Course specification and structure
Undergraduate Course Structures Postgraduate Course Structures

UDEDUCFY - BA (Hons) Education (including foundation year)

Course Specification


Validation status Validated
Highest award Bachelor of Arts Level Honours
Possible interim awards Bachelor of Arts, Diploma of Higher Education, Certificate of Higher Education, Bachelor of Arts, Preparatory Diploma, Preparatory Certificate
Total credits for course 480
Awarding institution London Metropolitan University
Teaching institutions London Metropolitan University
School School of Social Professions
Subject Area Education
Attendance options
Option Minimum duration Maximum duration
Part-time 6 YEARS 8 YEARS
Full-time 4 YEARS 8 YEARS
Course leader  

About the course and its strategy towards teaching and learning and towards blended learning/e-learning

The preparatory year of the four-year extended degree programme helps prepare students with non-traditional qualifications, lower UCAS points and mature students wanting to return to education, for level 4 study at undergraduate level. It teaches students the academic study skills, digital skills, research techniques and critical thinking that they will need for undergraduate study as well as introducing them to basic ideas, approaches and themes in social sciences and their pathway choice. The foundation year also aims to develop their independent learning, supporting them to become confident and proactive students, able to operate effectively at undergraduate level within a large university.

The study of Education concerns itself with the preparation of informed, confident and responsible professionals, equipped with the knowledge, skills, understanding and critical instincts to take on the challenges of working in this vital, challenging and, frequently, fluid area of public life.


This course has been designed with the recognition that while there is a growing diversity of educational roles in people-related professions and their associated work settings, for many students the next step will be a move into teaching by attaining Qualified Teacher Status through a PGCE programme. We recognise this through a commitment to the development of educators, broadly conceived through this dual route degree programme.

After a common first year, students can choose between the two routes depending upon their career aspirations. The BA Education route seeks to support students whose professional aspirations require a less formally institutional and more contextualised deployment of what could broadly be described as social pedagogies, e.g. youth, community and social workers; community educators; PCSOs and local wardens; learning mentors; counsellors and trainers; and social entrepreneurs.

The BA Education With Practice route seeks to offer students who may already working in an educational setting (nurseries, school TA roles etc) the opportunity to use their work placement as a vehicle to gain credit and focus their assessment, while further developing their professional practice. It is seen as the best route for students hoping to pursue a PGCE Primary with QTS.

Drawing upon, inter alia, history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, pedagogics, ICT/digital media and cultural studies, the degree seeks through a multidisciplinary appraisal of theory, critical enquiry and reflective engagement with practice. This offers students an interdisciplinary synthesis affording a firm platform for further professional education and personal development.

Education therefore sits squarely at the heart of the mission of the School of Social Professions and has the capacity to be emblematic for the University’s aspiration to transform the lives, meet the needs and build the careers not only of its students, but all those who will, ultimately, benefit from enhanced professionalism in practice.

Course aims

The preparatory year aims to support and prepare students to become "undergraduate ready". This will be done by equipping them with the necessary knowledge and understanding in social sciences and their pathway choice, the key digital and academic skills in order to communicate their ideas effectively (orally and in writing), using an appropriate academic style, that will allow them to progress onto level 4. It also aims to develop their understanding of different assessments and learning and teaching styles in HE and to build their confidence by experiencing and understanding theories and knowledge through personalisation and reflective learning techniques.

The 3 year degree course aims are:

  • To educate students for employment as critical professionals within educational and other cognate settings;
  • To encourage students to explore the problematic nature of educational theory, policy and practice with reference to those foundational debates and disciplines that have informed educational discourses;
  • To facilitate a meaningful grasp of those knowledges, skills and understandings held and valued by educationists;
  • To provide a fund of experience that has been interpreted and rationalised with respect to a set of core competencies that support student entry to a range of professional identities, practices and careers (including Primary Education);
  • To provide a formative link between students’ experience of education prior to HE and graduate professional realities beyond;
  • To offer a foundation for post-graduate scholarship;
  • To fulfil the aspirations and hopes of our students;
  • To offer a globally attuned degree that has portability.

Course learning outcomes

The following learning outcomes incorporate and depend on systematic understanding of the key aspects of the knowledge base of Education, including a coherent and detailed knowledge of some specialist areas.

