Placements

We ensure you receive a broad range of experiences on placement, so that you are ready to succeed in your chosen career after graduation. As a result your placement experience will be wide-ranging and will not necessarily mirror those of your classmates.

Physiotherapy settings include acute and non-acute settings to reflect the caseload of a qualified physiotherapist. Acute settings are based in hospitals and may involve helping patients who are receiving treatment for a severe injury or medical episode, while non-acute settings may be outpatient clinics, care homes, schools or home visits for the elderly or young children. You can expect to undertake placements anywhere in East Anglia.

Sports Therapy students undertake 250 hours of placement in their final year. 50 hours are undertaken in our Sports Therapy Clinic, which is run by our School at the University of Essex and is open to university staff, students, and members of public.

The rest of the hours are completed as external placements, which could be within clinics or sports clubs and are organised by students with support from our School. These placements can be located within the East Anglia region or other regions in the UK dependent on where students live.

Through these placements you will gain experience working with professional athletes who have been injured in training or competition, as well as people who have been hurt in recreational pursuits such as skiing or gym classes. These experiences mirror the kind of patients you can anticipate working with as a professional Sports Therapist.

Some placements do require weekend working. We always ask the practice educator to tell us in advance if it will be necessary, so we can ensure students are informed before starting.

We will work with you and your practice educators to make reasonable adjustments to placement hours to accommodate your childcare responsibilities where necessary.

Placement hours are a compulsory requirement to completing your Physiotherapy or Sports Therapy degree, and it is rare for students not to complete their placement hours.

To support you with this you will have a named member of academic staff to support you, and we would encourage you to contact them to discuss your concerns as early as possible.

We are always interested to hear from new placement providers in physiotherapy and sports therapy.

Please email the department at sres@essex.ac.uk with some details about your organisation and your contact details, and a member of our team will get back to you to discuss this further.

A placement year lets you put your new skills to the test. You may have the opportunity to learn how to use specialist software, build a network of contacts, lead others, improve interpersonal skills such as team work and communication, and put what you’ve been learning in the classroom in to a professional context.

All this can give you a head start when it comes to applying for jobs after graduation, as you can put your experience and knowledge in your application and refer to it in interviews. You may also find that your manager at your placement is happy to be one of your references when it comes to job applications.

The location of the placement is dependent on what is on offer. You will be finding and applying for opportunities yourself, so you can be as selective as you want to be.

Some of our previous students have secured placements close to their family home and have used the opportunity to live at home for a year. Others have moved across the country and found alternative accommodation.

One year placements may be paid, but this is dependent on your provider and should be stated during the recruitment process. Alternatively you may find that some organisations offer free accommodation or a small allowance that can help towards travel costs.

If you are successful in securing a paid placement opportunity then you will find that the rate of pay can differ depending on who the placement is with, you may not receive the same amount as your friends who have placements with other organisations.

To support students who find themselves in an unpaid placement, from 2020-21 any student who secures an unpaid placement year position in the UK will be eligible to claim up to £750 from the university towards their travel expenses.

You will only pay 20% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year.

If you are unsuccessful in finding a suitable placement then you can revert to a three year degree.

You only pay 15% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year.

You won’t pay any tuition fee to your host university.

While it’s not guaranteed, you may be able to apply for accommodation with your host university, such as in halls of residence.

If this isn’t an option then you may find your host university is able to point you in the direction of private accommodation providers.

We understand that circumstances change during your first or second year, and that an exciting trip abroad can become quite daunting as it gets closer.

You can swap back to a standard three year degree, or if you have been successful in finding a work placement in the UK then you can change to a placement year degree instead.