Psychology degree work placement

Hi, I was wondering what kind of placements are available for undergraduates during a work placement year? Would it be more like volunteer work or a paid internship role in the NHS?

Reply 1

Scotland Yard

Universities Forum Helper

Original post

by mkirby29

Hi, I was wondering what kind of placements are available for undergraduates during a work placement year? Would it be more like volunteer work or a paid internship role in the NHS?

There are many options and it really depends, because there are some university-specific placements. But in general they're in a mixture of places, like social work services, the council, the NHS, private practice or private company, etc etc... and some opportunities are paid and others are voluntary, with little rhyme or reason.

Reply 2

Lord Asriel

Just for some context, NHS placements/internships in clinical psychology are usually unpaid and jealously guarded by specific universities. They are usually not available to all undergraduates because most NHS services will need some kind framework to offer internships and not fall foul of minimum wage legislation.

For instance, my psychology team offers an undergraduate placement (one per year), but the university takes responsibility for criminal records check, setting placement requirements and having some authority if the undergraduate doesn't fulfil their responsibilities. We would never take undergrads outside because they are limited in their clinical skills and the potential for things to go wrong is too high.