BA (Hons) Education with Integrated Foundation Year

Program Overview

This four-year BA (Hons) Education program with an integrated foundation year provides a comprehensive foundation in education, equipping students with the knowledge and skills to excel in the field. Through a diverse range of modules, students explore key theories and concepts in education, learning, and human development. Practical experiences through placements and research projects enhance their understanding, preparing them for various careers in the education sector.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This four-year degree is designed for students who want to build a strong foundation of knowledge and skills before starting their undergraduate studies. It includes an introductory year that helps students develop their academic writing, research, and presentation skills. The course covers a broad range of topics related to education, learning, and thinking in human development. It provides students with a comprehensive overview of key contemporary theories and conceptions surrounding education, allowing them to discover and pursue their specific interests.

Outline:

The course is divided into four years:

Foundation Year:

• Children’s Literature in Education:
This module introduces students to the features of children's literature and its place in the primary classroom. It explores how engaging texts can promote children's language and literacy development.
• Foundation in Knowledge and Skills:
This module helps students develop basic knowledge and skills to support their academic development and improve their confidence in academic writing and reading.

Year One:

• Science in Education and Society:
This module introduces students to the subject, theoretical and pedagogic knowledge, and attitudes related to the learning of science in schools and early years settings. It explores the importance of science in society and educational settings.
• Personal Study in Education:
This module allows students to undertake an independent study into an aspect of education under the guidance of the module coordinator.
• Professional Studies: Learners and Learning:
This module helps students understand how learning is influenced by a diverse range of factors. It focuses on the implications of this on the role of a teacher in areas such as assessment, behavior management, and planning inclusive and adaptive teaching.
• Valuing Individual Differences:
This module develops students' knowledge of atypical development in children and young people. It examines the medical, genetic, and environmental influences on children's development and evaluates theories of child development.

Year Two:

• Arts in Education and Society:
This module engages students with a range of discourses surrounding arts and society and within the processes of teaching and learning. It explores key concepts such as creativity, design, performance, and aesthetics from philosophical, pedagogical, and social perspectives.
• Childhood to Adulthood:
This module develops students' awareness of the biological, intellectual, social, and emotional changes that occur from childhood through to adulthood.
• Equality of Opportunity and Diversity:
This module explores relationships between cultural identity, social policy, and issues of equality and diversity.
• From Bognor to Bogota and Beyond: An Introduction to the UN and SAGs:
This module encourages students to look beyond their immediate surroundings to the wider world and explore how global issues such as those outlined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals have an impact on people across the world.
• Learning Communities – Children Learning, Children Thinking:
This module explores the sociological influences relating to learners' success.

Year Three:

• Global Citizenship: Living and Working in A Diverse and Interconnected World:
This module engages students in critically examining some of the key global issues of our times.
• Humanities in Education and Society:
This module is based on the belief that a broad and balanced curriculum enhances learning and that the humanities play an important part in this.
• Learning From and Within the Community:
This module provides students with an opportunity to investigate a variety of organisations and groups that operate within the local community that have an educational element to their work.
• Research in Education:
This module develops students' understanding of the role and importance of research in the field of education.
• Work-Based Placement (Year 2):
This module broadens students' knowledge of a range of educational contexts and provides insights from beyond the classroom through a placement experience in an education setting of their choice.

Year Four:

• Creativity, Technology and Learning:
This module investigates how innovative technologies can be used in learning and teaching in a wide variety of mainstream and specialist educational settings.
• Special Educational Needs and Disability – Engaging All Learners:
This module teaches students how to plan, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions that contribute to removing barriers to learning.
• Work-Based Placement:
This module broadens students' knowledge of a range of educational contexts and provides insights from beyond the classroom through a placement experience in an education setting of their choice.

Assessment:

The course uses a variety of assessment methods to evaluate students' knowledge, understanding, and skills. These methods include:

• Essays
• Presentations
• Examinations
• Lesson plans
• Lesson commentaries
• Curriculum packs
• Final independent project

Teaching:

The University of Chichester uses a range of teaching methods, including:

• Lectures
• Workshops
• Practical sessions
• Outdoor learning experiences
• Field trips
• Case studies
• Whole group activities
• Sub-group activities

Careers:

Graduates from the BA (Hons) Education with Integrated Foundation Year course can pursue a wide range of careers within the education sector, including:

• Classroom teaching
• Educational administration
• Educational consulting
• Working for local or national government with a focus on public education systems
• Roles within Special Educational Needs
• Students have access to a variety of resources, including a Learning Resource Centre, a library, and subject-specific librarians.
• Students also have the opportunity to participate in placements during the second and third years of the course.
It outlines the course structure, modules, assessments, teaching methods, and career opportunities.