Access to Humanities and Social Sciences Access to HE Diploma | Level 3

This course is designed for busy adult learners with other commitments. Delivery of the course is mixture of class-based activities and online learning so you will attend college two days per week. In-class activities will involve lectures, group work, peer learning and project-based tasks. You will also have access to online course materials via Google Classroom, which can be accessed via your laptop, tablet and mobile phone.

To progress on to this course, you will need GCSEs in English and maths and English at grade 4 or above. Equivalent qualifications may be considered.

If you don't meet the entry requirements for an access to HE course, we also have a selection of access foundation programmes that prepare you for our access to HE courses.

Our access foundation programmes include our Access to Social Science Level 2 programme on which you can study GCSE English and maths alongside the Level 2 access certificate. Alternately, there is the foundation GCSE programme that will support you to achieve passes in five GCSEs.

The following units are delivered on this course.

Mandatory units (Ungraded):

• Academic Writing (3 credits)
• Information Literacy Dkills (3 credits)
• Reflective Practice (3 credits)
• Research Skills (3 credits)
• Researching and Understanding Opportunities in Higher Education (3 credits)

Academic units (Graded):

• Key Aspects of Psychology (6 credits)
• Psychological Disorders (6 credits)
• Developmental Psychology (6 credits)
• Sociology: Concepts and Perspectives (6 credits)
• Social Inequality or Statistics for Psychology (3 credits)
• Crime and Deviance (6 credits)
• Understanding the Welfare State (6 credits)
• Poverty in Contemporary Britain (6 credits)

Social work pathway: if you wish to progress to a social work degree at university, you will have the option to study ‘The Role and Responsibility of a Social Worker’, instead of ‘Crime and Deviance’.

Psychology pathway:  Students wanting to specialise in psychology will also have the option to study further psychology modules including ‘Statistics for Psychology’, ‘Biopsychology’ and ‘Social Psychology’. You will also undertake a  psychology research skills project.

This course will give you the underpinning knowledge required for degree level study in specialist topics such as sociology, psychology, criminology and social policy. In addition, you will improve your academic skills such as academic writing, researching, critical thinking, presenting and information literacy skills.

You will also develop skills valued by employers. These include teamwork, data analysis, time management and problem-solving skills. By the end of the course, you will also be proficient at using a range of word processing and spreadsheet software including Microsoft Office and G Suite. For example, you will be able to use spreadsheets to analyse data.