Education Studies - BA (Hons)

This module is an introduction to carrying out research projects. As well as developing your understanding of key aspects of research in education, this module will also prepare you for your final research project at Level 6. The module will take you through the key stages in designing a piece of research, including conducting a literature review, deciding on appropriate research methods, and considering ethical considerations in research. To this end the module will feature input from a range of different staff members, drawing from the breadth and depth of research experience in the School of Education and Social Work.

This module will require you to organise a work-based experience (for at least 8 weeks) in one educational setting of your choice. You will be prepared for placement by your tutor and supported by them during your time on placement.

The work-based placement experience will be a context in which to examine educational practices and roles. It will provide the context for an introduction to practice-based research. You will gain direct experience of educational practices through your placement and use your e-portfolio to reflect critically on the experiences and issues raised during your placement.

This module will start with an exploration of comparative education and the skills of making comparisons. We then consider different models of globalisation, including world-systems theory and post-colonial theory. We consider issues of international law and agreements, institutional and non-institutional responses to inequality in education, aid and development and cultural variations.

This module is designed to develop your understanding of the education system and its structures in England. It has as its central theme the changing relationship between the state, compulsory education and its users through the relationship between the UK political system and the UK education system. 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.

This module offers a critical and challenging introduction to special educational needs in the context of contemporary understandings of inclusion and diversity in education. It will cover topics such as: historical perspectives on inclusive education; social models of disability, and developing inclusive practices in education.

This module explores how curriculum development is not carried out in isolation from other educational activities but is part of an iterative, developmental implementation and review cycle in all educational settings. The module will encourage you to explore aspects of curriculum development, including content, objectives, processes and assessment. You will also review a number of case studies such as the large-scale curricular reform required to implement the National Curriculum for state education in England and Wales, and the history around alternative educational curriculum approaches such as Steiner or Montessori in Early Years.

In line with the philosophy and aims of the course, this Level 6 module enables and supports you, as a member of the research community, to conduct a piece of small-scale individual research that attends and adheres to key ethical principles. This module encourages you to engage in independent as well as collaborative critical analysis of contemporary issues and debates in relevant research, policy and practice. You will be provided with an opportunity to clarify your understanding of key research terms, as well as to consider the link between epistemology, methodology and methods and the impact that your own personal philosophies have upon the design of your study.

This module will help you to critically evaluate how and why different education practices and policies develop in the ways they do. Education is highly political and through this module we will examine the politics of decision-making around educational policies and government initiatives. The module will help you to understand the thinking behind these policies and initiatives in addition to discussing who is making the decisions about education, both formally and informally, across all sectors in the UK educational landscape.

From a broad interdisciplinary perspective, this module will explore the ways in which intersecting power relations and changing identity formations around demographic categories impact on and inform educational settings. Demographic categories include gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, age, class, profession and nationality. These categories will inevitably impact all those affected by the education sector, whether directly or indirectly, such as pupils, students, teachers, lecturers, managers and policy-makers. The importance of education to identify work, institutionally, professionally and personally, will be explored and debated throughout the module.

This module extends your understanding of the function and effects of education through the study of a range of perspectives such as critical theory, structuralism, post-structuralism, Critical Race Theory and feminism. You will examine the relationship between teaching and learning by applying the theoretical perspectives studied. In particular, you will be encouraged to consider how these different perspectives can be integrated in a critical analysis of education in a case study, based in an educational setting of your choice.

This module seeks to stimulate debate about the changing nature of society as it is currently and as might be predicted in the future, and particularly as it affects education. You will explore the different sectors in education and examine how they are responding to contemporary social changes. These changes might include: the changing demands of employment; joblessness and training; working in emergent communities; teaching with digital communication and social media; the political economy; urban questions, and demographic changes, all of which have major implications for education. In particular it will focus on how education itself is changing and likely to change in the future.