Education ba(hons)

Year 1

In year 1 you will explore psychological and sociological theories of human development, and examine the role of the family and wider institutions in education and development.

You will have an opportunity to see how your knowledge can be applied to understand real-world situations on your first placement of the course, which we will help to arrange for you.

• Perspectives on Learning and Development

  This module explores both major theoretical traditions and more contemporary ideas relating to learning and development. To understand the theory-practice relationship you will investigate, evaluate and apply chosen perspectives to examples of educational practice, showing awareness of relevant academic debates. You will be supported to develop the academic skills of effective essay writing.

• Philosophy of Education

  This module will provide you with an introduction to the philosophy of education. Through examination of key influential educational thinkers and selected excerpts from their major texts, you will be introduced into philosophical thinking, reading and writing on education. The content of the module will support you in considering ways in which different philosophies have been given expression in various forms of education, and more specifically, the ways in which we perceive its nature, aims and relationship to society.

• Learning in Higher Education

  This module will help you to make the most of your studies in Higher Education and improve your self-confidence as a learner by developing your capacity to meet the academic requirements and expectations of the programme.

• Education and Society

  This module explores the relationship between society and education. Drawing on a range of theoretical frameworks and perspectives, you will develop an appreciation of the complex interactions between education and contextual factors at individual, institutional and societal level. In doing so you will reflect on the importance of context in understanding education in contemporary society.

• Systems and Structures in Education

  This module will develop your understanding of the education system and its structures in England. It has as its central theme, the changing relationship between the state, education and its users through the relationship between the UK political system and the UK education system. It then links these systems through the left-right continuum and subsequent ideologies in the development of systems and structures in education. This is explored particularly in terms of educational governance and control. The module analyses UK education policy in the recent past with a particular focus on changes under successive governments and with specific reference to England.

• Placement Learning: Towards Enquiry-Based Learning

  This module builds on semester 1 and 2 learning by facilitating the opportunity to engage in a small-scale enquiry during a short, off-campus placement. The enquiry focus will be determined by you, based on your emerging educational and academic interests. This module will stress enquiry-based learning as a key theoretical framework for adult independent learning. It will also introduce you to key concepts of employability and enterprise.