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Our Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities programmes are designed specifically for those who provide community and school-based services, such as home leaders, peripatetic team leaders, instructors, community support staff, special educational needs teachers and teaching assistants.
Overview
This two-year Foundation degree is Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities (IDD) (FdSc) comprises Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the BSc in IDD.
It increases your understanding of the needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities across statutory, private and voluntary agencies in the care sector.
The programme puts the emphasis on practice, expecting you to be already working with people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. This allows you to integrate your learning with your work, and tackle important practical problems against a background of shared experience with other students.
You also complete assignments in the workplace, and recieve feedback from a team of academic experts.
The Tizard Centre: UK centre of excellence
The Tizard Centre is at the forefront of learning and research in autism, intellectual disability and community care and in 2013 received a Queen’s Anniversary Prize in recognition of its outstanding work in these areas.
Independent rankings
In the National Student Survey 2015, 90% of Social Policy students (the discipline closest to Health and Social Care) were satisfied with the quality of their course.
Social Policy was ranked 4th in The Guardian University Guide 2016; Social Work was ranked 1st for research quality in The Times Good University Guide 2016.
Course structure
The course structure below gives a flavour of the modules that will be available to you and provides details of the content of this programme. This listing is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation. Most programmes will require you to study a combination of compulsory and optional modules. You may also have the option to take ‘wild’ modules from other programmes offered by the University in order that you may customise your programme and explore other subject areas of interest to you or that may further enhance your employability.
Foundation year
The course structure is fixed and there are no optional modules. Modules are taught in four-day workshops at Canterbury (Monday through to Thursday 0930-1630hrs for years one and two). The modules listed below show the structured path designed in conjunction with employers. Each year, students work with at least two children or adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Most students continue to work part-time or are seconded by their employers. We often make an employment reference a condition of entry. Each year is structured so the work in one module builds on the work of a previous module. To proceed into the following year, each module must be passed.
Find out more about the benefits of a Foundation Year.
Teaching and assessment
Teaching methods include formal lectures, individual and group exercises, some with the use of video feedback. Exercises vary in length, with practice ‘simulations’ spread over several hours. There are exercises involving local services and people with intellectual disabilities.
Work-based learning includes the production of assessed work, systematic reflection on practice, participation in supervision/mentoring arrangements and training/leadership of others.
Assessment is mainly based on reports and videos of your practical work undertaken with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and autistic spectrum disorders. This allows us to integrate assessment with the development of practice.
To see assessment details for individual modules, click 'read more' within each module in the course structure.
View provisional programme dates:
Year One
Year Two
Programme aims
The programme aims to:
- encourage the participation of students from a variety of backgrounds, some of whom may not have ‘traditionally’ recognised qualifications
- provide the personal, communication and problem-solving skills required for specialist roles within the care sector
- develop an understanding of the factors underlying challenging behaviour
- encourage an understanding of the theories applicable to 'applied behaviour analysis' and 'ordinary living'
- enable students to work in constructive and ethical ways with people who are often marginalized and vulnerable
- develop person-centred values
- develop practitioners who can support communication, choice participation and independence in others
- develop the ability to conduct individual assessments of challenging behaviour and develop interventions
- prepare practitioners for a leadership role in families, schools, workplaces and communities
- fulfil the need for specialist practitioners, both nationally and in the region.
Learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
You gain a knowledge and understanding of:
- social role valorisation, ordinary living and person-centred approaches as a value base for the provision of services
- behavioural learning theory, its use in skills teaching and service organisation
- scientific method and its application to evidence-based practice
- scientific method as the basis for the critical analysis of research material
- the collection, analysis and interpretation of quantitative and qualitative data relating to quality of life and challenging behaviour
- needs assessment within a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency framework
- active support and the development of social networks
- the communication partnership and communication strategies with individuals
- applied behaviour analysis as a way of understanding the development of challenging behaviour
- the development of multi-element intervention plans
- organisational psychology related to theories of change, motivation and successful intervention with the individual, carers and organisations.
Intellectual skills
You develop the ability to:
- review literature that is at the forefront of the discipline
- analyse data in relation to issues of method, reliability and validity
- cross-reference data from various sources to draw conclusions on people’s needs and factors influencing their behaviour
- interpret available data and to aware of alternative interpretations
- recognise limitations in data or its method of collection
- use assessment information to develop strategies for problem-solving and improving people’s quality of life.
