Course summary

Do you work in the education sector and hope to increase your knowledge of psychology to support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities to reach their potential? Are you interested in how applied psychological research translates into classroom practice? Perhaps your background is in social policy or education and you want to specialise in educational psychology issues? Whatever your goals are, enhance your knowledge and practical skills with this course. This is a research-led course that sits at the crossroads of psychology and education. It offers a unique interdisciplinary perspective on important issues regarding child developmental and educational outcomes; notions of difference and disability; the role of early intervention in maximising children’s life chances; and what we mean by evidence based practice in the field of education. The modules of this course are carefully chosen to help you to develop the intellectual and critical tools required to tackle some of these issues. If your outlook is wider than one academic discipline and you have the passion to explore and understand problems from a variety of perspectives, then you are ideally placed to benefit from our style of teaching and learning. Our flexible modules offer you a wide range of teaching and learning experiences and the capacity to examine in depth topics about individual differences (e.g., emotions, personality and intelligence) and the role they play in children’s learning; how contextual factors such as poverty, social class and parenting, work together to shape children’s developmental outcomes; and how SEN and Disability policy translates into practice in schools. Seminars and debates are at the heart of the way in which these issues are examined, so there will be a number of opportunities to work with your peers, collaborating, debating, and researching practical solutions. Your interdisciplinary skill set will be developed throughout this course, enabling you to pursue a diverse array of career pathways, including those directly relating to SEN and Disability and psychology in practice. Skills from this degree

• Capacity for advancing evidence-based arguments and drawing conclusions that are supported by in depth data at a dissertation level

• Confidence in engaging in academic debates on the intersections between Psychology and Education

• Intellectual thoroughness required to review diverse bodies of research and analyse their findings

• Understand current theoretical and policy issues with regard to special educational needs and disability

• Undertake a research project that involves theoretical and methodological understandings. Create a well-defined topic with a view to advancing evidence-based arguments. Drawing implications for policy and practice.

• Reflect on your own potential as a learner