BA Honours in Education

This Programme Specification contains an overview of the Level 6 BA Honours in Education and how it will be taught and assessed at Shrewsbury Colleges Group. At the end of the document, you will find some more general information on support and guidance available to you whilst studying with us.

This document should be read in conjunction with the Staffordshire University Specification for this award.

We hope you choose to come and study with us at Shrewsbury College and take advantage of the opportunity to access Higher Education locally in Shropshire. 

Welcome from Curriculum Leader:

Michelle Dawes

Welcome to Shrewsbury Colleges Group. We are looking forward to sharing your learning experience and supporting you on your educational journey. You will not have made the decision to study at a higher level lightly and at this point may be feeling a mixture of nerves, excitement and trepidation about the months ahead, but do not worry, the staff in the Education team are here to support, guide and encourage you through the programme you have chosen to pursue.

We are building a strong reputation for Higher Education in the county and are keen to move forward with this area of the curriculum. As a result, you will be asked regularly for your thoughts, ideas and feedback on how the course you are studying can be developed further. This may be through consultative meetings or through your student representation so please contribute when you can. We aim to be very student centred and value your contribution throughout the duration of your studies.

Finally, good luck and enjoy your educational journey with Shrewsbury Colleges Group.

Michelle Dawes

Staff Profiles

Overview of the Award – what does the course involve?

The rationale for the BA (Hons) Education and Early Childhood Studies pathways is to provide an opportunity to build on knowledge and experience of working in education through study at higher education level.  The award is a progression route for applicants with a Foundation Degree (or similar) in Education and Early Childhood Studies.

This course offers a holistic approach to education and learning, relating appropriate theory to practice. This will enhance understanding of a current professional role and is designed specifically for people who wish to combine work and further study thus providing a route towards obtaining a degree and professional qualifications at a higher level. 

The course has been designed to meet the needs of anyone currently working with young children/ adolescents/adults in any professional context that involves learning. This includes anyone considering working in educational settings such as nursery settings, schools, colleges, academies, museums and art galleries, youth services, education departments within film, theatre, radio and television, the armed forces etc.

Programme Aims

Aims of the programme:

The objectives of this programme are to:

• Reflect a set of beliefs, values, morals and ethical principles for those seeking a qualification and eventually employment in the early years education sector that promotes equality, respect for diversity and challenges prejudices and stereotypes
• Produce reflective practitioners able to take responsibility for their own learning, equipped with a theorised understanding of policy and practice with an ability to use research and reflection to inform practice and articulate a professional rationale
• Reflect the view that learners are at the heart of the work of an early years/ educational practitioner
• Provide structured and assessed opportunities for work-based learning in a variety of settings
• Enable students to develop their key and transferable skills and to apply these in an academic context when working with others in a variety of settings
• Provide an enabling structure that allows students to benefit from their learning and experiences so that they may respond flexibly to the changing expectations and demands of both policy and practice in the workplace
• Provide a programme of development that inspires and interests practitioners to develop a passion for working with others and to continue to seek opportunities for mutually extending and enhancing their learning experiences
• Develop in students the ability to construct and sustain a reasoned argument, informed by research, about a wide range of issues; engaging critically with evidence-based reflective practice
• Develop a critical understanding of appropriate pedagogical approaches to work with children, adolescents and adults.
• Enable all students to understand the development and learning needs of all children, young people and adults in a diverse society without prejudice or discrimination.

The BA (Hons) Education and BA (Hons) Education (Early Years) full time and part-time route do not have an assessed element of practice so on graduation students will not have a full and relevant DfE Early Childhood Studies qualification (unless a DfE relevant level 3 qualification has been achieved)

Programme Learning Outcomes

As you progress through their academic and personal development journey you will develop:

Knowledge & Understanding - Demonstrate a systematic understanding of key aspects, including acquisition of coherent and detailed knowledge, at least some of which is at or informed by, the forefront of defined aspects of a discipline.

Learning - Demonstrate an understanding of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge.

Enquiry - Deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry and initiate and carry out projects within (the field of study). Evaluate use of Information Literacy, including the ethical use of information in (the field of study)

Analysis - Describe and comment upon current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship and critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data (that may be incomplete), to make judgements.

Problem Solving - Develop appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions – to a problem and use decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts.

Communication - Communicate and analyse information, ideas, problems, and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audience

Application - Apply the methods and techniques that they have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply their knowledge and understanding and devise and sustain arguments, using ideas and techniques, some of which are at the forefront of a discipline.

Reflection - Manage their own learning, exercise initiative, personal responsibility and demonstrate the learning ability, qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment or further training of a professional or equivalent nature

This programme is distinctive because:

The qualification is delivered at Shrewsbury Colleges Group to offer learners the opportunity to study Higher Education in a local college environment. Learners can share experiences and develop new skills using technology-based practice linked to theory. The course is tailored to meet the needs of learners and the needs of the industry.

Employability

Graduates of this course have gone into teaching and/or training careers in Further Education Colleges, Sixth Form Colleges, Training Providers, the Prison Service and other recognised educational establishments.

Programme Structure, Modules and Credits

This award is delivered through a two year, part-time, in-service route in Partnership organisations.

Teaching and Assessment

How will I be taught?

