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Year of study

2027
Start date(s)
September 2027
Location
Horsforth Campus
School
Social Sciences
UCAS tariff points
64
Study mode
Full-time (4 years)
Study abroad
Yes
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What helps people perform under pressure, remain motivated, and experience the benefits of physical activity? How do thoughts, emotions, relationships and team dynamics influence performance and wellbeing? Sport and exercise psychology uses scientific evidence to investigate these questions. 

On this BSc (Hons) Psychology in Sport and Exercise degree, you will explore human thought and behaviour through psychological theory, research and real-world application. You will gain a broad foundation in psychological science while developing a particular focus on sport and exercise.

This four-year course includes an initial full-time Foundation Year and offers an alternative route into university and gaining a degree.

This route is for you if you do not have the necessary qualifications or don’t yet feel ready to begin degree-level study, or are returning to education and would like some support to get up to speed with learning in a university setting.

The Foundation Year in Psychology will allow you to develop your academic skills and confidence as well as introduce you to key concepts, debates, and skills that will support and inform your subsequent years of undergraduate study.

Following successful completion of your Foundation Year, you’ll progress onto Year 1 of our BSc (Hons) Psychology in Sport and Exercise degree.

About this course

During your Foundation Year, you will undertake modules to enable you to enhance your academic skills and equip you with the tools you’ll need to study with confidence. You’ll carry out a personal project so you can study an area of interest related to your chosen future subject specialisation.

You’ll be introduced to the main perspectives, investigation methods, key theories, research and controversies across the main areas of psychology. You'll study quantitative and qualitative approaches to research and learn about the application of psychology in a professional context in each of the British Psychological Society (BPS) professional areas.

Following successful completion of the Foundation Year, you’ll progress onto the first year of our BSc (Hons) Psychology in Sport and Exercise degree.

Across your specialist modules, you will explore motivation, performance anxiety, stress and adaptation, group dynamics, resilience and wellbeing. You will evaluate psychological approaches and interventions, considering how evidence can inform responses to challenges across sport and physical activity settings.

Throughout this degree, you'll develop scientific, professional and transferable skills in designing psychological research, analysing quantitative and qualitative data, evaluating evidence and psychological explanations, applying psychological theory to sport, exercise and physical activity. You'll also evaluate approaches to motivation, performance, resilience and wellbeing. Will be able to respond to real-world problems through evidence-informed solutions.

You'll also enhance your critical thinking and problem-solving, written, verbal and visual communication, collaboration and professional practice skills alongside ethical decision-making. These skills are valued in psychology-related professions and across sectors including sport, health and wellbeing, education, research, public services, charities and business.

Accreditation

British Psychological Society Accreditation Logo..

This degree is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) (link opens in a new window/tab) which makes you eligible for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership on successful completion of the course.

Why study with us?

  • Study a BPS-accredited course - gain the academic foundation required to take the next step towards professional careers in psychology, including eligibility for Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership, subject to meeting the BPS requirements.

  • Apply psychology to performance and wellbeing - explore motivation, performance anxiety, group dynamics, resilience and wellbeing. Use psychological evidence to consider approaches and interventions across sport, exercise and physical activity settings

  • You’ll be part of a genuinely supportive environment where your goals matter. We work closely with you to help shape your direction, build confidence, and guide you towards your long-term career ambitions, helping make your time here a truly transformative experience.

Image of student studying..

Course modules

You will study a variety of modules across your programme of study. The module details given below are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

Foundation Year

During your Foundation Year, you'll study four core modules.

Academic Skills and Studying with Confidence – Core

You'll be introduced to the key skills to develop your confidence in your abilities to be an independent, reflective learner. Prepare for your degree and learn the different ways of presenting academic information, as well as skills such as how to use library and online resources, planning, note-taking, evaluative skills and avoiding plagiarism. 

Understand how to identify and evaluate sources of academic information and how to use these to support an argument. 

Develop organisational, time management and stress management skills to enable you to approach your level 4 studies with confidence and you'll learn to reflect on assessment feedback and identify relevant support services to help you in your academic career.

Psychology Project – Core

Study an area of psychology which is of particular interest to you. Explore and agree on your topic area of interest through workshop tuitions and one-to-one supervision, to produce a systematic plan and to agree a format for assessment. 

You'll be given the opportunity to explore assorted topics that your project can focus upon. You'll focus exclusively on existing academic literature and other secondary sources to produce your project. Formats of how you would like to present your project work are negotiable and may include a written report, presentation or oral examination, film or a series of blog posts. 

Foundations in Psychology – Core

You’ll be introduced to the main perspectives, investigation methods, studies and controversies in key areas of psychology.

Explore the history of psychology and its themes including cognitive behaviour, sociology, biology and developmental theories.

