BA (Hons) Education Studies BA (Hons) Education Studies (Early Childhood) BA (Hons) Education Studies (Special and Inclusive Education)

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1 Undergraduate BA (Hons) Education Studies

2 Why study at Winchester? 175 YEARS WORLD-LEADING VALUES-DRIVEN HIGHER EDUCATION The University of Winchester is ranked in the top 4 universities in England for overall satisfaction in the National Student Survey The University of Winchester offers professionally-focused courses which place your future career at the heart of your learning. Our undergraduate teaching is underpinned by innovative research at national, international and world-leading levels of excellence. Our first-class teaching and learning facilities are continually being updated to enhance the student experience. IT provision includes extensive Wi-Fi access, over 750 networked PCs across campus, two 24-hour social learning spaces, a PC Finder service and a Netbook Loan Scheme. There s plenty to get involved in via our award-winning Student Union, offering a diverse and exciting range of extracurricular activities. We also have fantastic sports facilities including the University Gym and Winchester Sports Stadium. The dedicated Careers Service offers impartial information, advice and guidance to help students fully prepare to embark on their chosen careers. Our graduates have a strong track record of finding employment after leaving the University. Winchester also has a dedicated student support team to help you with any key questions or challenges you might experience during your studies. The University offers a generous portfolio of scholarships, bursaries and awards to help fund your studies you may be eligible for more than one. 2

3 It is a daunting and challenging task trying to make the right decision for the next three years of your life. You may not be sure what you want to study, where you want to study or even perhaps whether studying is the right thing for you. We hope you find sufficient information in this programme leaflet to be able to make a reasonable judgment about what life would be like with us if you choose Education Studies, or the Education Studies (Early Childhood) or Education Studies (Special and Inclusive Education) pathways at the University of Winchester. In Education Studies and its pathways at Winchester we offer a vision of higher education which goes beyond the formal curriculum. This means we do not just aim to teach about education, although this is a fundamental aspect of our degree, but also to offer our students an intrinsically higher education. To this end, the intellectual, personal, social and ethical development of our students is at the heart of our programme and, we believe, deserves as much emphasis as becoming a specialist in any particular subject discipline. Putting our vision into practice means first, offering you the chance to challenge your existing ideas about education, society, the world, others and even yourself. Second, it requires lecturers to guide you and support you as you work though some of the most important and challenging thinking in education from the last 2,500 years. Third, it means we believe you are able to succeed beyond your own expectations. Our graduates tell us they leave the degree with a passion for learning, which lasts them well beyond University life. Programme content We explore education in its broadest possible context in Education Studies, Education Studies (Early Childhood) and Education Studies (Special and Inclusive Education) at Winchester. This means we do not only examine educational practice in the context of classroom practice and current policy but also in its historical, sociological, cultural, political and philosophical contexts. Consequently, our programme and its pathways offer you a means of engaging with educational theory from ancient Greece to the present. These perspectives are examined in such ways as to enable you to think deeply not only about developments in If a man neglets education, he walks lame to the end of his life - Plato educational theory, but also about the changes in ideas concerned with family life; appropriate ways about caring for others; our expectations of educational provision; and our ideas about who we are and how we should relate to others in the world. Our programme is fundamentally based in texts and theory there is no required practical component. However, some students select an optional volunteering module in their second year of full time study which allows them to accredit academic reflection on a self-arranged placement. The programme also offers you opportunities to study abroad in Europe under the Erasmus scheme, or in the USA and East Asia. To study education is therefore, at root, to study ourselves. Such study requires us to examine critically many aspects of education through notions such as truth, power and freedom. In Education Studies and its pathways at Winchester we believe the aim of a truly higher education is to create thinking graduates whose inquiring, 1

