Course summary

The Education and SEND degree course recognises the many changes within the education sector, including a deepening awareness of the need to better prepare practitioners to support SEND and children’s mental health. The course allows students the opportunities to consider the range of issues and perspectives involved when working with children and young people in education and wider settings, and particularly those with a range of diverse needs. Exploring policy, theory and practice, you will consider the challenges to inclusive approaches to education, as well as wider educational theory relating to social justice. The course will help you to develop your own knowledge and understanding necessary for a wide range of careers involved in supporting children and young people in both educational settings and wider society. Why study this course? Education and SEND is intended for students with career aspirations in the field of education, special educational needs and inclusion. Although this degree does not award qualified teacher status (QTS) it provides a dynamic programme of study which will offer you a unique platform if you want to pursue a PGCE or school-based training programme in primary teaching, such as School Direct or Apprenticeship. Education and SEND has been designed in response to the wide-ranging changes that have taken place across the education sector. A key feature of the course is that it explores the range of professional, teaching, support and assistant-related roles in education settings, including the role of the SENCo (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) as well as engaging with trauma informed practice, mental health and the wider implications of the pandemic. All these topics can be explored and reflected upon during placements, which take place in a range of diverse settings, such as primary and secondary schools, specialist schools and wider settings both within education and child-based services and beyond. What does the course cover? Education and SEND provides an imaginative platform for future employment in a wide range of educational and support settings. In the first year you will be introduced to a variety of topical issues that govern teaching, learning, children’s well-being, SEND and Inclusion, and school organisation in education in the UK and other international settings. You will study the complex process surrounding learning and child development. You will gain essential insights into the theory and practice of learning in education settings and examine the key characteristics of effective teaching and the learner experience. The course will explore key areas of pupils’ experience, including socialisation, learning styles, the role of technology, creativity, Special Educational Needs, safeguarding and pastoral care. Through the study of Special Educational Needs you will gain an appreciation of the depth and diversity of pupil needs within education settings. You will engage with the debates surrounding the inclusion, pupil disaffection and the current research and inspection evidence relating to school exclusion. The course offers a great deal of flexibility and personal choice. In your second year you will undertake a self-selected work placement, providing an important link between practice ‘on the ground’ and the issues covered in the taught course. In your third year you will be supported by dedicated staff in conducting a specialist piece of research of your own choosing.