Course summary

This is an innovative, practice-based degree that is delivered in partnership with Red Kite Teacher Training, our Ofsted-outstanding initial teacher education provider. The programme will develop your knowledge and understanding of the latest education research and how to make best use of this in your practice as a teacher of 5 – 11-year-olds. You will learn how to teach the primary curriculum, linking this to the University’s expertise in research in early childhood, digital and mathematics education. The course offers opportunities to experience outdoor learning, climate change education, inclusive education practices and creativity. The University and Red Kite together will emphasise the role of the teacher as a professional with responsibility and leadership potential. The programme combines university-based courses with teaching placements in schools local to the University in each of the three years of the degree. You will gradually increase your teaching knowledge and expertise as you progress through the course, benefiting from co-operation between university-based academic staff and Red Kite teacher training experts. The course will qualify you, on successful completion, as a primary teacher able to work in schools for 5 – 11-year-olds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is a three-year, full-time course which will include completing school-based placements each year alongside academic, university-based modules both of which will count towards your Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Primary Education and the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Topics you will study include primary teaching and learning; understanding children’s development; understanding and managing children’s behaviour; inclusion, special educational needs and disabilities; researching teaching and learning; becoming and working as a professional teacher. There are options to study topics such as: making use of outdoor learning; creativity in education; climate change education; and digital education practices. You will have the opportunity to specialise in one area of the primary curriculum in a third year, ‘capstone’ project. As you progress through the degree, you will be placed in different primary schools in the Leeds region to learn to teach children across the primary age range, 5 - 11. These placements will help you develop the skills and expertise to be a professional teacher, building on and applying knowledge learned in your university-based modules. The learning outcomes for the course include meeting the competences required of a professional primary teacher, together with a high level of knowledge and understanding of relevant and current issues in education.