Why study this course?
Our Education (including foundation year) BA degree will open opportunities for you to enter education. Our four-year course is the perfect route into a career in education if you can’t meet the necessary entry requirements or don't have the traditional qualifications required to start a standard undergraduate degree. You’ll graduate with the same degree title and award as students on the traditional route.
On the course you’ll have tutors and academic mentors who will support you to achieve your educational goals and identify your strengths. Offering great flexibility by the end of your foundation year, we’ll provide you with opportunities for specialism in a wide range of subjects after introducing you to a broad range of social sciences and current subjects.
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
Our Education (including a foundation year) BA course will engage your interest in a range of issues within the sphere of education and social sciences. Learning in a stimulating environment, you’ll develop your critical thinking and reasoning skills, allowing you to construct, evaluate and defend arguments in the sphere of education and related studies. We’ll equip you with the practical and academic skills that will allow you to assess what shapes educational practices, policies and institutions.
Throughout your degree, you’ll receive academic and pastoral support from a range of services at the University. Your support system will include an academic tutor and academic mentors, who will offer individual support, as well as small group workshops to reinforce your skills' development and to ensure that you’re settling into university.
The foundation year will build your confidence and improve your academic skills, providing a great foundation for higher academic study. You’ll develop an important variety of skills including research, report writing, critical analysis and planning. All of these are considered necessary by employers across an array of industries and indispensable in higher study of education and other social sciences.
Your foundation will be shared with students from a number of our other foundation year courses, so in Year 0 you'll get to study with other students interested in a variety of different specialisms. You’ll also take a taster module in education, so that you can gain an awareness of the field you will be studying for the following years. The taster module will introduce you to perspectives on the nature and purpose of education. It will present a critical overview of key historical changes that have shaped formal systems of education and highlight wider discussion on politics and policy in education, in particular issues around diversity and inclusion.
The focus in the subsequent years will shift from providing you with academic skills in the context of education studies to expanding your knowledge of the theories and practices in the field of education. Learn more about the content of the subsequent three years of this course on our Education BA degree.
Assessment
We pride ourselves on our student-centred and varied assessments. Each of the methods have been designed to help you flourish in your studies and support the development of key academic skills.
Fees and key information
Apply nowEntry requirements
In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:
- at least one A level (or a minimum of 32 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC Subsidiary/National/BTEC Extended Diploma)
- English Language GCSE at grade C (grade 4) or above (or equivalent)
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 (previously Tier 4) 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 0 modules include:
- This module currently runs:
- autumn semester - Monday afternoon
- autumn semester - Tuesday morning
- autumn semester - Tuesday afternoon
- autumn semester - Wednesday afternoon
- autumn semester - Thursday morning
This module aims to:
1. Explore the rationale of examining a variety of sources critically in academic and/or professional practice
2. Provide the opportunity for students to critically explore various themes relating to their pathway choice and sustainability.
3. Develop students’ ability to identify, evaluate and construct a variety of arguments - This module currently runs:
- spring semester - Monday morning
- spring semester - Monday afternoon
- spring semester - Tuesday morning
- spring semester - Tuesday afternoon
- spring semester - Thursday morning
- spring semester - Thursday afternoon
This module will follow a task based approach involving a process of critically examining an issue, historical or current. Students will be involved in the process of identifying an issue and conduct research into it to gain a critical understanding.
There is a focus on collaborative group work during which students explore a past and/or potential intervention to the issue.
Students will critically reflect on the process and their own learning.
- This module currently runs:
- autumn semester - Monday morning
- autumn semester - Monday afternoon
- autumn semester - Tuesday morning
- autumn semester - Tuesday afternoon
- autumn semester - Wednesday morning
- autumn semester - Thursday morning
- autumn semester - Thursday afternoon
This module aims to:
1. To introduce students to the study of media, crime and ‘race’.2. To enable students to develop their reading and seminar skills and to respond critically and analytically to a range of texts.
3. To enable students to search, find and use appropriate digital resources, and further develop and consolidate academic skills to enhance their learning experience.
