Education Studies induction information

About your programme

Module information

You’ll complete your course one block or ‘semester’ at a time. In each semester you’ll study modules. Some are core modules you have to take – others you’ll be able to choose between when you arrive, personalising the course to your interests.

In your first semester you will study the following modules:

• Purposes and Values in Education 

Purposes and Values in Education

This module enables you to explore conceptions of the nature and purposes of education through an examination of traditional and progressive perspectives on formal and informal education.

• Doing History 

Doing History

In this module, you will think about the kind of work that historians do – why they write history in the ways that they do, why they ask particular types of questions, what assumptions they bring to their work, what historians think about other people’s ways of producing accounts about the past, and the role of historical knowledge in contemporary culture.

• Key Concepts in World Religions 

Key Concepts in World Religions

This module will introduce you to a variety of religious thought from around the world. It will begin with the Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It will then turn to the East and explore Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, before finally exploring Daoism and Confucianism. It will study both the practices and beliefs of each tradition. Each week it will examine either a pre-eminent thinker or a central concept within each tradition in particular detail.

• Critical Theory and Literature 

Critical Theory and Literature

This module provides you with a solid foundation on the body of thinking called ‘critical’ or ‘literary theory’, and is hence fundamental to literary study.

Starting with theories of reading and cultural criticism from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, we move to the various structuralist and postmodern theories of the late twentieth century, and to theories that engage with some of the central debates of our time such as Eco-criticism and gender studies.

You will also be introduced to key classical literary texts to which these theories may be applied including a range of novels, short stories, and/or poetry.

Further information about the structure of your course can be found within the programme specification document.