Course Handbooks

Page last updated:
04 Oct 2023

Bachelor of Arts with Honours Primary Education 3-7 with recommendation for QTS, Level 4, 2023/24 - Course Handbook

Welcome to the Course

Key Contacts & Keeping in Touch

Timetable Information

Course Overview

The course is targeted at a wide range of individuals that aspire to become primary teachers in the age-range 3-7.

The course is compliant with Department for Education (DfE) requirements as laid out in Statutory Guidance (2021) by the National College for Teaching and Learning (NCTL). It fulfils requirements at all stages of teacher development from recruitment to the content of the course, to experience gained in schools and other education settings over a minimum of 120 days and on to the demonstration of the Teachers' Standards at the conclusion of the training period. Such teacher development is undertaken in the context of a strong partnership between the University and partner-schools / settings.

The course aims to develop reflexive primary practitioners, capable of reflecting upon and adapting their own practice to meet the needs of individual children in a variety of situations in an increasingly diverse society.

The course will develop critical, analytical teachers capable of understanding the complex learning needs of children and making provision for such needs through the deployment of extensive teaching skills and subject knowledge.

This course is designed to have a strong course identity which will build on the high levels of vocational commitment and the passion for supporting children's learning that are displayed by successful candidates through rigorous selection processes at the point of entry. The course maximises trainees' emerging identity as primary teachers by maintaining a high level of relevance to practice in schools (including knowledge and understanding of the statutory duties of teachers) combined with the intellectual challenge of developing a critical, analytical approach to learning theory, ideological positions on education and the philosophical underpinning of both content and pedagogy in relation to the school curriculum.

The course has been designed in tandem with the BA (Hons) Primary Education (5-11) course. The Primary (Early Years, 3-7) and Primary (5-11) courses share a similar structure and indicative content, whilst placing emphasis upon learning and teaching within the ages 3-7 and 5-11 respectively. Thus, the course aims to foster mutually constituted identities relating to primary education, whilst also placing emphasis upon the specialist nature of teaching in the early years.

This strong sense of identity is underpinned by the course being simple, dynamic and relevant. This is achieved by aligning the degree to University's Course Development Principles (2014).

  • Key or 'threshold' concepts are embraced in both module titles and content that focus on key themes in primary education, using professional terminology that will be understood by trainees by being consistent in both University and school environments. This approach supports the idea of simplicity in design and relevance to the professional application of learning.
  • This approach is taken across the whole degree to enable high levels of both horizontal (within a year) and vertical (across years) cohesion. This, in turn, underpins a dynamic interaction between modules so that the course becomes an holistic experience rather than one made up of separate elements that trainees fail to connect.
  • The course is practical in many respects and is underpinned by the dynamic interaction between University-based and school-based learning and application of skills. To prepare trainees to successfully support children's learning, their own learning is based on undertaking challenging and authentic child/school-related tasks.
  • This approach to teaching, along with a course level assessment strategy that further supports cohesion through using a variety of assessment methods along a 'fitness for purpose' model, enables high levels of feedback to students and, in turn, enables depth of learning to take place.

The course prepares trainees to work with children in the context of a diverse society. The course itself, therefore, creates an inclusive environment for all trainees, staff and partners. In this way, the course not only embraces the University's own principles and its legislative duties (through the Equality Act 2010, for example) but also models the type of environment that the trainees themselves must create in their own teaching settings now and in the future.


Assessment & Feedback

Teaching & Learning

Details of School academic staff can be found on the Carnegie School of Education Website.

Attendance & Absence

International Students

Professional Accreditation or Recognition Associated with the Course

'In Year' Work Placement Information

Skills, Employability & Graduate Opportunities

Learning Support

Resources

Student Voice

General Information

Policies, Standards & Regulations

Appendices

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