On successful completion of the 4 year degree course students will be able to:


1. Deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry within Education;

2. Devise and sustain arguments, and/or to solve problems, using ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront in the study of Education;

3. Describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship in Education, recognising the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge;

4. Manage their own learning, and to make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to Education);

5. Apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects;

6. Critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data, to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions - to a problem;

7. Communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences;

8. Exercise initiative and personal responsibility, including decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts;

9. Undertake appropriate further training of a professional or equivalent nature.

Course learning outcomes / Module cross reference

Module Code Module Title

IF3050 Critical Thinking

IF3060 Researching Discrimination

IF3061 Researching Inequality

IF3058 Reflecting on Self and Society

IF3059 Social Issues in Context:Text to Essay

IF3073 Interventions for Change

IF3063 Media Crime and Race

IF3066 Studying Education: Reflection and Critique

Learning Course Outcomes: LO1-LO4


Module Code
SS4030
SS4021
SS4020
SS4033
SS5019
SS5031
SS5020
SS5081
SS5077
SS5K70
SS5035
XK0000
SS6P32
SS6012
SS6073
SS6080
SS6010
SS6011
SS6035

Learning Course Outcomes: LO1-LO9

Principle QAA benchmark statements

https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/subject-benchmark-statements/sbs-education-studies-15.pdf?sfvrsn=959cf781_10

Assessment strategy

At level 3 Students will be thoroughly prepared for a range of different assessments to give practice in the types of assessments they will face at higher levels. Examples include research reports, in-class tests, written portfolios, individual oral presentations, group-led seminars, literature reviews and essays. These assessments are spread over 8 x 15 credit modules which allows for early assessment and feedback, giving students a clear sense of progress at the end of semester one. Students have opportunities in all modules for formative feedback via draft submissions and one to one tutorials, which focuses on strategies to improve their work and reflect on their strengths and weaknesses. Further formative feedback is received through regular short in-class and on-line tests, peer assessment and discussions and tutor oral and written responses


At level 4,5 & 6, the four strands of learning, assessment, feedback and credentialing are braided through the course. The course seeks to combine formative and summative assessment tasks constructively, and to make best use of these tasks to offer students a meaningful learning experience, and to foster their personal and professional development. Assessment tasks are synchronised with each other and with learning outcomes, and designed to meet those outcomes in line with QAA standards and wider professional standards. Processes for marking assessments and for moderating marks are clearly articulated and consistently operated by those involved in the assessment process. Feedback is provided in a timely fashion, and formulated so it is useful to students and enhances their learning. Students are guided and supported in making sense of the assessment tasks and the feedback provided, and the best use of that feedback so that their learning becomes salted into their academic sense of self and their intellectual repertoires necessary for professional practice and future career. In that context, credentialing is not seen merely as the last word on their coursework, but rather, as a process that enables learning, fosters development, builds confidence and clarifies objectives for the task ahead. These understandings and processes are woven into a personal tutoring system that enables students to discuss specific results and achievements, and to identify where particular challenges lie as well as opportunities to narrate their emergent academic, intellectual and professional selves. Assessment tasks are informed by reflection, consideration of professional practice, and subject-specific and educational scholarship. Tasks include coursework and practical examinations: essays of various genres, reports, presentations, individual and group (research) projects, and a final dissertation.

Organised work experience, work based learning, sandwich year or year abroad

For BA Education, the course offers the opportunity for experiential learning at Level 5 in the form of a short practical work experience in an educational institution or organisation.
For the BA Education with Practice, there are more extensive opportunities for students to undertake work-based learning modules at both Level 5 and Level 6 through more extensive experiential work placement modules.
Students who already have part time work roles, e.g. in nurseries or as school TA’s, may be able to use their existing workplace as their placement.

N.B. For both routes, students are likely to require a DBS certificate, which has to be organised and funded by the student, in order to take up work-based learning placements

Our global connections enable additional opportunities, e.g. the possibility to join study abroad programs.

Course specific regulations

University Regulation 3.1.5 specifies that:
‘All undergraduate courses shall be based on a teaching year comprising 30 weeks of formal scheduled teaching augmented, where appropriate, by a summer studies period.’

