Why study this course?

This BA degree in Education tackles the big questions in education, as seen through sociological, historical, philosophical and psychological lenses. This course can lead to a wide variety of career choices or further academic study.

Interested in finding out more? Sign up for one of our information events – online or in person – a chance to meet the tutors and get your questions answered. See below.

More about this course

This degree will provide you with an excellent foundation for a career in a wide range of education related areas. It will give you insight into education theory and concepts that will allow you to consider the subject as a political and a philosophical activity. 

The teaching will be conducted by experienced lecturers who formerly worked as teachers or managers in schools. They will encourage you to take an active role in current debates on child education from the perspective of several disciplines, including philosophy and sociology. They are also ideally placed to give you an insight into the possibilities of a teaching career and the many options available to you after graduation.

As a graduate of the Education BA you'll be part of a community of professional and experienced educators, all willing to support you in your personal and professional development. 

Assessment

Assessments in Year 1 will be varied to allow you to become accustomed to different academic practices and literacies, including digital literacy.

In Years 2 and 3 you'll focus on coursework through drafts, plans, full essays and presentations, leading up to a longer dissertation in Year 3.

Fees and key information

Course type
Undergraduate
UCAS code X301
Entry requirements View
Apply now

Entry requirements

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)
  • English Language GCSE at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent)

An enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check is required for any school placement in year 2/3.

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 our Education (including foundation year) BSc (Hons) degree.

Accelerated study

Demonstration of prior learning or prior certification may be used towards our postgraduate qualifications and you will be offered support to seek the accreditation of your prior learning (APL) where this is appropriate.

Accreditation of Prior Learning

Any university-level qualifications or relevant experience you gain prior to starting university could count towards your course at London Met. Find out more about applying for Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL).

English language requirements

To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. This course requires you to meet our standard requirements.

If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.

Modular structure

The modules listed below are for the academic year 2023/24 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.

Year 1 modules include:

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Tuesday morning
  • all year (January start) - Tuesday afternoon

The module provides orientation to study in HE with reference to Education Studies. It focuses on transferable skills including those of reading, writing and oral communication as well as those of digital literacy while also providing an introduction to the theoretical underpinnings and methods of qualitative educational research.

This module aims to:
• Introduce students the conventions of academia and academic study;
• Support students with a range of transferable skills including writing, reading and oral communication as well as digital literacy;
• Encourage students to use academic discourse with confidence and familiarise themselves with academic literature;
• Introduce students to educational research and support them with conducting a small-scale qualitative research project.

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Tuesday afternoon
  • all year (January start) - Tuesday morning

This module will introduce you to various ideas and theories about the role education plays in society. It will ask you to think about the meaning and purpose of education in the light of these ideas. In particular we will focus upon questions about the transmission of knowledge and culture. And we will ask what the relation between knowledge, culture and education should be, especially in our own rapidly changing, highly technological, multi-cultural society.

The module aims:
● To introduce you to the study of education as a social phenomenon and encourage you to question its role in contemporary society
● To examine critically the idea of culture and the role it plays in social and educational theory
● To analyse what we mean by knowledge and to explore the ways in which it gets established
● To study the historical impact of various developments in the representation, storage and transmission of knowledge, such as writing and number systems, printing, and digital media
● To reflect upon the future of education in the 21st century given the rapid advances in IT, AI and robotics as well as the environmental challenges facing humanity

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Thursday morning
  • all year (January start) - Thursday afternoon

The module provides an introduction to Education Studies. In doing so it draw on a wide range of intellectual resources, theoretical perspectives and academic disciplines to illuminate understanding of education and the contexts within which it takes place. It also provides an introduction to potential career pathways using Education Studies experiences and qualification.

The module aims to
• Introduce students to the subject discipline;
• To provide an overview of some of the major issues and debates in the development of English education and encourage students to critically engage with these with regard to social justice in education;
• Present a range of theoretical perspectives which can be used to describe and analyse the education system;
• Provide a sound foundation for self reflection in relation to career choice and employability
• To offer students a context within which to develop the practices of reading, of dialogue and of reflective writing required in higher education.

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Thursday afternoon
  • all year (January start) - Thursday morning

The module encourages students to reflect on their own identities and educational possibilities and limitations in urban contexts. Students will engage with key reading and relevant theories to support this exploration. Students will look at how the urban environment can be used as a resource for educational enquiry, particularly concepts of borders, boundaries, place and space and how these influence the social reality of the city. The module explores how education and policy in the urban environment impacts on social class, ethnicity, gender, race, language and multilingualism. Further, it investigates formal and informal learning in a variety of urban educational contexts. Throughout the module, students will develop their critical reading and writing skills and improve their oral skills in presentations and seminars.

