Sport and Exercise Psychology

This is a Connected Degree
Portsmouth is the only University in the UK with the flexibility to choose when to do an optional paid placement or self-employed year. Either take a placement in your third year, or finish your studies first and complete a placement in your fourth year. You can decide if and when to take a placement after you've started your course.

Overview
Want to take your first steps on the path to becoming a British Psychological Society (BPS) Chartered Sport and Exercise Psychologist or Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Registered Practitioner Psychologist?

On this BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Psychology degree course – accredited by the BPS – you’ll use the latest equipment and techniques in our comprehensively equipped laboratories, and be taught by our team of BPS Chartered and HCPC Registered psychologists.

• Use psychology and sports science facilities including a psychology laboratory (with interview room and media suite), biomechanics and kinanthropometry labs, and immersion pool and climatic chambers – for manipulating temperature, humidity and altitude

• Get your hands on specialist equipment like PLATO Liquid Crystal Spectacles and our ASL Mobile Eye System, which you can use to measure performance and get the most out of athletes

• Be taught by BPS Chartered and HCPC Registered psychologists who have extensive professional experience and access to the latest sport psychology research

Accredited by:
This course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).

Careers and opportunities
Sport and exercise psychologists help athletes, teams and amateur sportspeople deal with the mental demands of their sport. They work to improve the mindsets, behaviours and patterns of thinking that influence people involved in sport, while also aiming for progression in personal development and sporting performance.

You'll be eligible to apply for Chartered Membership of the BPS on a graduate basis (GBC) – the first step to becoming a Chartered Sport and Exercise Psychologist or HCPC Registered Practitioner Psychologist.

To become Chartered, you'll also need to do further academic training for up to 5 years, including an MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology.

What jobs can you do with a sport and exercise psychology degree?
Roles you can do after the course include:

• sport and exercise psychologist (with further training)

• sport and exercise scientist

• management roles in national governing bodies

• teacher/lecturer

• researcher/scientist

• health promotion worker

Graduate roles
Roles our previous graduates have gone on to work in, include:

• PE teacher

• personal trainer

• wellbeing access worker

• special educational needs and disabilities mentor

Placement year
Either before or following your third year, you have the option to choose a work placement year to gain valuable longer-term work experience in the industry. A placement year gives you the opportunity to apply your knowledge in a real workplace, boosting your employability and making you stand out to employers after the course.

You can work for a company or organisation here in the UK or overseas, or you could go independent by setting up and running your own business with other students.

Whichever route you choose, you'll receive support and guidance. Our specialist team of Science and Health Careers advisors can help you with finding a work placement and improving your employability skills. They'll provide you with a database of placement vacancies, support with your job search – including help with applications and interviews – and support throughout your placement year.

Potential placement destinations
Recent students have completed placements at:

• Bristol City FC

• Chichester and Selsey Ladies FC

• The Richmond Group

• Neurokinex

• Other professional sports clubs, sports injuries clinics, schools, the NHS and within universities

Year 1

Core modules in this year include:

• Applying Psychological Research Skills (40 credits)
• Introduction to Sport and Exercise Psychology (40 credits)
• Professional Skills for Psychology (40 credits)

There are no optional modules in this year.

Year 2

Core modules in this year include:

• Biological & Cognitive Psychology (20 credits)
• Individual Differences & Psychometrics (20 credits)
• Principles of Performance Analysis and Skill Acquisition (20 credits)
• Psychology of Sport and Exercise (20 credits)
• Quantitative Data Analysis (20 credits)
• Social & Developmental Psychology (20 credits)

There are no optional modules in this year.

Placement year

On this course, you can choose an optional placement year between your 2nd and 3rd year of studies or after your 3rd year.

During the study abroad placement year, you'll experience life at a university in another country. Alternatively, you can spend a year developing your experience in industry in the UK or abroad with the work placement year.

We’ll help you secure a work placement that fits your situation and ambitions. You’ll get mentoring and support throughout the year.

You'll have to take one of these optional modules to complete your placement year.

SHES Sandwich Year (Study Placement) – 120 credits
SHES Sandwich Year (Work Placement) – 120 credits

Year 3

Core modules in this year include:

• Applications of Sport and Exercise Psychology (20 credits)
• Applications of Performance Analysis in Skill Acquisition (20 credits)
• Project (40 credits)

Optional modules in this year include:

• Environmental Psychology (20 credits)
• Issues in Clinical and Health Psychology (20 credits)
• Motor Learning and Development (20 credits)
• Neuroscience (20 credits)
• Occupational and Organisational Psychology (20 credits)
• Social Construction of Disability (20 credits)

We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.

Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry and some optional modules may not run every year. If a module doesn’t run, we’ll let you know as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.

You’ll be assessed through essays, laboratory reports, presentations, projects, exams, reflective accounts.

You’ll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark.

You can get feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future.

The way you’re assessed may depend on the modules you select. As a guide, students on this course last year were typically assessed as follows:

• Year 1 students: 47% by written exams and 53% by coursework
• Year 2 students: 64% by written exams, 8% by practical exams and 28% by coursework
• Year 3 students: 25% by practical exams and 75% by coursework

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

• British Psychological Society