UDEDUSTU - BA Education Studies

Education Studies 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 for many students the next step will be a move into teaching by attaining Qualified Teacher Status; however, there is a growing diversity of educational roles in people-related professions and their associated work settings. We recognise this through a commitment to the development of educators, broadly conceived, and as a complement to those pursuing QTS, we seek 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. Drawing upon, inter alia, history, philosophy, sociology, pedagogics, ICT/digital media and cultural studies, the degree seeks through a multidisciplinary appraisal of theory, critical enquiry and reflective engagement with practice to offer students an interdisciplinary synthesis affording a firm platform for further professional education and personal development. Education Studies 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.

The course aims are:

• To educate students for employment as critical professionals within educational and other cognate settings;
• To encourage students to explore policy, practice and the construction of knowledge institutions 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 competences 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.

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

On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

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

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

3. Describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in Education Studies, 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 Studies);

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.

SS4030
SS4031
SS4032
SS4033

AE4017
AE4018
AE4019
AE4020

SS4004
SS4007
SH4000
AE4017
SS5030
SS5031
SS5034
SS5081
SS5077
SS5K70

SS6P32
SS6031
SS6033
SS603X
SS6073
SS6080

Learning Outcomes cover LO1-9

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Pages/Subject-benchmark-statement-Education-studies.aspx

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.

The course offers opportunity for experiential learning at Level 5 in the form of practical work experience in an educational institution or organisation and through the mentoring of newcomers on the Education programme. There are further opportunities for students to undertake work-based learning at both Level 5 and Level 6 through Extension of Knowledge modules. Our global connections enable additional opportunities, e.g. the possibility to join study abroad programs.

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.’

For the purposes of the Level 4 January entry this will read:
‘All undergraduate courses shall be based on a teaching year comprising 24 weeks of formal scheduled teaching augmented, where appropriate, by a summer studies period.’

SS4030 Becoming and Educationist: reading, writing and enquiry
SS4019 Knowledge, Culture and Technics
SS4032 Education and Encounter in the Global City
SS4033 Making Sense of Education
SS5030 Knowledge, Ideologies and Curricula
SS5031 Qualitative Educational Research in Theory and Practice
SS5034 Education Policy in Historical and Social Contexts
SS5081 Education: Experiential Learning (alt core)
SS6P32 Education Studies Dissertation
SS6031 Social Pedagogies and the Public Intellectual
SS6010 Philosophy and Education (alt core)
SS6011 Inclusion, Education and Inequalities (alt core)

Reflective learning/personal development as core values underpinning effective and professional educational practice shoot through the course, from Level 4 up 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 that help students develop and strengthen core competencies;
• Activities build 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.

Education Studies offers 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.

The Education Studies BA equips you with skills, knowledge and understanding to take on socially responsible roles as a critical professional in a range of settings, including primary teaching, youth and community work, and community education, support and development.

This degree takes you one step closer to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) for primary teaching gained through a subsequent application for an Early Years Teaching PGCE or Primary PGCE.

Graduates not entering teaching have found employment in careers and guidance, arts management, educational research by PhD and as academic colleagues at London Met and other institutions.

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

• a minimum of grades BBC in three A levels (or a minimum of 112 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification)
• GCSE English at grade C/grade 4 or above (or equivalent)

Applications are welcome from mature students who have passed appropriate Access or other preparatory courses or have appropriate work experience.

We welcome applications from mature students who wish to develop career options related to education, teaching or community-based action and we can offer accreditation for prior experience/education.

If you don’t have traditional qualifications or can’t meet the entry requirements for this undergraduate degree, you may still be able to gain entry by completing the Education Studies Extended Degree (including Foundation Year) BA (Hons).

All applicants must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. Applicants who require a Tier 4 student visa may need to provide a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.