The programmes will build upon existing teaching and learning strategies employed on the Foundation Degree in Education and Early Childhood Studies.
Modules consist of either 20 or 40 credit blocks and together form a 120 credit course at level 6. For each module students are required to allocate substantial time to personal learning, including reading, research, observing colleagues and producing assignments.

Work-based learning

To be eligible for entry onto this course each candidate must:

• Have the support of their employer to participate in the course
• Undertake a minimum of four hours of work experience per week (voluntary or paid)
• Have an enhanced DBS clearance organised by the employer or partner institution where they are studying

You need to be employed (either paid or voluntarily) in an appropriate education role throughout the programme and be expected to maintain and use a professional development portfolio that will include work-based activities. You are required to have permission and support from your employer throughout the course. Your portfolio will focus upon you as an educator/ practitioner and then upon how you interact and work with others, leading to how you interact with the workplace and see yourself as a developing professional within your chosen area of work.

The strategies are designed to provide practical contexts for the analysis of contemporary issues and problems of a practical nature. The pathway courses are rooted in the linkage of educational theory and educational practices appropriate to each of the respective pathways. The teaching and learning strategies have been carefully designed to maximise the opportunity for students to use and reflect upon their employment in the early years/ education sector. This will provide practical contexts for the analysis of contemporary issues and problems of a practical and theoretical nature. Learning and teaching strategies will include:

• Whole and small group discussion following either a blended learning approach
• problem-based learning
• A range of guided reading and independent study will be provided with resource lists and reading tasks in order to enable students to engage with relevant and appropriate debates. Case study activities will be used to support the above approaches as a means of establishing connections between the placement settings and issues raised by the programme
• Personal and Academic Tutorials – Students will be given the opportunity to discuss personal and educational concerns in small groups and individually. Academic and personal tutorials may be either face to face or electronic (e.g. email/Teams/telephone). This will support students understanding and promote retention and successful attainment
• Critical reflective practice
• Lectures and presentations (following either a blended learning approach ( partners) or distanced learning (Stoke campus) – Students will be provided formal lectures which will provide theoretical underpinning to key concepts of care and education. Lectures will combine didactic, facilitative, asynchronous/ synchronous styles and provide opportunities for students to learn through problem-solving, discussion and student instigated activities
• Observation of other professionals
• Practical Vocational Learning – Students will be required to complete work-related tasks in all modules. This will provide them with the opportunity to link theoretical perspectives to their setting. It will also enable students to reflect on values, practices, assumptions and policies, nationally, and locally.

Each method will be chosen to achieve the acquisition of relevant knowledge and understanding in order to develop an informed appreciation of practice. It must be recognised that much learning will take place in the placement setting. The theoretical perspectives explored will enable students to reflect upon and share their experiences, and relate this to current thinking. Students will be encouraged to develop their observational skills and to question their own practice and that of others, to investigate how this is influential in the development of young children/ adolescents/ adults.

The teaching of each module will also provide opportunities for students to:

• Work with others
• Develop interpersonal skills
• Demonstrate their capacity to plan, share goals and work as a member of a team
• Communicate and present oral arguments.

Each module will vary slightly in the learning and teaching styles adopted. However, in general, all modules will include traditional learning materials such as PowerPoint presentations, visual and oral presentations, relevant handouts, and occasionally specialist speakers. Throughout the programme students will be encouraged to reflect critically; to listen carefully to the views of others; to question values and opinions; to investigate evidence and draw their own informed conclusions. Students will be encouraged to develop as independent learners and to extend their skills of collaborating and negotiation. The teaching approach will often be activity-based and participatory and students will be expected to take a full and responsible part. Prior reading will be specified and will be required for some sessions.

In addition to the above, at appropriate points in the year, students will be briefed on assignments prior to submission and will be issued with clearly defined assessment criteria.
The VLE ‘BlackBoard’ and Microsoft Teams will support students study providing access to programme information and module materials online to enable students to manage their time more effectively and to support staff/ student communication through bulletin boards.

How will I be assessed?

Students will be provided with assessment descriptors for the programme which describe the characteristics of the performance necessary to achieve each grade at this level with clear assessment criteria. The assessment tasks set over the duration of the programme have been designed to develop and build upon a wide range of personal professional skills, whilst strongly reinforcing links between theory and practical application. Some modules have more than one assessment task and will be linked to the teaching and learning methods of the module

It is understandable that some methods of assessment will suit different students in different ways, therefore a range of summative assessment methods will be used on the programme to assess the learning outcomes of the modules

The summative assessment methods include:

• written assignments
• individual and group presentations
• professional dialogue through learning conversations
• the use of media
• Work placement research
• Reflection, self-evaluation and self-assessment will be an important part of formative assessment processes

Throughout their studies, students will be encouraged to apply theoretical frameworks to their own and others practice. Transferable and generic skills (including problem solving and communication) are assessed.

Formative assessment will underpin all teaching and learning, and enable the tutors to identify problems, offer feedback and feedforward to maximise the effectiveness of the learning process. Your engagement with vocational learning is also formatively assessed through presentations of work-related learning, developing practical resources and producing reviews of policy and practice. The majority of formative assessment and self-assessment will be conducted through professional dialogue with tutors and with peers through both face-to-face and structured online learning conversations.