Allied Health Professions

Route comparison

How to train as a dramatherapist: which route?

There are 2 routes to registration as a dramatherapist: pre-registration master’s and postgraduate apprenticeship. 5 approved courses in total — 5 MSc pre-reg. All of them end in the same place: band 6, from £39,959. What each one costs, how long each takes and which fits your situation.

MSc pre-regL7 apprenticeship
2 Routes to registration MSc pre-reg and L7 apprenticeship
5 Approved courses Across England and Scotland
£39,959 Band 6 starting salary England, 2026/27 — identical whichever route you take
Not published Non-repayable grant This profession is not on the Learning Support Fund eligible list

What you are actually choosing between

Every route on this page leads to the same place — the register held by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), and the same first post. What differs is how long you study, what you have to have before you start, and who pays. A newly qualified dramatherapist in England starts on band 6, at £39,959, rising to £48,117 at the top of the band. That figure does not change according to how you qualified.

The pre-registration master’s exists because many people reach this decision holding a degree in something adjacent — psychology, sport and exercise science, a biomedical subject. It is the same regulated content delivered faster, not less of it, so expect a heavier week and shorter holidays. The funding is where people lose money: the award on the certificate does not decide which student finance system pays for it, and this dataset does not record the designation for this profession, so confirm it with Student Finance England before you treat it as an ordinary master’s.

The apprenticeship inverts the economics. You are an employee, you are paid, and you contribute nothing towards the training. The catch is supply, not eligibility: an employer has to create and fund the post before you can apply for it, so the number of places is small and most go to people already working in the service as support workers or assistants. If you are in one of those posts already, this is the strongest route on the page. If you are not, treat it as a possibility to watch for rather than a plan.

This is a postgraduate-entry profession. There is no undergraduate route in, so the pre-registration training assumes you already hold a degree in the discipline — you are budgeting for two qualifications, not one, and the funding rules for the second are not the ones that cover the first.

Route by route

MSc pre-reg

Pre-registration master’s

The same regulated curriculum and the same placement requirement as the degree, compressed for people who already hold one. Intense rather than easier, and shorter.

Who it suits
Graduates, usually in a related subject, who want the shortest route to registration.
You apply to
The university directly, or through UCAS, depending on the provider.
Typical length
2 years
Course lengths published
2 years (4)
Approved courses
5
Universities
5
Nations
England and Scotland

From the profession record.

See the 5 MSc pre-reg courses

L7 apprenticeship No course listed

Postgraduate apprenticeship

A master’s-level apprenticeship. Employed, paid and released to study, but you already hold a degree in the discipline before you start.

Who it suits
Graduates in the discipline who are already employed, or who can find an employer willing to fund a place.
You apply to
An employer with a funded vacancy — not the university.
Typical length
2 years
Apprenticeship standard
Arts therapist (level 7)

Typical duration in the Arts therapist standard.

See every approved course

What you pay, and what you get paid

Amounts are those published in the funding schemes that name this profession. Where a scheme sets no fixed figure, the mechanism is described instead of a number being invented.

Cost of each route into dramatherapist training
  Pre-registration master’sPostgraduate apprenticeship
Typical length 2 years2 years
Approved courses here 5 None listed
Tuition Borrowed. A tuition fee loan is paid direct to the university and repaid out of earnings once you are working; the maximum for the coming year is not in this dataset.None. The apprenticeship funding rules bar the provider and the employer from asking the apprentice to contribute to training or assessment costs — you pay £0.
Living costs A partly means-tested maintenance loan at the ordinary undergraduate rates. The current maxima are not in this dataset.A wage. You are an employee from day one, with holiday pay and a pension, and you take on no student debt for the apprenticeship itself.
Money you keep Non-repayable support for this profession is not recorded in this dataset. Check the scheme for the nation you will study in.No NHS Learning Support Fund — its rules exclude anyone paid a wage or salary by an employer during the course. You are earning instead.
Schemes that name this route No scheme in this dataset lists this route Degree apprenticeship funding (England) (England) Recorded against the closest equivalent route in the dataset.
Where it leads Registration with HCPC, and a first post on band 6 — £39,959 in England.Registration with HCPC, and a first post on band 6 — £39,959 in England.

The funding schemes that apply to dramatherapists

The four UK nations fund these courses in genuinely different ways, and the difference is large enough to change where it is worth applying.

