Why study this course?
Our Sport Psychology, Coaching and Physical Education BSc (Hons) degree will introduce you to the wide-ranging field of sports science and its relevance to competitive, community and participation levels of sport. You’ll explore how coaching and teaching involves varying skill sets across different sports and how they can be applied in varying environments. You’ll also gain essential knowledge in areas including sport psychology, human movement, the social impact of sport and the value of applying sports development to an individual’s lifelong development.
More about this course
This undergraduate course will teach you how to encourage, develop and progress other people’s sporting performance or participation. The coaching skills you’ll develop will be equally applicable at both an elite performance and community level.
Increasingly, schools are out-sourcing sports delivery to coaches, and more sports practitioners are entering teaching through coaching. It is in these environments that you can help encourage young people who have never taken part in sport and exercise to improve their health and fitness.
We’ll help develop your coaching and teaching skills, providing access to a sports hall the size of six badminton courts and extensively-equipped sports science labs.
Our teaching staff includes those with a wide range of coaching knowledge and qualifications up to international and world championship levels. All modules on the course are equally well-supported by up-to-date facilities.
You’ll study a variety of subjects in-depth. There’s sport psychology and its exploration of how the mind impacts on both sporting performance and participation. Exercise physiology will introduce you to changes the body experiences as a result of physical activity, environmental stress and exercise. Biomechanics analyses the mechanics of human movement, while the sociology of sport will develop your understanding of the socio-cultural issues that can define and legitimise a particular sport.
There will be plenty of equipment for you to use as an aid to your studies. Exercise physiology equipment includes a climate chamber and blood analysers, while biomechanics equipment includes Watt bikes and Kistler force platforms. For a more complete list of the equipment that will be available to you, see the equipment section below.
Accreditation of Prior Learning
Any university-level qualifications or relevant experience you gain prior to starting university could count towards your course.
Modular structure
The modules listed below are for the academic year 2022/23 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.
Year 1 modules include:
Applied Sports Science (core, 15 credits)
Essential Principles of Effective Coaching and Teaching (core, 15 credits)
Foundations of Sport Psychology (core, 15 credits)
Fundamentals of Musculoskeletal Anatomy (core, 15 credits)
Human Physiology (core, 15 credits)
Introduction to Biomechanics (core, 15 credits)
Physiological Principles of Training (core, 15 credits)
Professional and Core Skills (core, 15 credits)
Year 2 modules include:
Advanced Delivery of Coaching Practice (core, 15 credits)
Environmental Exercise Physiology (core, 15 credits)
Exercise Physiology (core, 15 credits)
Sociology of Effective Coaching and Teaching (core, 15 credits)
Sport Psychology: Controlling Individual Performance and Exercise (core, 15 credits)
Sport Psychology: Group Dynamics and Human Interaction (core, 15 credits)
Sports Science Research Methods (core, 15 credits)
Biomechanics of Human Movement (option, 15 credits)
Empowering London: Working within the Community (option, 15 credits)
Year 3 modules include:
Coaching Pedagogy and Practical Application (core, 15 credits)
Personal Development for Coaching and Teaching (core, 15 credits)
Sport Psychology and the Elite Athlete (core, 15 credits)
Sport Psychology: Practical Application in the Real World (core, 15 credits)
Sports Science and Therapy Dissertation (core, 30 credits)
Business Developments in Sport (option, 15 credits)
Clinical Biomechanics (option, 15 credits)
Clinical Exercise Physiology (option, 15 credits)
Empowering London: Working within the Community (option, 15 credits)
Where this course can take you
This degree course will prepare you for a career in any aspect of coaching. Likewise, it is possible to go on to study a postgraduate course in teaching or use coaching experience to enter teaching via a work-based learning scheme.