Education

This module begins from the premise that the organisation of education and schooling can be explored as a political matter. Through engagement with substantial political theory, students will develop a conceptual toolkit that will enable them to critically examine key developments in the history of education from a political standpoint. In doing so, it will enable students to engage critically with questions such as: how we educate; what good education looks like; why we organise schooling in particular ways; and how major policy and political events continue to influence and shape education to this day. In doing so they will come to reflect more on their positionally as political beings.

This module introduces important policy, theory and debate in the fields of special and inclusive education. As it considers perspectives on various impairments, the module draws on insights and ideas from medical literature, and sociology. It then questions the very concept of disability from philosophical and ethical standpoints. In this way substantive questions in special and inclusive education are addressed. We will explore how educational institutions might most effectively respond to students with impairments, for example through the roles of professionals and relations with parents and carers. This exploration will lead us to investigate the implications of different theoretical perspectives on disability, and thus what it might mean to be an inclusive educator.

This module introduces important policy, theory and debate in the field of early childhood education and care. Through a range of scientific, historical, sociological, philosophical and culture perspectives, conceptualisations and representations of childhood and early childhood education and care are investigated and their implications for children and their development explored. Students will be equipped with a critical awareness of the ways in which notions of childhood, the education of young children and their care impact upon their development in a wide range of ways.

The role of the educator, and the purpose of education can be conceived of in a wide range of forms. This module introduces students to a variety of ideas and theories advanced by various thinkers concerned with education. Some of the ideas encountered will offer ideas about education directly in relation to schooling whilst others offer insights into education in its broader sense. The range of concepts examined will represent particular interests of course tutors and will introduce students to the breadth of content they will encounter during their studies. Drawing on a diverse range of figures from various fields, including the arts, religion, sociology and philosophy, this module asks students not only to engage with the insights and teachings of each of the individuals they encounter, but also with the very question of what it means to be an educator and to educate.

This module explores how education has been argued for as a means of social and political reform. The first part of the module focuses on the notion of education as enlightenment, both in ancient and modern versions. The goal of this module is to extend our understanding of education beyond the classroom and into the wider world. It will, of necessity, introduce many important social and political issues, and will provide perspectives that can be employed in other modules. The second part engages with concepts such as oppression and liberty. It explores the ideas of thinkers who exposed these concepts as themselves being open to question, in terms of who controlled them, who had access to them, and how we all relate to them. This brings into question some of the ‘grand narratives’ constructed by philosophers since the time of Plato and explores the significance of these disruptions for education.

This module invites students to engage with core questions of the nature and direction of education in relation to human values. How we conceive of the purposes of education has a bearing on the role it plays in creating a framework of meaning which underlies the social context. This leaves open significant questions, such as: the nature of human values; how we can know what is worth learning; and what the culture of education ought to be as a result. Thus, drawing on a range of philosophical perspectives, this module will interrogate key issues and concepts that underpin school culture and the culture. In doing so it aims to illuminate the role of educators in changing movements of information, or the wider context of education in past, present and future.

The role of education in preparing learners for life points to important questions about the significance of what is learnt, how it is learnt, and to what ends is it learnt. Such questions bring to light tensions between instrumental goals of education, such as the promotion of employability, and more liberal goals, such as the cultivation of character. This module comprises of two interrelated components. Firstly, students will have the opportunity to engage in the critical analysis of the purposes of learning through an independent study into a theme, topic or context of their choice. Secondly, students will undertake a period of placement activity (whether a work placement or a voluntary capacity) that will enable them to critically reflect on their own development through education. Thus, students will be challenged to engage with the relation between educational theory and lived experience.

• Inclusions and Exclusions: Theory, Policy and Provision - 30 credits
• Early Childhood: Theory, Policy and Provision - 30 credits
• Play Pedagogies and Enabling Environments - 30 credits
• Earth, Health and Heart - 30 credits

The dissertation will be an extended independent study undertaken by the student resulting in an 8,000 – 10,000 word written assignment, on a self-chosen topic relevant to the programme of study. Students undertaking a professional practice route will undertake an original independent empirical investigation into an aspect of childhood. Students taking a theoretical route will undertake an entirely desk-based (non-empirical) project relating to education. Throughout, students will be supervised and supported by a member of the tutor team with relevant expertise.

In this module diverse notions of children, childhood, development and education are explored from an interdisciplinary perspective, where they are seen as affected by both global political-economic structures and daily practices embedded in the micro-level interactions of local cultures. The module takes a critical look at recent major economic and political structural and ideological adjustments/transformations such as international development and how these have impacted on the organisation and configuration of families, child-rearing philosophies and education practices in cross-cultural contexts. Drawing from range of evidence and perspectives we explore the conditions in which education is located and critically analyse what implications this has for how education is conceptualised and implemented. The module goes on to explore how evaluating major global events through lenses informed by human diversity can challenge our understanding of the roles of education in responding to them.

• Leadership in Education - 30 credits
• Inclusions and Exclusions in the Modern World - 30 credits
• Education In/With/For Nature - 30 credits
• Early Years Education and Care: Critical Perspectives