4 ENTRY REQUIREMENTS critical, informed minds will serve them well, and those around them, in all aspects of their lives. We know excellent teacher/student relationships are the key to motivation, enjoyment and success and to feeling part of a learning community. have had experience of working with children or adults in some capacity within an educational setting, and now wish to deepen your understanding of the theories behind this practice, we believe these programmes will particularly be suitable for you. A range of credits for relevant prior experience and learning are available. Typical offer (single honours): points* Combined Honours programmes enable you to study two subjects jointly (50%/50%) and it is possible to transfer to a Single Honours programme at the end of Year 1. We pride ourselves on the combination of challenge and support we give our students and have consistently been rated very highly by our students in the National Student Survey. What qualifications do I need? We welcome a range of students, from those holding standard A level or A level equivalent qualifications to mature/access students with a variety of subjects and experience. We particularly wish to recruit students who have both an interest in the way which education shapes (and is shaped by) many aspects of modern culture and an intellectual curiosity about the significance of learning for personal growth and development. Previous work in an educational setting or with young children is not a prerequisite for entry onto the programmes. If you Study options We offer Education Studies, Education Studies (Early Childhood) and Education Studies (Special and Inclusive Education) as Single Honours and Combined Honours programmes, as three year undergraduate programmes, or as four year integrated masters programmes. All programmes specialise in analysing how issues of equality, power, citizenship and representation apply to education, both in school and in wider cultural contexts. All programmes allow students to choose modules to suit their own interests in addition to some mandatory modules. Single Honours The Single Honours programme is appropriate for anyone wishing to study indepth theoretical perspectives on modern processes of education and debates about early childhood. Modern, philosophical, If English is not your first language: For undergraduate programmes students are required to have achieved a minimum of IELTS 6.0 (including 6.0 in writing) or equivalent. *Entry requirements correct at time of print. For the most up-to-date entry requirements please visit our website at 2

5 cultural, social, psychological and historical perspectives are all used as analytical tools to help us explore the worlds of education and care. The degree enables all students to interrogate the educational process as a whole and to seek answers to questions about the purpose, value, misuse and difficulties of care, education and learning. The degree offers a rigorous, intellectually challenging, yet very supportive environment which seeks to provide its students with a love of learning and a critical imagination which they can take with them into the future. Combined Honours You may also take Education Studies, Education Studies (Early Childhood) or Education (Special and Inclusive Education) in combination with another subject, where each subject is 50 per cent of the degree. The Combined Honours pathway is particularly appropriate for those intending to take an Early Years, Primary or Secondary PGCE at the end of their degree. It is usual for these students to choose a National Curriculum subject such as History or English or to combine with Theology and Religious Studies as their other field. Others choose to broaden their experience of Higher Education by combining Education Studies with Modern Liberal Arts, or to develop a more vocationally orientated understanding of aspects of practice by combining with Childhood, Youth and Community Studies or Health and Social Care Studies. Please see the University s website for the most up-to-date information on available combinations. Programme content In Year 1, all single honours students undertake the same Education Studies modules. This common foundation year is intended to provide a general level of contextual understanding appropriate for the subsequent study of educational ideas and practice. Years 2 and 3 include mandatory modules which provide the core content and experience for each of the pathways. In addition to these mandatory modules, you are able to choose those modules which best suit your interests and career plans. You may choose to focus on evaluating The aim of education is to enable individuals to continue their education... [and] the object and reward of learning is continued capcity for growth - John Dewey 3

6 current ideas and practice in relation to education. The relevant modules for this choice of pathway deal with many aspects of education and care professions, including government policy; gender and race in relation to education; theories of teaching and learning; the nature of childhood and citizenship; and some philosophy, sociology and history as they relate to educational theory and practice. Other students focus on the theoretical and philosophical study of education. Modules which reflect this focus consider issues in the wider context of education and culture in relation to history, philosophy, and social and political thought. Students on these modules are encouraged to reflect on the importance of education within the themes of modernity, postmodernity, identity and exclusion. These module choices serve well those students who might continue to higher research. The Education Studies pathways have a carefully thought out model of intellectual progression. At Year 1 we ask you to reflect upon your own educational experiences, to compare them with those of others and to comment on how they have influenced or MODULES Year 1 Educators and Schooling Educators and Society Principles of Inclusive Education 1944 and 1988: The Education Acts Reflections on Autobiography Political Perspectives on Education Learning from the Renaissance Introduction to Early Childhood Year 2 Education: Social and Political Thought Education: Ethics and Political Thought Theorising Early Childhood What is a Child? Thinking the Holocaust Women, Power and Education Theorising Inclusive Education Theorising Education and Ecology Impairments, Disability and Inclusion Theorising Progressive Education Thinking about Race Education and Isolation Knowing Through Observation Power of the Teacher Constructing Identity - teachers lives and pupils stories Global and Comparative Education Volunteering Year 3 Research Project Loss of Childhood Current Issues in Education The Inclusive Educator Construction of Gender Roles in Education Constructing the Other Holocaust Education Early Years Education Philosophy of the Teacher Democracy and Education Imagining Alternatives to Exclusion in and from Education Educating the Teenage Consumer Psychoanalytic Ideas and Schooling Marxisms and Schooling The Natural Universe and Ecology 4

