This course is for practitioners involved in personal and social development in the community. If your practice training has been through either structured experiential learning or apprenticeship processes it will give you an understanding of the principal theoretical positions that shape contemporary academic discourses within your field of work. Upon completing the course, you will be able to theorise, evaluate and be intellectually accountable for your practice.

Click on any module code for a detailed module description.

The Diploma in Social and Psychological Health is for those who have completed training in the Social and Health Education Project (SHEP), practitioners in the areas of personal and social development in the community and activists working for individual and community health and well-being. If your practice training has been through structured, experiential learning it will give you an understanding of the main theories that shape contemporary academic discourses within your field of work. Training with SHEP is an advantage. Other candidates may be apply, but must demonstrate a commitment to processes of personal or social change. These candidates are asked to attend an interview.

Year 1 Modules:

• AD1020: The Study of Human Beings (5 credits)
  Creation mythology, evolutionary genetics, palaeoanthropology, primatology, and social anthropology.
• AD1868: Introduction to Academic Writing (5 credits)
  This module will focus on the key skills required for completing academic assignments. It will provide opportunities for practice in areas such as structure, paragraphing, coherence, relevance, referencing and developing arguments.
• AD1881: Human Relationships, Sexuality and Parenting (5 credits)
  The psychology of relationships, sexuality and parenting; sociological perspectives.
• AD1882: Human Well-being (5 credits)
  Introduction to human health (physical, mental and social); health and wellbeing of women and men; health and wellbeing of children and older people; strategies for promoting individual, family and community wellbeing. Reflection on personal health choices.
• AD1883: Health-related Social Policy (5 credits)
  Health inequalities; medical and sociological analyses of health and illness; models and strategies of health promotion; the 'welfare state' and social policy in Ireland. Review of Learning from Year One.
• AP1884: Lifespan Developmental Psychology (5 credits)
  Introduction to life-span developmental psychology - concerns, theories, approaches and uses; thematic approach to the life course; stage theories; developmental tasks; development in infancy and childhood, adolescence, early, middle and late adulthood; the psychology of death and bereavement.

Year 2 Modules:

• AD2854: Adult Education - Theory and Approaches (5 credits)
  Developmental educational psychology; pedagogy and 'androgogy'; multiple intelligences; learning styles; humanistic approaches to education; emancipatory approaches to education; experiential education; social policy in relation to adult education in Ireland.
• AD2855: One-to-One Interventions - Theory and Approaches (5 credits)
  Counselling approaches; mentoring approaches; advocacy approaches; case-work approaches.
• AD2856: Theory and Practice (5 credits)
  Review of the theoretical positions covered in the course; exploration of ways in which these positions might be applied in practice situations; planning of ongoing professional development; identification of progression pathways in both learning and practice.
• AP2857: Group Facilitation - Theory and Approaches (5 credits)
  Introduction to psychological and sociological understandings of groups; the nature and types of groups; group phases and functions; group roles and leadership; group facilitation; specific application of facilitation skills in personal, community and organisational development; organisational theory.
• SS2858: Human Rights and Social Justice (5 credits)
  The historical development of key philosophical conceptions of human rights and social justice and the effect of these conceptions on contemporary public policy; international human rights institutions and human rights law; the continuing prevalence of discrimination and injustice.
• SS2859: The Governance of Human Affairs (5 credits)
  Philosophical conceptions of 'the social contract'; democratic theory - liberal, participatory and deliberative democracy; civil society and the public sphere; citizenship; democratic institutions in Ireland.

The assignments for the modules on this course are either a 2,000-word essay or a 2,000-word personal learning journal. The assignment title for each module is designed by the module lecturer.

UCC staff, SHEP staff, external lecturers

Currently closed for application