful completion of the course, you’ll meet the practice competencies that are required by the UK Society for Behaviour Analysis (UK-SBA). Throughout your placements, you will be working within three modules that help you focus on the competencies you will be required to meet for professional certification.

Supervised Practice in Behaviour Analysis
You will develop your foundational behaviour analysis assessment and intervention strategies, learn how to ethically apply and communicate these strategies across various settings and situations.  

Behaviour Analysis in Practice
We will look at applying core behaviour analytic strategies (identified by the UKBA [cert] supervision and competence standards) across a range of settings, populations, and behaviour problems.

Advanced Experience in Behaviour Analysis
You will develop advanced competencies in behaviour analysis, including assessment and intervention strategies that might be highly specialised to particular populations, settings, or behaviours.   

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

As a placement-based course, you will participate in a selection of placements across diverse settings, dedicating approximately 20 hours per week to hands-on experience. Throughout the program, you will receive guidance and support from our doctoral-level supervisors. By meeting the established competency standards, you will become eligible to apply for full qualification as a behaviour analyst in the UK. 

Assessment methods include clinical reports, reflective evaluations of placement experiences, case reviews, and performance-based evaluations during placements.

Teaching staff

You will be taught by a team of UKBA (certified) and Board Certified Behaviour Analysts who are internationally recognised for their research and clinical contributions to the field. Their expertise encompasses areas such as education, classroom management, language development, and staff training. With over 30 years of combined experience as educators, researchers, and clinicians, they bring a wealth of knowledge and practical insight to your learning experience. 

Placements

On this placement-based course, you will rotate placements approximately every six months, which will allow you to support people with a range of challenging behaviours with behaviour analytic assessment and intervention strategies. Clients may include individuals with various disorders or difficulties, including autism, learning disabilities, social and emotional difficulties, ADHD, and antisocial behaviour. Settings may include schools, the NHS Learning Disability Service, and residential treatment centres.  

The teaching team will arrange your placements, including external placements and a guaranteed internal placement in the University’s Behaviour Analysis Clinic, where you will assist in providing early intervention therapy to young children with autism. We are the only University in the UK to have an on-campus behaviour analysis clinic.

Facilities

We are the only University in the UK to have an on-campus Behaviour Analysis Clinic. All students will have the opportunity to work at the Early Intervention Service. We also have several off-campus placements, with current and previous placements including mainstream and special schools, the National Health Service, HMP Parc, and specialised behaviour analysis consulting groups.  

Our Cognitive Neuropsychology Suite houses specialist psychology equipment such as eye tracking equipment, EEG (electroencephalogram) and ECG (electrocardiogram) facilities.

Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

Professionals trained in behaviour analysis are in increasing demand in the UK, particularly those who are certified. Behaviour analysts are employed in a variety of contexts, including service providers for people with autism and/or learning disabilities, the NHS, schools and residential treatment facilities for people with challenging behaviour. Some behaviour analysts also work as independent consultants in their areas of expertise.

Possible career paths

Completion of this PGDip Behaviour Analysis Supervised Practice course will uniquely allow you to meet the competence standards needed for professional certification to act as a fully qualified behaviour analyst in the UK.

Career support

Throughout the course, the teaching team will facilitate introductions to external partners, allowing you to network and create professional connections during your placements. Many graduates have secured careers through these connections, working in settings such as prisons, schools, and residential treatment centres. Additionally, the USW Careers team is available to support you in exploring career opportunities, conducting job searches, and preparing for interviews, both during your studies and after graduation.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

Students must be currently enrolled or have completed an MSc course in Behaviour Analysis to apply for this programme. Students without such MSc qualifications should note that this programme does not cover taught curriculum requirements required for UKBA certification and should consider our companion programme MSc Behaviour Analysis and Therapy to complete this requirement.

Additional Requirements:

An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on the Child & Adult Workforce and Child & Adult Barring List and subscription to the DBS Update Service is required. (Overseas equivalent required for non-uk applicants).

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£7,200

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£11,267

per year*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Busaries Alumni Discount

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment. 

*Obligatory.

 

 Students will be expected to pay for a DBS or certificate of good behaviour from their home country. The DBS fee includes £49.50 for the enhanced DBS certificate, the Post Office Administration fee and the online administration fee

Cost: £64.74

Subscription required for each year of the course for a yearly fee of £16. Please note the service has to be joined within 30 days of receipt of your enhanced DBS certificate

Cost: £16

Cost is dependent on placement location. 

 

Renewable each year the student is on the course.

Cost: £100

 

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

THROUGHOUT, YOU ARE SUPPORTED BY SEVERAL EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS IN THE FIELD AND PROVIDED WITH OPPORTUNITIES FOR NETWORKING AND PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIP BUILDING.

Samantha Jade Evans

PGDip Behaviour Analysis Supervised Practice

THE BEST PART OF THIS COURSE IS THAT IT OFFERS ACCESS TO BOTH DIVERSE PLACEMENTS AND A VARIETY OF SUPERVISORS.

Beth Games

PGDip Behaviour Analysis Supervised Practice

Studying at USW

Our courses are designed with industry leaders and provide the practical skills and experiences industry demands. Our flexible courses reflect the need for life-long learning. If you value education in practice, not just in theory, then USW is for you.

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Postgraduate fees and funding
The University's Ty Crawshays building at Treforest, Pontypridd.
Pontypridd Campus, Treforest
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Postgraduate Open Events

How to apply

There is an online application process for this course. Please choose the application form for your preferred start date and mode of study (i.e. full-time or part-time).

International admissions

Please see our international admissions advice for further information about how to apply as a prospective international student.

Related Courses

Behaviour Analysis and Therapy - MSc Learn more

Next Steps

How to Apply
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