- This module currently runs:
- autumn semester - Monday morning
- autumn semester - Tuesday morning
- autumn semester - Tuesday afternoon
- autumn semester - Wednesday morning
- autumn semester - Wednesday afternoon
- autumn semester - Thursday morning
- autumn semester - Thursday afternoon
This module explores introductory ideas around the themes of self and society, in order to:
- introduce students to academic study in the Social Sciences and Humanities at H.E level
- encourage students to reflect on their own identities, as well as their skills and qualities and how they might further develop them through their H.E studies
- introduce and develop academic literacy, critical thinking and analytical skills through engagement with and production of a range of short Social Science and Humanities themed texts
- introduce reflective practice and support students to become effective, self-aware learners
- introduce and develop digital literacy skills
- develop organisational, planning and time management skills
- guide students to constructively use feedback to improve academic work - This module currently runs:
- autumn semester - Monday morning
- autumn semester - Monday afternoon
- autumn semester - Tuesday afternoon
- autumn semester - Wednesday morning
- autumn semester - Wednesday afternoon
- autumn semester - Thursday afternoon
This core module aims to enable students to:
• Investigate the basic principles of research
• Critically analyse published research
• Develop and practise research skills
• Develop writing skills required for effective report writing
• Develop strategies to use feedback to improve writing - This module currently runs:
- spring semester - Monday morning
- spring semester - Tuesday morning
- spring semester - Wednesday morning
- spring semester - Thursday morning
- spring semester - Thursday afternoon
This core module aims to enable students to:
• Increase their knowledge and awareness of current research in their subject area
• Source and critically analyse published research in their area of interest•
• Further develop and practise research skills
• Further develop speaking skills required for effective presentation of research findings
• Further develop strategies to use feedback to improve writing - This module currently runs:
- spring semester - Monday morning
- spring semester - Monday afternoon
- spring semester - Tuesday morning
- spring semester - Tuesday afternoon
- spring semester - Wednesday morning
- spring semester - Thursday morning
- spring semester - Thursday afternoon
This module aims to:
- Improve academic literacy through essay writing and feedback in the context of Social Science and Humanities debates
- Develop critical analysis and evaluation of academic source material
- Select and integrate source material appropriately in academic writing
- Develop students’ voice in academic writing
- Integrate reflective practice throughout the essay writing process
- Further develop organisational, planning and time management skills
- Guide students to constructively use feedback to improve academic work - This module currently runs:
- spring semester - Friday morning
This module aims to:
• Introduce students to perspectives on the nature and purpose of education
• Present a critical overview of key historical changes that have shaped formal systems of education
• Highlight wider discourses on politics and policy in education, in particular issues around diversity and inclusion
• Foster reflective practice and professionalism as foundation to future employment in the education sector or elsewhere
• Provide students with the opportunity to develop the academic and personal skills required to progress onto an Education degree
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:
- spring semester - Monday afternoon
• 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. - 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
What our students say
“My course has helped me grow as an individual. I feel more confident, but most importantly, it has encouraged me to become a critical thinker.”
National Student Survey
Where this course can take you
After this four-year course you’ll be able to enter a wide range of careers within education, such as local government, charities, youth work and educational management. You’ll also gain a range of transferable skills, such as critical thinking, reasoning and writing that will translate into a variety of careers.
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 postgraudate study:
- Education - MA
- Learning and Teaching in Higher Education - MA
- Get into teaching with one of our PGCE courses
- Youth and Community Work (with JNC Recognition)- MSc
- Safeguarding and Security - MA
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.
Important information about this course
We're committed to continuously improving our degree courses to ensure our students receive the best possible learning experience. Many of the courses in our School of Social Sciences and Professions are currently under review for 2023-24 entry. We encourage you to apply as outlined in the how to apply section of this page and if there are any changes to your course we will contact you. All universities review their courses regularly and this year we are strengthening our social sciences and professions courses to better reflect the needs of employers and ensure you're well-equipped for your future career.
What is a degree with a foundation year?
This is a four-year degree course with a built-in foundation year (Year 0). It's the perfect route into university if you don't meet the necessary entry requirements for the standard undergraduate degree. You'll graduate with a full undergraduate degree with the same title and award as those who studied the three-year course.
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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