Subject-specific skills
You gain subject-specific skills in the use of:
- tools relating to needs assessment, communication, participation, skills development and the functional analysis of behaviour
- intervention plans relating to the development of communication, participation and skills for people with learning disabilities
- intervention plans for the management and replacement of challenging behaviour
- recognised strategies and techniques to support the provision of high quality care within services including Active Support and Periodic Service Review.
Transferable skills
You gain transferable skills in:
- communication – how to communicate ideas and arguments to others, both in written and spoken form; make short presentations to fellow students and staff; prepare written assignments and reference the materials referred to
- working with others – developing interpersonal and team work skills to enable you to work collaboratively, negotiate, listen and deliver results
- improving you own learning: how to be reflective, adaptive and collaborative in your learning; explore personal strengths and weaknesses; review your working environment; develop skills in time management by delivering academic work to deadlines and to the required standard
- problem solving – you learn to identify and define problems; explore alternative solutions and discriminate between them
- information technology – you develop your skills in producing written documents; online research; studying and learning using library and internet sources.
- numeracy – you learn to use statistics in your analysis of data and how to represent data visually.
Careers
Our programmes provide you with knowledge and skills that will appeal to employers such as the NHS, local authority adults’ and children’s services, and the voluntary and private social and healthcare sector. You also develop transferable skills such as planning and organisation, teamwork, leadership.
This course is ideal for carers or practitioners in services for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, including health, social care and education. Special educational needs teachers and teaching assistants will also find this course invaluable.
Entry requirements
Home/EU students
The University will consider carefully each applicant on an individual basis; we not only consider candidates who meet the academic criteria set out below, but also who have demonstrated a wealth of experience. We usually expect candidates to have been employed for a least six months working directly with children or adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. To discuss your situation you can contact the Tizard Admissions Officer, Tony Osgood - A.Osgood@kent.ac.uk
| Qualification | Typical offer/minimum requirement |
|---|---|
| A level | CCD Mature students who do not hold appropriate qualifications can apply but need to demonstrate they have the skills/experience to study at degree level. All students should have appropriate work, volunteering or personal experience. |
| Access to HE Diploma | The University of Kent will not necessarily make conditional offers to all access candidates but will continue to assess them on an individual basis. If an offer is made candidates will be required to obtain/pass the overall Access to Higher Education Diploma and may also be required to obtain a proportion of the total level 3 credits and/or credits in particular subjects at merit grade or above. |
| BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma (formerly BTEC National Diploma) | Merit, Merit, Pass |
| International Baccalaureate | 34 points overall or 13 at HL |
International students
The University receives applications from over 140 different nationalities and consequently will consider applications from prospective students offering a wide range of international qualifications. Our International Development Office will be happy to advise prospective students on entry requirements. See our International Student website for further information about our country-specific requirements.
Please note that if you need to increase your level of qualification ready for undergraduate study, we offer a number of International Foundation Programmes through Kent International Pathways.
English Language Requirements
Please see our English language entry requirements web page.
Please note that if you are required to meet an English language condition, we offer a number of pre-sessional courses in English for Academic Purposes through Kent International Pathways.
General entry requirements
Please also see our general entry requirements.
Fees
The 2016/17 annual tuition fees for this programme are:
| UK/EU | Overseas | |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time |
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
The Government has announced changes to allow undergraduate tuition fees to rise in line with inflation from 2017/18.
The University of Kent is currently considering whether to increase its regulated full-time tuition fees for all returning Home and EU undergraduates from £9,000 to £9,250 in September 2017. This would be subject to us satisfying the Government's Teaching Excellence Framework and the access regulator's requirements. The equivalent part-time fees for these courses might also rise by 2.8%.
For students continuing on this programme fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.* If you are uncertain about your fee status please contact information@kent.ac.uk
Funding
Kent offers generous financial support schemes to assist eligible undergraduate students during their studies. Details of our proposed funding opportunities for 2016 entry can be found on our funding page.
General scholarships
Scholarships are available for excellence in academic performance, sport and music and are awarded on merit. For further information on the range of awards available and to make an application see our scholarships website.
The Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence
At Kent we recognise, encourage and reward excellence. We have created the Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence. For 2016 entry, the scholarship will be awarded to any applicant who achieves a minimum of AAA over three A levels, or the equivalent qualifications as specified on our scholarships pages. Please review the eligibility criteria on that page.