Modules required for interim awards

BA Education:


SS4030 Becoming and Educationist: reading, writing and enquiry
SS4021 Knowledge, Culture and Education
SS4020 The School and the City
SS4033 Making Sense of Education
SS5019 Sociology and the Curriculum
SS5031 Qualitative Educational Research in Theory and Practice
SS5020 Psychology of Learning
SS5081 Education: Experiential Learning
SS6P32 Education Studies Dissertation
SS6012 Educators as Social Pedagogues
SS6010 Philosophy of Education
SS6011 Inclusion, Education and Inequalities
plus one of the below option modules:
SS6080 Gender and Education
SS6073 Sport, Education and Society

BA [Hons] Education [with practice]:
SS4030 Becoming and Educationist: reading, writing and enquiry
SS4021 Knowledge, Culture and Education
SS4020 The School and the City
SS4033 Making Sense of Education
SS5019 Sociology and the Curriculum
SS5031 Qualitative Educational Research in Theory and Practice
SS5020 Psychology of Learning
SS5035 Working in Education: Preparing for Professional Practice
SS6P32 Education Studies Dissertation
SS6035 Preparing for QTS: Becoming a teacher
SS6010 Philosophy of Education
SS6011 Inclusion, Education and Inequalities
plus one of the below option modules:
SS6080 Gender and Education
SS6073 Sport, Education and Society

Arrangements for promoting reflective learning and personal development

Throughout the preparatory level 3 programme, students will be required to reflect on their learning, identify areas of strength and weakness and develop action plans in response to these reflections. This will occur informally through tutor and peer feedback and also formally through reflective writing as part of the assessments and the written and oral response from tutors to this. We expect that through this experience of reflective learning, students will start to understand the value of being proactive, independent learners, ready for their first year of undergraduate study.

Reflective learning/personal development as core values underpinning effective and professional educational practice shoot through the course, from Level 4 through to Level 6.

Reflective learning/personal development is highlighted in the following processes and modules:

  • Assessment tasks that explicitly ask students to reflect on their learning/learning outcomes, e.g. through the compilation of portfolios/e-portfolios;
  • Formal and informal feedback sessions build into modules that enable students to advance their knowledge, understanding and practice, and tutorials that directly brief students on learning aims and outcomes;
  • Opportunities for experiential learning and extended placement practice which help students develop and strengthen core competencies;
  • Activities built into learning and teaching that support students to forge links between their academic and experiential learning, and their personal development;
  • Partnerships with Student Services and external providers that enable students to identify and build an outward-facing professional self for career development and potential employers.

Career, employability and opportunities for continuing professional development

BA Education or BA Education with Practice offer a firm platform upon which graduates can construct careers as educators and educationists whether in school or college teaching or in community-based development and learning.


Flexible progression to QTS, Masters’ level study and research is facilitated by the degree, subject to other necessary entry requirements.

Career opportunities

After this four-year course you’ll be able to enter a wide range of careers within education, such as local government, charities, youth work and educational management. You’ll also gain a range of transferable skills, such as critical thinking, reasoning and writing that will translate into a variety of careers.

On completion of this course you can also go on to postgraduate study, which will allow you to work in primary teaching, early years education or adult education.

Entry requirements

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

  • at least one A level (or a minimum of 40 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC Subsidiary/National/BTEC Extended Diploma)
  • English Language GCSE at grade C (grade 4) or above (or equivalent)

To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Tier 4 student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.

If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.

Official use and codes

Approved to run from 2019/20 Specification version 1 Specification status Validated
Original validation date 13 Sep 2019 Last validation date 13 Sep 2019  
Sources of funding HE FUNDING COUNCIL FOR ENGLAND
JACS codes
Route code EDUCFY

