Teesside University

The local NHS Trust ensures that all individuals accepting a place on the Course undergo Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service checks prior to starting. All offers of places are subject to a satisfactory Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check and Occupational Health Review.

Short-listing

All applications are anonymised prior to screening and short-listing.

Shortlisting is completed by members of the course team, with approximately 20% being moderated by an additional reviewer (one of which will be a NHS Clinical Psychologist or Service User and Carer Representative, to ensure inter-rater reliability.

All applications are screened for eligibility using the minimum entry requirements specified. 

Following screening, eligible applications are shortlisted and scores are given in the following areas:

• research knowledge and experience (including dissemination)
• clinical knowledge and experience
• awareness of the role of a clinical psychologist
• personal and professional development (including understanding of one’s own development, reasoning for training, working with difference and diversity, and ability to self-reflect)
• quality of references/suitability statements

All applicants who have declared a disability under the Disability Confident Scheme and reach our minimum academic, research, clinical, and reference/suitability statement standards, will be discussed at a moderation meeting. Following this a decision will be made with regards to offer of interviews.

Over out last two recruitment rounds we were able to offer an interview to all those who declared a disability and reached the minimum short-listing criteria. Unfortunately, due to the number of applicants who declare a disability, this process needs to be reviewed on a year-by-year basis, and thus we may be unable to offer an interview to all those who declare a disability. Decisions are made in conjunction with the employing Trust.

Interviews

Interviews are held in conjunction with the employing Trust, and as a result panels are comprised of the Employer Representative, Course Team Members, and Service User and Carer Representatives. 

Interviews are completed in March/April of each year and involve:

• one 50 minute interview encompassing research and clinical questions.
• a 10 minute presentation of a piece of research/audit/service evaluation/systematic review the candidate has completed, will be required at the start of the interview.
• The remaining time is allotted to values-based questions from the panel, surrounding the candidate’s knowledge of research and clinical approaches and skills.

Candidates will benefit from drawing on their own experiences of research and clinical examples within the interviews, as well as reflecting on course and NHS values throughout.

All interviews are planned to take place face-to-face, not online.

Decisions regarding offers are made at a plenary meeting. Candidates will be informed of the outcome usually no longer than two weeks following the last interview.

Feedback

Feedback is offered in writing to unsuccessful candidates post-interview, should they request it. Please note: due to the high volume of applications received, we are unable to offer feedback to those unsuccessful at the short-listing stage.

Equal opportunities

We are committed to promoting diversity in Clinical Psychology, so will apply principles of positive action in line with stated ethnicity and/or disability in cases where there are multiple candidates of equal merit, in accordance with the Equality Act (2010). If you wish to be considered for this then you need to provide consent at the time of application.
 

Contextual admissions

Our programme is considering developing contextual recruitment processes. This is based on evidence that contextualising individuals' achievements using additional information about their educational, social, and economic background can lead to fairer and more inclusive selection processes. In particular, this information could help us to recognise individuals with strong potential for success at doctoral level and within the profession, who otherwise might not have been identified.

We will in due course provide further details on our website about how we will use contextual data as part of our selection processes; for audit/research purposes; to create reports for external agencies such as Health Education England, etc.

Disability Confident / Applicants with disabilities

Following the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act (2005 amendment) and the Equality Act 2010, we encourage applicants to declare whether they have a disability in their application. 

The Course, in conjunction with the local NHS Trust, operates its selection procedures in line with the principles associated with the Disability Confident Scheme and in compliance with the Equality Act 2010.

All applicants who have declared a disability under the Disability Confident Scheme and reach our minimum academic, research, clinical, and reference/suitability statement standards, will be discussed at a moderation meeting. Following this a decision will be made with regards to offer of interviews

Over the last two recruitment rounds, we were able to offer an interview to all those who declared a disability and reached the minimum short-listing criteria. Unfortunately, due to the number of applicants who declare a disability, this process needs to be reviewed on a year-by-year basis, and thus we may be unable to offer an interview to all those who declare a disability.

Decisions are made in conjunction with the employing Trust.