The Alternative Handbook

University of East Anglia
Do you have any comments about your work life balance?
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
The course staff give contradictory information - we are continuously told to use our annual leave and not work on weekends
but then in the next breath we are told to expect to work weekends! I think your work life balance is what you make
it.
The course frequently emphasise the importance of work/life balance but don’t always follow this up with a genuine understanding
of personal issues or flexibility to personal circumstances.
Generally work-life balance is completely manageable as long as you use your study days productively. However over
Easter we have had a number of assignments all due in at the same time so I have had to work most evenings and some
weekends to manage this.
It’s about what you make it
It’s very much up to you as a trainee to enforce appropriate work life boundaries for yourself; there’s a lot of pressure to
be the best (while the course tries to encourage you to accept being ‘good enough’). There’s always pressure to do more,
know more, try more; but you can have a good balance if you’re willing to be assertive and boundaried about it.
Hard to maintain at times, but ok at others. Dependent on how deadlines fall alongside placements.
How do you rate your financial quality of life?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Excellent Good Fair Poor Very poor
Do you have any comments about your financial quality of life?
■■
■■
■■
■■
You can claim back your expenses when you drive to university. However, sometimes trainees have been given placements
a long way away from where they live and the amount of expenses they can receive is limited. This makes it very expensive.
Also, claiming expenses is quite difficult due to poor communication from Serco. You can end up waiting months for
several hundreds of pounds and that is very stressful.
I am an international student and thus self-funded, so my financial situation is different to others in my cohort
Some regions within East Anglia will cost a lot more to live in than others - worth considering when ranking your choice of
bases.
Except for Cambridge, East Anglia has a reasonable cost of living which makes your salary go a bit further. You do have to
change your work location for each placement, however, so you often end up out of pocket for your travel costs of getting
to and from placements (which you won’t have a say in, in terms of location). This can be incredibly difficult with specific
circumstances, which can sometimes be met with inflexibility.
What would you say is your favourite aspect of your course?
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
■■
The value the course places on our feedback and their efforts to act on this.
I like the qualitative teaching. I like being able to select a placement base.
Placements
I really enjoy all aspects of the course. Teaching days and block are a good opportunity to catch up with others in the
cohort. The buddy system is brilliant and the trainees in the years above are really helpful and supportive.
The combination of clinical teaching, clinical work and emphasis on research
Making some really good friends in my cohort.
122 British Psychological Society