DClinPsy Handbook

Category: Assessment and failure

  • Recording competencies in the ePortfolio (OneFile)

    As part of the programme’s accreditation, the BPS require us to have a clear system of recording competencies within their Standards for the accreditation of Doctoral programmes in clinical psychology. We provide this in electronic form via the OneFile system. We expect that trainees make use of the ePortfolio throughout training, and this is why…

  • Use of bookable extra study (BES)

  • A getting started guide: assessment

    This page is designed to guide you through the key sections of the online handbook which relate to assessment. You can use it as an index to read key assessment related sections of the handbook in a logical sequence. More detail on most areas will be contained within the full sections of the online handbook.…

  • Passing and failing the DClinPsy programme

    This page under review following a review of the Thesis Preparation Assignment (TPA) with updates to the page due in September 2024. Full details of the Assessment schemes and criteria can be found in the programme specification. An overview of this process is provided in the programme completion and failure processes document. Scheme of assessment…

  • Guidance on Assignment Submission

    This page under review following a review of the Thesis Preparation Assignment (TPA) with updates to the page due in September 2024. This guidance relates to the preparation of all documents except the thesis General Guidance on submissions All written coursework for the programme needs to be submitted online via the University’s Moodle virtual learning…

  • Identifiers: words or phrases which identify individuals

    It is important that ‘identifiers’- words or phrases which identify individuals, institutions etc. – are not present in assignments submitted for examination. Trainees should check their work carefully before submission to ensure that this does not happen and that, for example, ethics applications have such identifiers redacted. Where it is felt by markers of an…

  • Examination of the thesis

    For the thesis, programme staff (or other members of the university such as colleagues in psychology, DHR or social sciences) who are not directly involved in helping trainees with the preparation of their thesis research and are not one of their individual tutors act as internal examiners. Each thesis is examined by a specifically appointed…

  • Examination board

    The Examination Board has the authority delegated to it by the University to reach decisions regarding the academic status (pass / fail) of students’ assignments and practice placements. The examination board comprises the programme staff and appointed external examiners, with the Vice Chancellor, the Assistant Dean for Teaching and the Head of the Division of…

  • Service Improvement Poster Presentation (SIPP)

    Introduction The SIPP assignment involves groups of trainees recording videos of themselves working together on a service development project during their project block, and producing a poster and 500 word summary of the project. This is followed by the group delivering a 30 minute presentation on the project. At the end of the process, each…

  • Placement Assignment – Service Evaluation (PASE)

    Introduction The PASE is a report based on a piece of audit or service evaluation work carried out on placement. For trainees in the 2020 cohort and earlier, the work outlined in the first submission of the assignment can be from any one of the second, third or fourth core placements. Following the other three…

  • Placement Assignment – Live Skills (PALS)

    Introduction Over the course of the programme, trainees are required to submit three pieces of work for Placement Assignment: Live Skills (PALS), in addition to one Placement Assignment: Service Evaluation (PASE). Trainees in the 2021 cohort (and subsequent cohorts) will submit PALS #1 and #2 from work completed on their direct skills placement, and PALS…

  • Assessment of learning outcomes

    This page under review following a review of the Thesis Preparation Assignment (TPA) with updates to the page due in September 2024.

  • Assignment suite overview

    This page under review following a review of the Thesis Preparation Assignment (TPA) with updates to the page due in September 2024. Assignment submission dates

  • Assessment general principles

    Assessment on the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology is guided by a number of different frameworks including the Health and Care Professions Council’s (HCPC’s) standards of education and training and standards of proficiency, the British Psychological Society’s (BPS’s) standards for the accreditation of Doctoral programmes in clinical psychology and Lancaster University’s manual of academic regulations and…

  • Self-Assessment Exercise (SAE)

    Introduction The Self-Assessment Exercise (SAE) is designed to help trainees identify what their strengths are and what their areas for development are from the beginning of their training. It enables trainees to become active and engaged participants in their own learning and development and provides an opportunity to engage in different exercises to understand themselves…

  • Criteria for placement failure

    Introduction The criteria for failure reflect the requirements of the profession, as set out in the following standards produced by the regulatory body (Health and Care Professions Council – HCPC) and the professional body (British Psychological Society- BPS): Health and Care Professions Council Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics See document link below Health and Care…

  • Exceptional Circumstances Committee

    The remit of the programme’s Exceptional Circumstances Committee is to consider submissions by a trainee relating to events outside their control which may have resulted in them failing to complete assessed work to a standard of academic performance that might reasonably have been expected on the basis of their performance elsewhere during their study. The…

  • Fitness to practise

    Being fit to practise is a prerequisite for an applied psychologist to deliver a service to the public. The following extract is taken from the Health and Care Professions Council’s brochure entitled “The Fitness to Practise Process”: What is fitness to practise? When we say that someone is ‘fit to practise’ we mean that they…