You'll learn through lectures, discussions and group workshops and become familiar with key concepts through individual research.

Researching and Applying Psychology – Core

Get a foundation in quantitative and qualitative approaches to research in psychology, focusing on research terminology and design, data collection, data handling and analysis.

Learn about the application of psychology in a professional context, considering research, ethics and professional issues in each of the British Psychological Society (BPS) professional areas.

You'll be taught through a blended approach to learning, including lectures, discussions and group work.

Course modules

You will study a variety of modules across your programme of study. The module details given below are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

Year 1

During your first year, you'll study the following modules:

Exploring Human Experience – Core
Being a Successful Student – Core
Perspectives in Psychology – Core
Investigating Mechanisms of Behaviour – Core
Building My Future – Core
Sport and Exercise Psychology in Context – Core

Year 2

During your second year, you'll study the following modules:

Mind, Brain and Social Behaviour – Core
Differences and Diversity – Core
Concepts in Sport and Exercise Psychology – Core
Transforming Lives – Core
Being a Successful Graduate – Core
Contemporary Issues in Sport and Exercise Psychology – Core

Year 3

During your final year, you'll study four core modules and one additional optional module.

Psychology Research Project (Counselling Perspectives) – Core
Professional Learning Through Work – Core
Breaking Barriers: Facilitating Healthy Lifestyles (Sport and Exercise Perspectives Pathway) – Core
The Psychology of Human Performance (Sport and Exercise Perspectives Pathway) – Core
Counselling Psychology in Practice (Counselling Perspectives Pathway) – Optional
The Great Psychotherapy Debate (Counselling Perspectives Pathway) – Optional
Investigative Psychology (Forensic Perspectives Pathway) – Optional
Working with Dangerous and Serious Offenders (Forensic Perspectives Pathway) – Optional
Illusions, Biases and Cognitive Impairment (Psychology with Speciallist Pathway) – Optional
Work and Business Psychology in Practice – Optional
The Science and Art of Living Well (Health Perspectives Pathway) – Optional
Psychology of Mental Health and Distress – Optional
Key Skills for Working with Children, Young People and Families (Education and Child Development Perspectives Pathway) – Optional
Marketing and Consumer Psychology (Occupational, Business and Marketing Perspectives Pathway) – Optional
Cyberpsychology (Psychology with Specialist Pathway)
The Psychology of Public Health (Health Perspectives Pathway) – Optional
Questions of Modern Childhood (Education and Child Development Perspectives Pathway) – Optional

Professional Experience

Experience matters. That's why we embed professional experience within the majority of our standard undergraduate degrees.

How does it work?

Our Careers and Placements team will work with you to find an experience or help you arrange your own, whether that's in Leeds, another part of the UK or even abroad. You will be able to take part in a series of workshops, events and live ‘employer challenges’ to boost your confidence and prepare you for your professional experience.

You could have an opportunity to gain degree-relevant professional experience, build your knowledge of career sectors and secure valuable employer references and industry contacts. This experience will help you to shape your career decisions and find the right path for you.

Students have worked alongside psychologists in prisons, secure units, and drug services. Alternatively, they have undertaken professional experience as teaching assistants, youth workers, with charities, with sports organisations as trainers, in drug rehabilitation centres and in healthcare settings.


Learning and teaching

The Student Contract

Assessment

A variety of assessment methods are used, matched to the learning outcomes for your programme, allowing you to apply and demonstrate the full range of knowledge and skills that you have developed.

For more details on specific assessment methods for this course contact hello@leedstrinity.ac.uk

Programme delivery

Your time on campus, learning through in-person teaching, is at the heart of your academic experience and the way we deliver our programmes. This is supported and further enhanced by additional engagement activities and opportunities provided online and through digital teaching materials. This blended approach seeks to ensure a positive learning and teaching student experience.

Your programme of study has been carefully designed around a three-phase model of delivery:

  1. Preparation: You will be given clear tasks to support you in preparing for live teaching. This could include watching a short-pre-recorded lecture, reading a paper or text chapter or preparing other material for use in class.
  2. Live: All your live teaching will be designed around active learning, providing you with valuable opportunities to build on preparation tasks, interact with staff and peers, and surface any misunderstandings.
  3. Post: Follow-up activities will include opportunities for you to check understanding, for staff to receive feedback from you and your peers to inform subsequent sessions, and for you to apply learning to new situations or context.

Preparation, Live and Post teaching and learning and the digital materials used will vary by course, but will be designed to help you structure your learning, take a full and active part in your course, and apply and test your developing knowledge and skills.

Learning and teaching

At Leeds Trinity we aim to provide an excellent student experience and provide you with the tools and support to help you achieve your academic, personal and professional potential.