7 affected you. We provide various contexts in which these discussions can take place. At Year 2 we ask you to engage with many philosophical, political and cultural perspectives in order to understand and be able to explain theories of education and society. We see Year 2 as a vital building block in developing a more informed, thoughtful and authoritative student voice. This voice begins to emerge in Year 3, when the newly acquired knowledge of theoretical perspectives is applied as critique in the real world. Integrated masters At the end of three years, many students feel that they have not finished exploring particular ideas or theories. In order to meet this demand and to provide a stepping stone for those wishing to move into further postgraduate study such a PhD, we offer an additional integrated fourth year. This provides credits towards a full masters and can be topped up through additional later study. Learning and teaching The programmes are offered as a means to gain an intellectually satisfying grasp of the education of learners of all ages and the care of the very young. We believe with this intellectual background you will be in a far stronger position to be valued as an individual within educational institutions. We use a variety of teaching methods and try to listen and respond effectively to student comments. Teaching may be didactic, discussion-based or led by student presentation. This is accompanied by intellectual rigour in all forms of student work (essay, presentation, discussion). On all of our modules you will be expected to read widely, to reflect and comment on your reading and to express your ideas clearly and persuasively, both orally and in writing. Assessment Our assessment methods vary and in Year 1 you will be introduced to the variety of assessments we use in Education Studies/ Education Studies (Early Childhood) and Education Studies (Special and Inclusive Education). These include essays, presentations and symposia. In Years 2 and 3, because of the wide availability of choice over your modules, it is possible for you to choose modules which use assessment methods with which you enjoy the most success, but the emphasis remains on essays. 5

8 Our former students confirm that the skills they learnt on the programme are relevant and transfer effectively to the world of work and further study. Career opportunities Education, both in theory and practice, is fundamentally about the care and development of others, and many of our graduates are employed or seek employment in professions which involve care and service. Such graduates have entered a range of employment, including lecturer in higher education; work for charities and NGOs; management consultancy; accountancy; support for vulnerable children and adults; social services officer; probation officer; prison education officer; dyslexia support in higher education; children s publishing; work for toy companies. We have a growing number of graduates who, having completed a PGCE after their degree are now teaching in nursery, primary and secondary schools, and a small number of students who go on to study for higher degrees at both masters and doctoral level. The Education Studies programme does not provide any form of classroom training, and we do not aim to pre-empt the technical development that a PGCE offers. Education Studies explores the ethical and vocational dimensions of teaching, care and schooling, and we encourage you to enter the education professions having thought through an educational philosophy which can most effectively combine your strengths with the needs of the children or students in your care. Underpinning our approach is the view that teachers should first be learners, as only then from this foundation can they pass on a love of learning to others. Education Studies has a dedicated member of staff with special responsibility for helping students to develop their employability skills, as we want to ensure that, whatever choices you make in the future, you can use the transferable skills that the degree offers to your best advantage. The Education Studies tutors work very closely together, both in the production of modules and in the support of students. One of our strongest beliefs is that good relationships between students and tutors are the key to educational success. If you would be real seeker after truth, its is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things. - Rene Descartes 6

