Occupational Therapy Apprenticeship

This information specifically relates to the Occupational Therapy Degree Apprenticeship programme. If you are supporting an Occupational Therapy student on the full-time programme please visit our Occupational Therapy information.

As with full time undergraduate students, during their four-year programme our apprentices need to complete 1,000 hours of practice placement outside of their usual place of work and supervised by a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered occupational therapist, the Practice Educator (PE).

UWE Bristol Occupational Therapy apprentices complete three practice placements during their training:

• Nine weeks (autumn term year two)
• Ten weeks (spring term year three)
• 11 weeks (autumn term year four)

View Occupational Therapy placement dates for all cohorts:

Academic year 2021/22

• Monday 20 September 2021 to Friday November 19 2021
  Nine weeks: Cohort 2020A on their first practice placement

Academic year 2022/23

• Monday 19 September 2022 to Friday November 18 2022
  Nine weeks: Cohort 2021A on their first practice placement
• Monday 23 January 2023 to Friday 31 March 2023
  Ten weeks: Cohort 2020A on their second practice placement

Offering a placement

Our partner employers will be seeking and offering placement opportunities for their apprentices in reciprocal arrangements. Providers and allocations will be quality assured and confirmed by the UWE Bristol Placement Team. If you have any questions or can offer a placement please do contact Sally Mobalegh-Hosseini at PPOallocations@uwe.ac.uk.

Key resources

• Recording of PE briefing: All PEs are asked to view this recorded PE briefing before taking a UWE Bristol Occupational Therapy Apprentice. You can also view the accompanying slides (PDF).
• Practice Educator question and answer booking form (DOC): After viewing the recorded briefing, PEs are invited to book into the live online PE question and answer with the UWE Bristol Occupational Therapy Placement Team before each placement block.
• Nominate an apprentice for the Certificate of Excellence: If you feel your apprentice has excelled in three or more areas of the placement competencies, you can nominate them for a certificate of excellence. This can support their personal profile, and evidence towards their Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours. To nominate your apprentice, complete the nomination form and please give specific examples of how the apprentice has excelled against three or more of the placement competencies. The deadline to submit your nomination is two weeks after the end of the placement.
• Practice Educator brief guide to the UWE Bristol Occupational Therapy Apprentice curriculum 2021 (PDF): Essential information for practice educators
• Apprenticeship Professional Practice Portfolio (PDF): Detailed information about all aspects of placement
• Guide to the UWE Bristol Occupational Therapy Degree Apprenticeship: Information about the Occupational Therapy Apprenticeship programme
• Occupational Therapy Apprenticeship placement competencies – all levels (PDF): The learning outcomes students will need to achieve on each placement
• Placement tutorial support information (PDF): Support available for students and practice educators during placements
• Failure protocol (PDF): Information about what to do if you have concerns about your student's performance on placement
• Guidance for PEs supporting students with specific learning difficulties (PDF): Advice for students and practice educators about managing dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties (SpLDS) whilst on practice placement

Useful templates

• Learning contract for curriculum 2021 (DOC)
  • Learning contract exemplar – OTP1 (DOC)
  • Learning contract exemplar – OTP2 (DOC)
  • Learning contract exemplar – OTP3 (DOC)
• Final report template for curriculum 2021 (DOC)
• Placement hours record (DOC)
• Placement supervision preparation and recording pro forma (DOC)

• Visit the BSc(Hons) Occupational Therapy course listing for an overview of the programme and learning outcomes.
• For an outline of the quality assurance apprenticeship placement process providing monitoring and service enhancement on practice placements, download the Apprenticeship Placement Process Document.

If you have any queries or questions about the Occupational Therapy programme or require support, please contact a member of the programme support team.

Programme team

Vanessa Parmenter

• UWE Bristol Occupational Therapy Apprenticeship Programme Lead
• Email: Vanessa2.Parmenter@uwe.ac.uk
• Tel: +44 (0)117 32 88869

Becky Barnes

• UWE Bristol Occupational Therapy Apprenticeship Placement Lead
• Email: Becky.Barnes@uwe.ac.uk
• Tel: +44 (0)117 32 81217

Steve Evans

• Associate Head of Department
• Email: Steve.Evans@uwe.ac.uk
• Tel: +44 (0)117 32 88615

Placement team

Timothy Porter

• Health Placement Team Leader
• Health Placement Team Leader
• Email: Timothy.Porter@uwe.ac.uk
• Tel: +44 (0)117 32 81153

Sally Mobalegh-Hosseini 

• Placement Coordinator
• Email: ppoallocations@uwe.ac.uk

Find out more about supporting, supervising and assessing students in practice.