Postgraduate Course: Readiness for Counselling Practice (CNST11098)
Course Outline
| School | School of Health in Social Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course must be successfully completed by each student intending to continue with their professional programme studies. |
| Course description |
This course provides opportunities to learn, to develop, and to expand student's/trainee counsellor's self-awareness and capacity. It provides a framework for the assessment of counselling skills through self, peer and tutor feedback and through the process of placement readiness, all of which takes place in Placement Readiness Groups.
This course must be successfully completed by each student on the following programmes in order for them to apply for and secure a placement as a trainee counsellor within the community to work with clients on a one-to-one basis. Working with clients on a one-to-one basis in an approved counselling agency is a requirement of the listed programmes.
- DPsych Counselling & Psychotherapy (full-time and part-time)
- MCouns Counselling (Interpersonal Dialogue)
- MCouns Counselling
- PgDip Counselling
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 21,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
175 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
This course is assessed on a Pass/Fail basis. This course must be passed to allow students to begin Counselling and Psychotherapy Placement 1A. «br /»
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Late submissions and extensions are not permitted on assessments on this course (Taught Assessment Regulations 28.2) as it would unfair and impractical to do so. The course and assessments are designed in a way to allow several opportunities for students to evidence their listening practice and make their presentation during the weekly placement readiness groups. «br /»
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The course is assessed in 3 parts: «br /»
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1. Assessment of Listening Practice «br /»
Evidence each assessment criteria twice over a minimum of 4 and maximum of 6 listening practice sessions «br /»
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2. Placement Readiness Statement Presentation «br /»
This will be presented orally within a group of peers and an assessing tutor. The statement is required to include reflections on each of the following 3 areas. «br /»
- Your listening practice competence «br /»
- Your relationship with feedback «br /»
- Your practical and personal circumstances component in preparing you to work with clients and support you in your practice. «br /»
«br /»
3. Readiness: Record of Process and Outcome Form. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstration of allowing and holding a space for the talker free from impingement/ intrusion (this looks like holding the frame, and might be compromised for example by the repeated presence of the following: interrogative questions; questions which are intrusive/ and do not respect the privacy or defences of the talker; pushing a pace on the session without pause to reflect; too much talking on the part of the listener)
- Demonstration of empathic understanding which is conveyed and communicated to the talker in the session. Students need to demonstrate they are emotionally responsive to their clients ¿ at least to a minimal degree.
- Demonstration of engagement with the talker and their material in a way which does not repeatedly or problematically misrepresent, distort, ignore, miss or avoid significant communications. This looks like being facilitative and helping the talker explore something for themselves, offering responses to what has been said (The absence of this may look like ignoring parts of experience which are named repeatedly by a talker, or repeatedly making incorrect reflections, or a seeming avoidance of emotional material).
- Demonstration of a capacity to reflect on listening practice, identifying and acknowledging areas of development in relation to the assessment criteria as well as areas of strength.
- Demonstration of a capacity to reflect on relationship to feedback, taking into account whether and how feedback has been taken in and used to develop the students' listening skills, acknowledging any challenges or difficulties experienced in relation to receiving and making use of and responding to feedback received from peers and tutors.
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Reading List
Bager-Charleson, S. 2010. Reflective Practice in Counselling & Psychotherapy, Learning Matters, Exeter.
Bond, T., Ethical problem-solving, in Standards and Ethics for Counselling in Action. 2009, Sage: London. p. 223-236.
Folkes-Skinner, J., R. Elliott, and S. Wheeler, A baptism of fire: A qualitative investigation of a trainee counsellor's experience at the start of training. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 2010. 10(2): p. 83-92.
McLeod, John. Counselling Skill. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Open University Press, 2007.
McLeod, Julia, and John McLeod. ¿A¿Z of Counselling Skills.¿ Counselling Skills. United Kingdom: McGraw-Hill Education, 2022.
Schön, D.A., The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. 1984, New York: Basic Books.
Skovholt, T.M., M.H. Rønnestad, and L. Jennings, Searching for expertise in counseling, psychotherapy, and professional psychology. Educational Psychology Review, 1997. 9(4): p. 361-369.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The ability to build and maintain relationships.
To know how to have difficult conversations about relationships and change.
The ability to identify and evaluate options to solve complex problems
The ability to analyse facts and situations and apply creative thinking to develop appropriate solutions
The capacity to use information and knowledge effectively
To have an understanding of contextually relevant ethics and values, self-awareness, mental flexibility and openness, resilience and a commitment to life-long learning
To be critically self-aware, self-reflective and to manage self in order to fulfil potential
Learn how to deal with setbacks and failures and learn and develop from these.
To seek and value open feedback to help self-awareness and to support ongoing development.
The ability to work with people from a range of backgrounds and cultures.
To have excellent oral communication skills and the ability to adapt communication for different people, situations, and cultures. |
| Keywords | counselling,readiness,practice |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Sharan Collins
Tel:
Email: sharan.collins@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr David Ford
Tel:
Email: dford2@ed.ac.uk |
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