9 Quotations from students The Education Studies degree is truly inspirational that at times will leave you breathless, not just because of the sometimes incredibly difficult texts you are reading, but mainly because you will be amazed at what you can achieve. The staff team are extremely supportive with an open door policy who will guide you through the work when you are finding it difficult or help you to push yourself to the next leve. Debbie Openshaw, graduated Completing my degree in Education Studies has been the most rewarding and enjoyable experience of my life so far. Writing essays or completing the reading for lectures was never a chore and was relevant to not just my future career within education but my life in general. The course content enabled me to reflect and gain a deeper understanding of education and society in general, whilst being challenging and stimulating enough to provide me with a real sense of achievement. The support and understanding available to students from staff is amazing throughout and I never at any point felt alone or out of my depth. I feel when all these elements are put together Education Studies has enabled me to be not just an excellent, reflective and confident teacher but a well rounded and understanding individual. I started this course with the firm belief that it provided a means to an end but have left knowing it was just the beginning. Victoria Dewey, graduated Education studies has enabled me to practically use in the classroom what I have learnt through my studies. Having now completed my PGCE and the Education Studies course I can reflect on education in its widest sense and understand not only how, but why education is what it is. Education Studies is a very relevant course for the educators of tomorrow. Siobhan Young, graduated 2013 My time on my Education Studies degree has been better that I ever thought it would be. I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the course. I have had tears, tantrums and ear to ear smiles all caused by the work that I have produced and the challenges the lecturers provide. It has changed how I think about life, and thanks to this course I have changed my life goals. I started it as a means to be a teacher and nothing more, but the ideas and theory provided entwined with the amazing lecturers and support that is available has made me determined to carry on. I am now going on to do my masters degree in modern liberal arts, with the goal to push myself with my new love for academia. I would encourage any future student who was unsure about this course to give it a good go. Back in 2011 I was a nervous, unsure new student and now I am a confident learner who doesn t want to stop! Rebecca Way, graduated

10 Teaching team Dr Shaun Best s research and teaching interests are in the areas of identity, biography and social theory. Diana Sousa s research interests include lifelong and comparative education, education and democracy and early childhood education. Contact us Dr Simon Boxley Programme Leader Simon.Boxley@winchester.ac.uk Dr Emile Bojesen has particular interests in philosophies of democracies and communication, education and literature. Dr Simon Boxley is the Programme Leader for Education Studies programmes and undertakes research in the relationship between ecology and education, educational policy and politics, and race and ethnicity in education Dr Alexis Gibbs research interests are in educational theory, higher education, and dialogue Dr Marie Morgan s research and teaching areas are in Philosophy, Holocaust Studies and Higher Education. Dr Jaclyn Murray s research centres on cultural diversity and identity formation in early childhood education with a strong focus on social justice, and she leads the Early Childhood pathway Dr Stephanie Spencer is Head of Department. She specialises in history of education, gender and education and oral history. Dr Caroline Stockman research interests include technology and employability. She Is the Employability Project Manager for Education Studies Dr Wayne Veck researches in the area of Inclusive Education, and leads the special and Inclusive Education Pathway The teaching team is supported by Catherine Christensen, the Programme Administrator, who provides the first point of contact for student enquiries about the programme. Catherine Christensen Programme Administrator Catherine.Christensen@winchester.ac.uk Course Enquiries and Applications Telephone: +44 (0) course.enquiries@winchester.ac.uk 8

11 Visit us Open Days are a great opportunity to explore our attractive, modern campus you can attend course talks, speak to staff and current students, take a tour and discover what student life at Winchester is all about. Find out about the support available to enhance your learning and welfare Get advice about future career options and boosting your employability during your studies Meet the staff who will be teaching you and attend talks on the courses you are interested in Talk to Student Ambassadors and find out what it is really like to study at Winchester Take a tour of the campus, including the student accommodation, the city and the University s Winchester Sports Stadium Find out about student finance including tuition fees, student loans and the University s range of generous scholarships, awards and bursaries Book your place If you are unable to come to an Open Day Campus Tours explore our campus with one of our Student Ambassadors Self-guided Audio Tours - visit our Main Reception to collect an MP3 player and map to take a self-guided tour of our campus Virtual Open Days you are guided through the University of Winchester via a range of short films which you can view on your computer, tablet or smartphone Open Days team T: +44 (0) E: opendays@winchester.ac.uk W:

12 Finding out more... Course Enquiries and Applications Telephone: +44 (0) The University of Winchester Winchester Hampshire S022 4NR /8/15 a large print version of this booklet is available on request