Primary Education BA (Hons)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

In the second year of your degree you will be building upon the work covered through this strand (in Curriculum Studies 1) during the first year of the programme within the early primary and primary curriculum. The focus in Year 2 is on developing your emerging subject knowledge for planning, teaching and assessment techniques across core and non-core curriculum subjects, as set out in key Stage One of the National Curriculum and the Areas of Learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Effective planning forms the basis for your study across the core and foundation subjects; concentrating upon considering the necessary subject knowledge and creative skills related specifically to the planning and teaching of these subject areas for children in Foundation Stage or Key Stage One. In addition to this you will also be able to consider and apply your knowledge and skills to a range of non-core curriculum subjects. You will be introduced to the curriculum across the 3-7 age phases via subject specific and transferable approaches to teaching and learning in core and foundation subjects in order to consider how to plan to meet children’s individual needs in each distinct subject area. You will continue to be audited in each subject area (including early reading and early mathematics) to ensure that your individual needs are catered for.

You will be required to engage with the use of e-based and other learning resources to independently support your subject knowledge development throughout the module which aims to enable you to begin to apply your knowledge, skills, experiences and training, to apply in partnership schools via the Educational Placements 2 module and in the University via a written planning task which offers you the opportunity to practise your emerging knowledge and skills to plan a differentiated sequence of lessons demonstrating clear routes to children’s learning. This is inclusive of subject specific learning opportunities and theoretical underpinning, and acts as the final summative assessment for this module. All of which in turn will help to provide you with a framework of experiences and training, which will help your development along your journey to becoming a confident, enthusiastic and successful teacher.

In this module you will continue to apply your theoretical, pedagogical and subject knowledge in school based settings. This will take the form of a non-assessed placement focussing on the development of specific skills and a sustained assessed placement. During these placements you will have the opportunity to apply your knowledge and understanding and develop your ability to work autonomously and as part of a team in professional school contexts for the relevant age phases of the Early Years Foundation Stage, Key Stages 1 and 2. You will be expected to plan, teach, manage, monitor and assess across the appropriate curriculum for the relevant age phases of Early Years Foundation Stage, Key Stages 1 and 2, initially with appropriate help from experienced professionals but moving towards doing so independently. You will develop valuable skills including the ability to critically reflect, analyse and evaluate your personal and professional understanding and practice in early years and primary educational settings. Through this reflection you will work with your school based mentor to set your own professional targets. You will develop a sound knowledge of curriculum pedagogy in core subjects, for the relevant age phases 3-7 or 7-11, through operating with increasing independence. This module is designed to enable you to meet the standards and requirements for Qualified Teacher Status.

You will:
• Explore, reflect upon and analyse issues and implications of education that start with the young child.
• Develop your reflection and analysis of the key elements and debates surrounding the notion of an early years and primary teacher in a range of educational and social contexts.
• Reflect upon a range of theories, philosophies and ideologies about early years and primary education, starting the process of developing your own ideas.
• Ground discussions in your reflection upon both relevant and recent literature in early years and primary education from some historical, national and international perspectives, your experiences and emerging philosophies.
• Explore implications for practice from your reflections upon the contexts and perspectives of a variety of early years and primary settings.
• Analyse the issues surrounding the roles and responsibilities of the early years and primary teacher in relation to your own developing practice.
• Deepen your understanding of the progression in development of the whole child, recognising the experiences up to three years of age and through education into Key Stage 2 and the implications this has for practice.
• Explore, reflect upon and analyse the issues and implications of collaborative engagement with the child’s primary carers and other agencies for the education of the young child.

In the second year of your degree you will be building upon the opportunities for collaborative and independent learning experienced during the previous year of the programme. The main focus in Year 2 is on developing your subject knowledge, understanding and passion for your chosen subject enhancement area. You will be supported to research and evaluate thinking at the forefront of the discipline within your chosen subject. This will take the form of researching literature, including current government documentation and Ofsted reports and consideration of the curricular requirements within the Early Years Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum at Key Stages 1 and 2. You will reflect upon your learning across the other modules as you apply underpinning concepts and principles of learning to your chosen subject. You will develop the specific subject knowledge for planning, teaching and assessment in your subject enhancement area. The module aims to provide you with collaborative peer-led opportunities to develop a framework of skills, experiences and training, to enable you to communicate your knowledge, understanding and passion for your subject enhancement area, enabling you to teach this subject with confidence.

Throughout this module you will learn to critically reflect upon the role and responsibility of the teacher as a professional including legislation in education related to the child and family which impacts upon the teacher’s role. You will develop your abilities to reflect upon the different discourses including philosophical, ideological and political perspectives across the relevant age phase(s) of education related to learning and teaching and professional related issues. You will synthesise your understanding of, and reflect upon your personal development as a professional related to your experience in educational contexts across the relevant age phase(s) to enable you to move towards meeting the Teachers’ Standards (DfE, 2012) for QTS, via an (ICT based) professional portfolio. You will be able to use the professional body requirements, literature in the field (including inspection and research evidence) and the taught elements of this module in order to analyse the above to develop your personal professional profiles. Ultimately you will develop your understanding of working within a multi-professional context and the complexities of the relevant age phase(s) and the implications for your professional practice with young children.

In the second year of your degree you will be building upon the work covered through this strand (in Curriculum Studies 1) during the first year of the programme within the early primary and primary curriculum. The focus in Year 2 is on developing your emerging subject knowledge for planning, teaching and assessment techniques across core and non-core curriculum subjects, as set out in Key Stage Two of the National Curriculum.

Effective planning forms the basis for your study across the core subjects; concentrating upon considering the necessary subject knowledge and creative skills related specifically to the planning and teaching of these subject areas for children in Key Stage Two . In addition to this you will also be able to consider and apply your knowledge and skills to a range of non-core curriculum subjects. You will be introduced to the curriculum across the 7-11 age phase via subject specific and transferable approaches to teaching and learning in core and non-core subjects in order to consider how to plan to meet children’s individual needs in each distinct subject area. You will continue to be audited in each subject area (including early reading and early mathematics) to ensure that your individual needs are catered for.

You will be required to engage with the use of e-based and other learning resources to independently support your subject knowledge development throughout the module which aims to enable you to begin to apply your knowledge, skills, experiences and training, to apply in partnership schools via the Educational Placements 2 module and in the University via a written planning task which offers you the opportunity to practise your emerging knowledge and skills to plan a differentiated sequence of lessons demonstrating clear routes to children’s learning. This is inclusive of subject specific learning opportunities and theoretical underpinning, and acts as the final summative assessment for this module. All of which in turn will help to provide you with a framework of experiences and training, which will help your development along your journey to becoming a confident, enthusiastic and successful teacher.