Year 2 modules include:

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Thursday morning

This module enables students to undertake a period of work-based learning in relation to their course at Level 5 within an appropriate educational institution or organisation and to gain credit for that learning. Students have the opportunity to apply, to test and to extend the knowledge that they have gained at all levels of their course. In doing so, students are able to enhance and extend their understanding of professional educational practice.
Students unable to take up a work placement can take the peer mentoring opportunity and gain an insight into mentoring, coaching and supervision together with opportunities to apply their learning to support new C-level students on the course. This represents an important first step that will allow students to build mentoring processes as a component into their subsequent professional lives or to open up a specific career path.

The module aims to give students the opportunity to:
• Apply their prior learning in an appropriate work environment;
• Relate specific knowledge (theoretical perspectives, ethics, policy and practice understanding) to the work or mentoring environment;
• Consider professional practice and pedagogies in specific real-life situations;
• Recognize how their work relates to wider educational and social discourses;
• Enhance their professional and personal development.

Note: Students are expected to find and organise their own placement in an educational setting where they get insight into professional teaching and learning practice. This is very likely to involve a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Thursday afternoon

The main focus of research into education has traditionally utilised socio-political methodologies and perspectives on educational issues, tracing their problems and solutions to structural features of society. In the process, that element of human nature at which the educational project is primarily directed – the psyche, mind or brain – and the contribution that its systematic nurture might make to improve educational outcomes, has been largely overlooked. Yet rational knowledge of and research into the psyche / mind / brain, its learning processes, capacities and limits, can greatly improve education policy as well as teaching practice.

In recent years, there has been a recent resurgence of interest in the nature of the mind / brain and its relevance to learning. This module aims to draw upon this resurgence in order to diversify the range of approaches traditionally offered to students of Education Studies. It will be of use to students covering both academic and practical pathways within Education Studies, insofar as the module investigates theoretical paradigms of the mind and their relevance to learning, while also inviting students to investigate their potential to resolve real-world, concrete situations encountered by policymakers and teachers.

The module aims to:

• Provide students with an historical overview of studies of the mind / psyche / brain since the nineteenth-century up to the present
• Introduce students to various paradigms of the mind from psychology and neuroscience and their potential contribution to learning
• Critically investigate and evaluate the potential contribution that models of the mind / brain developed by psychologists and neuroscientists can make to guiding decisions concerning education policy and the planning of teaching and learning

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Monday morning

This module aims to provide students with the appropriate theoretical and methodological research knowledge and skills to develop a pilot research study as foundation for thinking about their Final Year Dissertation.
Students will be introduced to influential examples of different types of educational research. Students will learn to identify and analyse the different aspects of the research studies.

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Monday afternoon

The module aims to:
● Critically explore the curriculum as a symptom of the purpose of schooling
● Introduce students to theories within the sociology of knowledge in relation to concerns about whether school curricula convey knowledge or ideology
● Identify and analyse competing ideological positions surrounding current curriculum debates
● Consider the nature and purpose of individual subjects within the National Curriculum

This module currently runs:
  • spring semester - Tuesday morning

This module introduces students to teaching and how to acquire Qualified Teacher Status. It examines professional practice and career and organizational norms across a range of sectors as well as lines of career development. It examines the place of education and teachers in professional networks as well as some of the challenges that attend this. The module situates these discussions within a critical framework and offers an introduction to historical and sociological accounts of teachers’ lives and to meanings attached to professionalism as both practice and social status thereby proposing the idea of teaching as a community of practice.

The module aims:
• To prepare students with a fund of knowledge and critical understanding in advance of making important career decisions;
• To introduce the structures and career development pathways for teachers working across a range of educational sectors and institutions;
• To introduce historical and sociological readings of teachers’ lives, beliefs and aspirations and to examine how teachers narrate and lend meaning to their careers;
• To explore teaching as a community of practice;
• To examine diverse notions of professionalism and their implications for institutional and workplace realities.

Note: The module is offered as an Extension of Knowledge and hence attracts students from across the University.

Year 3 modules include:

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Tuesday morning

This module provides students with the opportunity to conduct a small-scale qualitative research investigation and to develop skills of independent enquiry.

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Wednesday morning

This module reflects on the meaning, purposes and role of the educator in democratic societies. It explores notions of social pedagogy and ideas around the role of a public intellectual. It considers value settings for the educator and for education and seeks to help students develop a personal philosophy of education.
The module aims to:

● Examine a number of important approaches to understanding the role of the educator and professionalism in democratic societies, including theoretical contributions from a reading of social pedagogy, citizenship education and the meaning of the public intellectual;
● Familiarise students with complementary and competing conceptions drawn from theorists such as Freire and Dewey as well as work on leadership, management and professionalism;
● Critically examine the characteristics, aspirations and convictions of the educational workforce and ideological constructions of the educator.

