Education Studies and Geography

BA (Hons) Education Studies and Geography
Mode: full-time

Education Studies
Education Studies is an innovative, exciting and challenging subject that looks at education from sociological, psychological, cultural, historical and political perspectives. You will critically debate education policy and practice to get beneath the skin of the ever-changing face of modern education.

This flexible strand of the course offers a wide range of contemporary core and optional modules, so you can choose the modules you study to suit your individual career plans and interests. Apart from work placements, a typical week usually involves three days on campus. Dynamic, research-informed teaching is delivered by enthusiastic, knowledgeable and experienced tutors. We use a wide range of teaching styles, including lectures, interactive seminars, workshops and tutorials.

Placements
We believe that you can't study Education out of context and so we make sure that you have plenty of time in schools or, if you want, other educational settings.

Currently this is about 15 weeks over your whole course, 12 of these in Education Studies. Crucially, this means that you have the experience you need to help you make up your mind about what you want to do when you graduate. You can choose from placements in primary or secondary schools as well as colleges and a wide variety of other educational organisations currently including outdoor pursuit centres, heritage sites, centres for learning disabled adults and art galleries.

Modules
We offer a wide choice of modules in Education Studies. Each year there are some 'core' modules that everyone studies, including:

• Learning and development, including the psychology of learning and teaching;
• Effective classroom practice;
• Ideologies in education;
• Education beyond the classroom;
• Inclusive education and diversity;
• The curriculum.

In your second and third year you can begin to tailor your course according to your interests by choosing from our popular portfolio of optional modules. Current optional Education modules include:

• Education and the media;
• Disaffection, Society and Education;
• Gender;
• Sustainability;
• Gifted and talented education;
• Children's spirituality.

Geography
In your first year you study a range of environmental, human and physical aspects of geography. You work as a group on many fieldwork activities where theory and practice are carefully integrated. Year 1 modules are:

• Settlements: Past, Present, Future;
• Environmental Geography in Education;
• Dynamic River Systems (option);
• Coastal Studies (option).

In your second year you study a wide range of current geographical issues and extend your experience of learning and teaching geography in schools. You do this in these modules:

• Learning Through Geography;
• Contemporary Europe;
• 21st Century Tourism Geography (option);
• The Geography of Hazards (option).

In the third year you gain experience of leading geography in school, study global change including residential fieldwork in a variety of locations in India and apply your geographical skills and understanding in writing an individual study in these modules:

• Contemporary Issues in Geography Education;
• Individual Study;
• Geographies of Global Change.

Assessment
Your first year is important. We know that you will need time to settle in to University and build up your academic skills and so, although you have to pass all of your first year modules to progress to the second year, your first year work doesn't count towards your degree. Instead, we give you detailed feedback on how you are doing and set you targets to improve your work. We use a wide range of different types of assessment throughout the degree including coursework portfolios, group discussions, multi-media technology presentations and individual projects as well as essays and exams. By the end of the third year there are even opportunities for you to get your dissertation research work published if you wish to!

Entry Requirements
You will normally need a minimum of:

• Five GCSEs at grade C or above (or equivalent) including English Language and Mathematics.
• A Science GCSE at grade C or above (or equivalent) is preferred. However, if you apply for a Primary PGCE/GTP route, grade C or above is required at the time of application.

PLUS, one of the following:

• the equivalent of two A-levels/A2s, one of which should be at least a C (80 points) in Geography and the other at least a C (80 points);
• an Access course with a suitable Geography content;
• alternative qualifications (please contact the Department for further details);
• a Geography A level/A2 at grade C/80 points;
• another A level/A2 at grade C/80 points or 2AS levels/A1s each at grade C/40 points (not General Studies).

We welcome students who have completed an Access course with relevant subject content.

In addition all students will need a successful Enhanced Disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau and register with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). This is arranged by the University College.

Students will be legally required to register with the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) which is administered by the ISA. The ISA has recently been established as a single agency to monitor all individuals who want to work or volunteer with vulnerable people. Following successful registration you will be issued with an ISA Registration Number which will stay with you for the rest of your career. We will send you further instructions on registering with the VBS as part of the admissions process.

Please note that the University College is committed to widening access and participation and we adhere to a strict policy of non-discrimination.