Course Structure

Stage 1 Level 03 September start Offered

Code Module title Info Type Credits Location Period Day Time
IF3050 Critical Thinking Core 15 NORTH AUT WED PM
          NORTH AUT TUE PM
          NORTH AUT TUE AM
          NORTH AUT MON PM
          NORTH AUT THU AM
IF3058 Reflecting on Self and Society Core 15 NORTH AUT THU AM
          NORTH AUT WED PM
          NORTH AUT WED AM
          NORTH AUT TUE PM
          NORTH AUT THU PM
          NORTH AUT MON AM
          NORTH AUT TUE AM
IF3059 Social Issues in Context: Text to Essay Core 15 NORTH SPR THU AM
          NORTH SPR THU PM
          NORTH SPR WED AM
          NORTH SPR TUE PM
          NORTH SPR TUE AM
          NORTH SPR MON PM
          NORTH SPR MON AM
IF3060 Researching Discrimination Core 15 NORTH AUT WED PM
          NORTH AUT WED AM
          NORTH AUT TUE PM
          NORTH AUT MON PM
          NORTH AUT MON AM
          NORTH AUT THU PM
IF3061 Researching Inequality Core 15 NORTH SPR THU AM
          NORTH SPR WED AM
          NORTH SPR TUE AM
          NORTH SPR MON AM
          NORTH SPR THU PM
IF3063 Media, Crime and 'Race' Core 15 NORTH AUT THU AM
          NORTH AUT WED AM
          NORTH AUT TUE PM
          NORTH AUT TUE AM
          NORTH AUT MON PM
          NORTH AUT THU PM
          NORTH AUT MON AM
IF3066 Studying Education: Reflection and Critique Core 15 NORTH SPR FRI AM
IF3073 Interventions for Change Core 15 NORTH SPR THU AM
          NORTH SPR TUE PM
          NORTH SPR TUE AM
          NORTH SPR MON PM
          NORTH SPR MON AM
          NORTH SPR THU PM

Stage 1 Level 03 January start Offered

Code Module title Info Type Credits Location Period Day Time
IF3050 Critical Thinking Core 15        
IF3058 Reflecting on Self and Society Core 15        
IF3059 Social Issues in Context: Text to Essay Core 15 NORTH SPR THU PM
          NORTH SPR THU AM
          NORTH SPR WED AM
          NORTH SPR TUE PM
          NORTH SPR TUE AM
          NORTH SPR MON PM
          NORTH SPR MON AM
IF3060 Researching Discrimination Core 15        
IF3061 Researching Inequality Core 15 NORTH SPR THU PM
          NORTH SPR THU AM
          NORTH SPR WED AM
          NORTH SPR TUE AM
          NORTH SPR MON AM
IF3063 Media, Crime and 'Race' Core 15        
IF3066 Studying Education: Reflection and Critique Core 15 NORTH SPR FRI AM
IF3073 Interventions for Change Core 15 NORTH SPR THU PM
          NORTH SPR THU AM
          NORTH SPR TUE PM
          NORTH SPR TUE AM
          NORTH SPR MON PM
          NORTH SPR MON AM

Stage 2 Level 04 September start Offered

Code Module title Info Type Credits Location Period Day Time
SS4020 The School and the City Core 30 NORTH AUT+SPR THU PM
          NORTH SPR+SUM THU AM
SS4021 Knowledge, Culture and Education Core 30 NORTH AUT+SPR TUE PM
          NORTH SPR+SUM TUE AM
SS4030 Becoming an Educationist: Reading, Writing and ... Core 30 NORTH SPR+SUM TUE PM
          NORTH AUT+SPR TUE AM
SS4033 Making Sense of Education Core 30 NORTH SPR+SUM THU PM
          NORTH AUT+SPR THU AM

Stage 3 Level 05 September start Offered

Code Module title Info Type Credits Location Period Day Time
SS5019 Sociology and the Curriculum Core 30 NORTH AUT+SPR MON PM
SS5020 Psychology of Learning Core 30 NORTH AUT+SPR THU PM
SS5021 Researching Education Core 30 NORTH AUT+SPR MON AM
SS5035 Working in Education: Preparing for Professiona... Alt Core 30        
SS5081 Education: Experiential Learning Alt Core 15 NORTH AUT+SPR THU AM
SS5K70 Becoming a Teacher Option 15 NORTH SPR TUE AM
XK0000 Extension of Knowledge Module Option 15 NORTH SPR NA  
          NORTH AUT NA  

Stage 4 Level 06 September start Offered

Code Module title Info Type Credits Location Period Day Time
SS6P32 Education Studies Dissertation Core 30 NORTH AUT+SPR TUE AM
SS6010 Philosophy of Education Alt Core 30 NORTH AUT+SPR THU AM
SS6011 Inclusion, Education and Equalities Alt Core 30 NORTH AUT+SPR MON AM
SS6012 Educators as Social Pedagogues Alt Core 30 NORTH AUT+SPR WED AM
SS6035 Preparing for QTS: Becoming a teacher Alt Core 30        
SS6080 Gender and Education Option 15 NORTH AUT MON PM
SS6081 Education, Sport and Health in Society Option 15 NORTH SPR MON PM
XK0000 Extension of Knowledge Module Option 15 NORTH SPR NA  
          NORTH AUT NA