Our Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy delivers excellence by providing the framework for:

  • high quality teaching
  • an engaging and inclusive approach to learning, assessment and achievement
  • a clear structure through which you progress in your academic studies, your personal development and towards professional-level employment or further study.

We have a strong reputation for developing student employability, supporting your development towards graduate employment, with relevant skills embedded throughout your programme of study.

We endeavour to develop curiosity, confidence, courage, ambition and aspiration in all students through the key themes in our Learning and Teaching Strategy:

  • Student Involvement and Engagement
  • Inclusion
  • Integrated Programme and Assessment Experience
  • Digital Literacy and Skills
  • Employability and Enterprise

To help you achieve your potential we emphasise learning as a collaborative process, with a range of student-led and real-world activities. This approach ensures that you fully engage in shaping your own learning, developing your critical thinking and reflective skills so that you can identify your own strengths and weaknesses, and use the extensive learning support system we offer to shape your own development.

We believe the secret to great learning and teaching is simple: it is about creating an inclusive learning experience that allows all students to thrive through:

  • Personalised support
  • Expert lecturers
  • Strong connections with employers
  • An international outlook
  • Understanding how to use tools and technology to support learning and development

Entry requirements

Leeds Trinity University is committed to recruiting students with talent and potential and who we feel will benefit greatly from their academic and non-academic experiences here. We treat every application on its own merits; we value highly the experience you illustrate in your personal statement.

Information about the large range of qualifications we accept, including A-Levels, BTECs and T Levels, can be found on our entry requirements page. If you need additional advice or are taking qualifications that are not covered in the information supplied, please contact our Admissions Office.

Leeds Trinity University is committed to recruiting students with talent and potential and who we feel will benefit greatly from their academic and non-academic experiences here. We treat every application on its own merits; we value highly the experience you illustrate in your personal statement.

The following information is designed to give you a general overview of the qualifications we accept. If you are taking qualifications that are not included below, please contact our Admissions Office who will be happy to advise you.

Entry requirements for this course:
UCAS tariff 64

Applications are welcome from mature students with few formal qualifications.

Any previous relevant work experience and learning will be assessed and, where appropriate, we may offer an alternative way to assess suitability to study.

This course is not available to students on a Student Route Visa.

Fees and finance

UK Home fees

£9,790

Full-time

International fees

More information on international tuition fees

Funding

UK Home Students:

Tuition fees cost £9,790 a year for this course in 2026/2027. 

Tuition fees for part-time study are charged at a pro-rata amount of the full-time equivalent.

Depending on government policy, tuition fees may change in future years.

Tuition fees for 2027/2028 entry will be set in summer 2026.

Living costs, e.g. accommodation, travel, food, will also need to be taken into consideration.

Leeds Trinity offers a range of bursaries and scholarships to help support students while you study.

Additional costs

We advise students that there may be additional course costs in addition to annual tuition fees. These include:

  • Books - recommended and required reading lists will be provided at the start of your course. All the books and e-books are available from our Library to borrow but you may choose to purchase your own.
  • Print costs - the University provides students with a £6 printing credit each academic year which can be topped up either on campus or online.

How to apply

For full-time undergraduate courses, you apply through UCAS. That's the University and Colleges Admissions Service.

On your application form, you'll need to know our institution code - it's L24 - and the course code. If you click through to the UCAS website using the button below, it'll take you to the right place with all the information you need.

As part of your application, you'll need to write a personal statement - we've prepared a guide to help you.

This course is not available to students on a Student Route Visa.

There's lots more information about the application process on the UCAS website, or you can get in touch with our Admissions team who will be happy to help:

Apply now

Graduate opportunities

Providing you with the opportunity to develop the professional skills and experience you need to launch your career is at the heart of everything we do at Leeds Trinity University.

Graduate roles may include: 

  • Assistant Psychologist 
  • Research Assistant 
  • Sport Development Officer 
  • Community Sport or Physical Activity Coordinator  
  • Athlete Support or Player Care Officer 
  • Health Promotion Officer 
  • Wellbeing Support Practitioner 
  • Behaviour-Change Support Officer 
  • Youth or Community Support Worker 
  • Graduate roles within sport organisations 
  • Market or Consumer Researcher 
  • Civil Service or Public Services Professional 

If you wish to qualify as a sport and exercise psychologist, you will need to complete the relevant accredited postgraduate and professional training after graduation. Careers including coaching, exercise referral and some health or performance roles may also require additional sector-specific qualifications, registration or experience. 

After you graduate, Careers and Placements will help you as you pursue your chosen career through our mentoring scheme, support with CV and interview preparation and access to graduate employability events.

To find out how we can help you make your career ambitions a reality, visit:

Careers

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