About this course
- Entry year: 2012/13
- Course code: X310
- Applications: UCAS
- Level: Undergraduate
- Tariff points: Normally 280 minimum
- Department: Education
- Campus: Frenchay
- Duration: Three years full-time
- Delivery: Part-time, Full-time
- Study Abroad: Yes
- Programme leader: Jane Andrews
Introduction
This programme explores education policy and practice together with learning in a range of formal and informal settings, with a particular emphasis on young children and childhood. You will learn about different professions within the education and lifelong learning sectors, including teaching but not exclusively focusing on schools or early years settings as learning environments.
Education is concerned with understanding how people develop and learn throughout their lives and this course will equip you with a critical awareness of the social and political processes of education in the UK and around the world. Early Childhood offers an exploration of issues regarding provision for early childhood, focusing on children aged 0-8.
Find out more about what Studies in Childhood and Education at UWE has to offer in terms of teaching quality, staff expertise and your student experience.
Structure
Content
Education modules include a focus on: education policy and practice; education for sustainable development; disability, special educational needs and inclusion; creativity, arts and community in education; languages, literacies and learning.
Early Childhood modules include a focus on: perspectives on play; child development including children's conceptual and linguistic development; children's symbolic representation; technological and commercial impacts on children.
In your second year you will have an opportunity to explore a range of professional roles in working with learners in a range of educational settings and in your final year you will have the opportunity to research and write a dissertation on an educational topic of your choice.
Teaching and learning
We use a variety of methods of teaching including formal lectures, seminars and workshops, tutor and student-led study groups, and one-to-one tutorials. All students are expected to learn both in groups and independently, as well as through the effective use of on-line resources - as these help to develop important graduate skills. We will provide you with all the support and assistance you need and actively encourage you to learn effectively in a variety of ways.
Graduate Development Programme
We regard it a high priority that you gain good, graduate level employment on completion of your university studies. We aim for our students to be employable by schools and related educational settings. We support our students through the Graduate Development Programme system of personal and academic development. For GDP you will work in small groups with a tutor, the seminars are student initiated and cover all aspects necessary for successful progress through university.
GDP (Graduate Development Programme) and work related experience
We expect each of our students taking Education studies to undertake voluntary work placements with young people. The Community Volunteer Programme (CVP) operated by the University can help you with this if necessary. Students on Education Studies 3 plus 1 and looking to move onto a PGCE are strongly advised to get experience in a primary classroom particularly in their final year.
GDP and key skills
The key skills are a set of attributes that are highly valued by employers and developed through your study and participation in university life. They are:
- Interpersonal skills
- Problem solving skills
- Team working skills
- Independent working skills
Communication
We regard it as extremely important to develop your confidence as a public speaker and nearly all modules expect you to research arguments and present them both formally and informally in seminars or assessments.
Numeracy
Numeracy can be developed through modules such as Researching Education and Maths, Culture and Cognition that require you to develop critical reading skills for statistics.
IT
You will also develop good IT skills. IT is embedded in almost everything you do. You will look on the web to find your timetable or exam results. You will learn through our state of the art virtual learning environment, and you will use often quite advanced IT based presentation skills in some of your assessments.
Learning to Learn
We will work with you to develop your study skills and make you a fully independent learner. Such an attribute is highly valued by employers seeking self-motivated staff with the initiative to get things done.
Working with Others
You will work with others throughout your course. Our approach is known as 'blended learning'. That means that you will sometimes work on your own via web based materials, but also that you will engage with web-based materials in the company of others. There is no substitute for personal contact through group work and you should be able to demonstrate a wide range of interpersonal skills through collaborative project work.
Work in GDP will be an essential tool in recording your achievements and you should be able to draw on it in constructing your CV and writing applications for employment or further study.
Find out more about our academic staff, their teaching expertise and research interests.
Assessment
We use a range of assessment types, including oral and poster presentations, and written assignments, some of which are written under exam conditions.
Special Features
Placements
Many of our students want to work with children and young people, either as teachers or in other ways. We expect each of our students to undertake voluntary work placements with children and young people. UWE's Community Volunteer Programme (CVP) will help you find a suitable placement and you will keep a record of your experience and achievements. This is valuable experience for employability. The programme will also include modules that support you in undertaking some work-based learning. Criminal Records Bureau clearance will be a requirement of modules in the programme that include a placement where the placement involves working with children and vulnerable adults.
Depending on the availability of suitable academic agreements with partner universities, you may be able to apply for a period of study abroad during your second year.
Careers/further study
The course will be attractive to those interested in all forms of education, training, communication and human development and can lead to a variety of career options, including teaching in primary schools for those candidates who apply to do a PGCE.
Other linked careers include training and consultancy, careers guidance, learning support, youth and community work, local government and educational administration, health promotion, human resource management, library and information management, heritage industries, play work, speech and play therapy, social work, management in a day care setting, and educational research.
With the cost of Higher Education increasing, making the decision to study at university can seem daunting. But we believe it can greatly benefit you by enhancing your skills and improving your job prospects, in addition to being a worthwhile experience in its own right.
Supported Pathway to Teaching
This course contains within it a supported pathway for those interested in postgraduate study for teaching in Primary Education (5-11) that will support you in making a strong application for a PGCE. Provided you achieve a good 2.1 degree, can demonstrate suitability for teaching and make an early application we will give you prior consideration for progression to available places on the PGCE Primary Education programme (5-11) at UWE.
For those interested specifically in teaching in the Early Years we recommend that you follow the single degree programme BA (Hons) Early Childhood.
Graduate destinations
Find out what our graduates are doing six months after graduating- includes examples of careers, employers and further study. Download a PDF from graduate destinations.
Key employer partnerships
UWE highly values its long standing partnerships with some 400 secondary, further education, primary and early year settings across the South West and beyond and welcomes applications from new partnership schools and colleges. Partnership with UWE offers schools, colleges and early years settings the opportunity to play a major part in training the next generation of teachers and to gain support for existing teachers in professional development.  Additionally, working with trainees, in partnership with the University, can have a positive impact on pupils' learning.
Creating employable students
UWE places strong emphasis on employability and skills development at every level. Through work placements, volunteering, study abroad and UWE initiatives which nurture talent and encourage innovation, students gain valuable real world experience and graduate with diverse career opportunities and a competitive place in the job market.
See great graduate prospects for further information.
Be inspired
Read how Madeleine worked part time as a nanny alongside her studies.
Useful links
UWE - careers in education and teaching
Prospects - careers in teaching and education
The UWE careers service provides guidance and support throughout your studies in addition to useful resources, CV checks, career coaching and details of current job vacancies.
Entry
Typical offers
Entry requirements
For those considering this degree as a route into Primary teaching you would be recommended to have GCSEs or equivalent qualifications in English Language (grade C), maths (grade C) and single or double science (grade C), plus normally grade B at A level or equivalent in a Primary National Curriculum Subject (Foundation and Core).
How to apply
Please see the general information about applications.
For further information
Page last updated 14 December 2011