Course Handbooks

Page last updated:
04 Oct 2023

Bachelor of Arts with Honours Primary Education (5-11) with recommendation for Qualified Teacher Status, Level 5, 2023/24 - Course Handbook

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Timetable Information

Course Overview

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.

It is targeted at a wide range of individuals that aspire to become primary teachers in the age range 5-11.

The course is compliant with Department for Education (DfE) requirements as laid out in Statutory Guidance (Initial Teacher Training Criteria: 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 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 identitywhich 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.

While this is a stand-alone course, it is designed in the context of wider provision in the School of Education and Childhood. In particular, the course is intended to run in conjunction with some aspects of the BA (Hons) Primary Education (3-7) with recommendation for Qualified Teacher Status which operates in the same school, on the same campus and with some of the same members of staff. This includes sharing some module delivery, some practical resources, and services such as administration, timetabling and school placement procedures. Both courses place trainees in many of the same school partner settings.

The course aims to develop, in trainees, a thorough understanding and practical capability in the 5-11 age range, as outlined in the sections below. It is, however, important that trainees also develop a basic understanding of the development of children at a younger age as well as having some appreciation of the EYFS curriculum and the operation of Early Years settings.

This is critical in several ways:

  • Trainees are better positioned to fully understand the needs of the primary-aged learner if they have a grasp of early child development;
  • Trainees are better placed to be proficient in primary school assessment methods if they have some grasp of Baseline Assessment; (removed the comment about from 2016)
  • As future subject co-ordinators (eg in Subject Specialism modules at Levels 5 and 6) they will need to be confident that they can operate and even advise Early Years and Foundation colleagues with some basic sense of understanding and integrity;
  • Trainees are better placed to undertake an informative, holistic placement in a 'lower key stage' (ie. EYFS) which is required at Level 4.

Students regularly engage in learning activities that enable collaboration with peers on the 5-11 Primary Education course. This promotes peer-to-peer learning and enables students to share their specialist knowledge of teaching children within the 3-7 and 5-11 age ranges. This approach to learning and teaching resonates with the primary school context and nurtures and aligns students' professional identities as trainee teachers.

The benefits of bringing the two courses together are that students are prepared to a) to understand their own age-range more deeply because of a broader vision of the primary child, and b) to operate with greater confidence and integrity in primary schools that encompass EYFS and Reception settings, Children's Centres and/or which have close cluster, family or transition arrangements with early years settings.

This develop this strong sense of identity the course is simple, dynamic and relevant.

Through simplicity of structure, cohesion will be strengthened enabling trainees to appreciate the dynamic relationship, both vertically (across years) and horizontally (within a year) between modules and also between school-based and University-based learning. This in turn will make more transparent the relevance of all learning to their future professional roles.

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 and vertical 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.


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