England

Postgraduate Master's Loan (England)

The Postgraduate Master's Loan is a single contribution towards fees and living costs for a standalone master's degree, paid direct to the student. It is deliberately not the route for most pre-registration AHP master's courses in England: GOV.UK excludes anyone starting a full-time postgraduate pre-registration healthcare course on or after 1 August 2018

England2026/27
England

Degree apprenticeship funding (England)

A degree apprenticeship is a job, not a student place. Your employer pays you a wage from day one and the cost of the training and end-point assessment is met from the employer's apprenticeship levy funds or from government co-investment, up to the funding band maximum for the standard

England2026/27Apprenticeship

How the apprenticeship route really works

A degree apprenticeship is a job, not a student place. Your employer pays you a wage from day one and the cost of the training and end-point assessment is met from the employer's apprenticeship levy funds or from government co-investment, up to the funding band maximum for the standard. The apprenticeship funding rules explicitly forbid a provider or employer from asking the apprentice to contribute financially, so there is no tuition fee and no student loan - but equally no NHS Learning Support Fund.

Degree apprentices do not take out student loans for the apprenticeship: there is no tuition fee to borrow against and no maintenance loan, because the apprentice is a salaried employee. This also rules out the NHS Learning Support Fund, whose rules exclude anyone paid by their employer for time off to attend their course or in receipt of NHS salary support during any part of the course.

The apprenticeship for this profession is at master’s level, so you need the underpinning degree before you start. The funding rules recorded here are those for degree apprenticeships in England; the employer route is the same.

Approved apprenticeship standards for dramatherapists
Standard Level Typical duration Funding band maximum
Arts therapist ST0633 Level 7 2 years £19,000

The funding band maximum is what the employer’s levy account can pay the training provider. It is not a cost to the apprentice and not a salary.

Which route fits you

You do not have a degree yet

There is no undergraduate route into this profession. You will need a first degree in the discipline before you can start pre-registration training, so plan for two qualifications rather than one.

What dramatherapists do, and what you need first

You already have a relevant degree

The pre-registration master’s covers the same regulated curriculum in 2 years. How it is funded is the part to check first — see the funding section on this page. 5 approved courses here.

See the pre-registration master’s courses

You need to keep earning while you train

The apprenticeship pays you a wage from the first day and charges you nothing for the training. The standard is Arts therapist at level 7, typically 2 years. You apply to an employer, not to a university, which is why the places are scarce.

Read the apprenticeship standard

You cannot move to study

Approved courses are listed in England and Scotland. Placements are allocated around the university, so where you study largely decides where you spend your placement weeks. Check what the scheme for your nation pays towards placement travel before you choose a university.

Find courses by nation and region

Common questions

How long does each route to becoming a dramatherapist take?

Pre-registration master’s, 2 years and postgraduate apprenticeship, 2 years. Each route leads to the same registration, so the difference is how long you are studying and how you are paying for it, not what you can do at the end.

Is a pre-registration master’s in dramatherapist funded by the Master’s Loan?

In England, designated pre-registration postgraduate healthcare courses are funded through the undergraduate student finance system rather than the postgraduate Master’s Loan. This dataset does not yet record the position for dramatherapists specifically, so confirm it with Student Finance England before you apply.

Do the routes lead to different jobs?

Yes. the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) approves the programme, not the route, so every course on this page meets the same standards and leads to the same entry on the register. Newly qualified dramatherapists in England usually start on band 6, from £39,959 in 2026/27, whichever route they took. Employers recruit on registration and on your placement experience, not on the letters after your name.

What does it cost to train as a dramatherapist?

On the degree and master’s routes you borrow the tuition and repay it out of earnings once you are working and on the apprenticeship you pay nothing at all and are paid a wage while you train. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland fund these courses differently again — the schemes that apply to this profession are listed on this page.

Is there a dramatherapist apprenticeship?

Arts therapist (level 7) is an approved standard leading to registration, with a funding band maximum of £19,000 paid to the training provider by the employer’s levy account, not by you. You apply to an employer that has a funded vacancy, which is the hard part: the standard existing does not mean a post exists near you.

More on becoming a dramatherapist

Route comparisons for related professions

Where this page’s data comes from

Course counts and durations are taken from the approved-programme records; every amount comes from the published funding scheme for the year it states. Funding rules change annually — confirm with the scheme before you apply.