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Monday morning

Module description:
The module will introduce students to academic debates around social justice and inclusion as philosophical notions and as practical realms of education. The module will encourage students to engage academically, critically and reflectively with the different interpretations of inclusion and equalities that emerge from inclusion studies, inclusion policies and political discourses around inclusion. The module develops a historical and analytical understanding of aspects of past and current policy in relation to inclusion and inclusive education. It will draw upon formal areas of inclusive studies and social justice, and educational academic research.
The module aims:
1. To enable students to apply theory to interpret debates around inclusion, inclusive education and inclusive practices in society;
2. To highlight debates around inclusion and exclusion in educational discourse, inclusive policy and theory;
3. To explore the many interpretations and definitions around inclusion and equalities and analyse how they are embedded in education
4. To examine the relationship between educational and social structures with reference to issues of inclusion, social exclusion and social justice;
5. To explore academic educational research around inclusion and inclusion policy to critically engage with current debates around inclusions and exclusions in education

This module currently runs:
  • all year (September start) - Thursday morning

• To introduce students to the history of philosophy from the Greeks to the 20th century, by way of the contribution they have made to issues within education

• To lead students to appreciate the relevance of philosophical arguments and theories to questions about the nature, methods and aims of education;

• To enable students to explore the theories of the systematic relationship between ideas concerning human nature, human development and the sources of knowledge, and education through curricula and pedagogies

• To encourage students to develop their skills of analysis and criticism by philosophising alongside and against key figures in the history of philosophy.

• To encourage students to understand the relevance of philosophical debates within the philosophy of mind, epistemology and value theory to issues related to the teacher’s task of teaching and the learner’s task of learning

This module currently runs:
  • autumn semester - Monday afternoon

Module description:

The module will encourage academic debate around gender issues and gender theory and education as hallmarks of urban education and its theorisation; these debates will emanate from and be stimulated by empirical encounter and the reading of current educational academic research. It will draw upon formal areas of gender studies, feminist theory, sociology of education, gender philosophy, educational academic research and cultural studies and the theorisation, metaphors and methodologies of enquiry they contribute to the interpretation and understanding of gender in education.

The module aims:

• To enable students to apply theory to interpret research data and contexts
• To explore the impact of gendered- and hetero-normativities in education institutions and practices
• To highlight the historicity of gender within educational discourse and practice
• To examine the relationship between educational and social structures with reference to gender
• To explore methodological approaches to researching gender issues and social transformation across all sectors, including Higher Education
• To develop analytical and interpretive skills around empirical studies into gender studies by reading academic educational research around gender
• To introduce and reinforce the importance of educational research and autobiography in exploring the construction of gender and gendered relations within education

Module Aims:
• to offer an historical perspective upon the relationship between sport, education and society;
• to encourage a critical examination of the relationship between play, games and sport and their respective relations to educational ideologies;
• to explore current controversial dimensions to sport in education and in schools, the community, and wider society;
• to become familiar with recent initiatives from government and sporting bodies to regenerate sport in schools and offer a critical perspective on them;
• to attempt a critical evaluation of sport and its place in contemporary education with a view to its regeneration as a core aspect of educational practice and purpose.

Where this course can take you

Education graduates have gone on to careers as teaching assistants, support workers and teachers in nurseries, primary and secondary schools.

Continuing your studies with us

The School of Social Professions has a wide range of exciting industry-linked programmes available on a full-time and part-time basis in education, health, social and community work. The following courses would be ideal for progression into postgraduate study:

If you've already studied your undergraduate degree with us, as a graduate of London Met, you'll be entitled to a 20% discount on any further study with us.

Additional costs

Please note, in addition to the tuition fee there may be additional costs for things like equipment, materials, printing, textbooks, trips or professional body fees.

Additionally, there may be other activities that are not formally part of your course and not required to complete your course, but which you may find helpful (for example, optional field trips). The costs of these are additional to your tuition fee and the fees set out above and will be notified when the activity is being arranged.

Discover Uni – key statistics about this course

Discover Uni is an official source of information about university and college courses across the UK. The widget below draws data from the corresponding course on the Discover Uni website, which is compiled from national surveys and data collected from universities and colleges. If a course is taught both full-time and part-time, information for each mode of study will be displayed here.

How to apply

If you're a UK applicant wanting to study full-time starting in September, you must apply via UCAS unless otherwise specified. If you're an international applicant wanting to study full-time, you can choose to apply via UCAS or directly to the University.

If you're applying for part-time study, you should apply directly to the University. If you require a Student visa, please be aware that you will not be able to study as a part-time student at undergraduate level.



When to apply

The University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) accepts applications for full-time courses starting in September from one year before the start of the course. Our UCAS institution code is L68.

If you will be applying direct to the University you are advised to apply as early as possible as we will only be able to consider your application if there are places available on the course.

To find out when teaching for this degree will begin, as well as welcome week and any induction activities, view our academic term dates.

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