BEd (Hons) Primary Education (with QTS)

Duration: 3 years full-time

Requirements:

Applicants must have three A-levels at grades BBC, or BTEC triple grades DMM or above. Applicants must have GCSE English Language, Mathematics and Science at grade 5 or grade C or above. Alternatively applicants must have Access 30-42 D/M with min 18D.

UCAS points: 112UCAS code: X120

Fees UK students: £9,250 per annum

Fees for International students: £11,000 per annum

View Full Entry Requirements

As this is a professional programme, all candidates are interviewed and we look for a range of attributes. Candidates must take part in an individual and group interview with representatives from schools as well as University tutors.

Applicants must have GCSE English Language and Mathematics Grade C or above (or an equivalent qualification) and GCSE Grade C or above in at least one Science subject (unless you are taking an Access to HE Diploma). Please note that Level 2 Key Skills in Application of Numbers and Communication or Certificates in Adult Literacy or Numeracy, are not sufficient to meet the entry requirements to a BEd programme.

Applicants must also:

Be able to clearly and accurately communicate using both spoken and written English.
Pass pre-entry QTS Professional Skills Tests in numeracy and literacy.
Our typical entry requirement is three A-levels at grades BBB or BTEC triple grades DDM but candidates with other qualifications and/ or experience are encouraged to contact the university to discuss this.

Suitability Clearance You will be required to:

Provide a satisfactory DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) Disclosure. The DBS helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children.
Meet the Secretary of State’s requirements for physical and mental fitness to teach as detailed in ‘Fit to Teach’ by completing an on-line medical questionnaire.

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Course Overview

This versatile and dynamic primary education degree with Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) is the ideal preparation for a successful and rewarding career in primary teaching, enabling you to embark on your teaching career straight after finishing your studies. Plymouth Marjon University is praised by Ofsted and the National Student Survey for providing a comprehensive and enriching teacher training programme. Building on long established partnerships with a diverse range of schools all students have ample opportunities to learn with experienced practitioners. From the start of the course students work in a range of schools gradually building up confidence and expertise.

This carefully structured course will provide you with the skills and subject knowledge required to teach all the National Curriculum subjects through working with experienced and passionate tutors in interactive and practical teaching sessions. Along with these subject studies, you’ll develop a thorough grounding in all the major skills and issues of education including special educational needs and disabilities, behaviour management, setting high expectations and identifying pupil progress, planning and assessment, managing the teaching and learning of a classroom team, child development and learning through play.

You’ll also be given the chance to select a specialism curriculum area in years two and three and choose a focus for your final-year research dissertation. The comprehensive primary programme ensures you are well-equipped to teach across the curriculum, but also offer additional skills in a chosen area, thereby enhancing your employability.

More Info

By combining academic study and practical experience in a range of placement settings in the South West and East London , you are fully prepared to embark on your NQT year. Opportunities also include working in special schools, outdoor centres and other educational settings or leading specific projects with children and young people from a range of backgrounds.

Why this course at Marjon?

Long established and highly regarded Teacher Training provider locally, nationally and internationally.
Diverse range of placement schools from small rural to large urban including opportunities in East London, to prepare you to teach in any type of school.
All national curriculum subjects covered by specialist tutors delivered in our specialist primary classrooms.
High quality, personal support in schools and on campus.
Marjon teaching graduates progress quickly in their careers and so earn more than graduates from other universities in the South West and Wales (LEO data, DforE, 2017).
High rates of student satisfaction consistently above the sector average.
High quality training and outcomes - all trainees graded as good or outstanding in 2018.

Perfect if you're curious about:

Should all lessons be fun?
How would you welcome a refugee child into your class?
What is the difference between composition and decomposition?
Would you class a left-hander as a special needs child?
Are parents a help or hindrance in education?
What are the differences between Piaget, Bruner and Vygotsky’s theories of learning?

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Course Snapshot

Adam - Third year, BEd (Hons) Primary Education

"The first year is a great overview into life as a student teacher. We learnt about child development, phonics, reading and comprehension, building a strong foundation to help us in school. In our second year we had more placement experience and learnt how to manage classrooms. There’s a lot of self-reflection and improving the knowledge you have to educate children. The final year is a 10-week placement along with the dissertation."

Modules

All modules are compulsory to provide good coverage across all the key areas.

1st Year

Professional studies & first teaching practice
20 serial days and 4 week block. What makes an outstanding teacher? Consider this as you start the course and build on it in school. Working with a partner in a paired placement will help you develop skills and confidence enabling you to plan and teach full lessons across the curriculum by the end of the year.
Foundations of learning: Literacy & numeracy
Explore fundamentals of early literacy and numeracy and how children learn to read, write, count and calculate. Picture books, maths games and interactive activities make this module very practical. You will design your own picture book or maths game as part of the assessment.
Child development & early learning
Develop your understanding of the central importance of child development, play and early learning for all children. Forest school experience and visits to early years classes enhance your knowledge of this fundamental stage of education.
Curriculum studies: Foundation subjects & Religious Education
Experience the full range of national curriculum foundation subjects and R.E. through practical and interactive teaching sessions by specialist tutors. Learn about how to enthuse and excite children in a creative way whilst developing your knowledge and skills in each subject.
Professional skills of the teacher
Linked to your placement, this module equips you to develop all the key skills needed to embark on your teaching career. Carefully structured inputs and weekly tasks ensure you build confidence in planning, teaching, assessment and classroom management across different age groups.
Curriculum studies: Core subjects
Develop your subject knowledge in English, maths, science and computing and explore exciting and challenging ways to teach these to primary pupils. Using a range of practical resources, you’ll build your understanding of key concepts essential for ensuring children’s progress.

2nd Year

Second teaching practice
8 serial days and a 6 week block. This individual placement working with a different age group in a new school will take you to the next stage of development as a teacher. You will move onto planning, teaching and assessing sequences of lessons across the curriculum taking on more of the role of the class teacher.
Professional studies: Developing as a teacher
Through lectures and seminars explore a range of issues which will impact upon your effectiveness as a teacher. Enhance your ability to reflect on your own practice through journal writing and develop your own philosophy of teaching and learning combining theory and practice.
Curriculum studies: Developing foundation subjects & Religious Education
Deepen your experience of the full range of subjects and explore further ways to teach children creatively and imaginatively. Practical sessions build this knowledge, along with the creation of a portfolio of resources to support learning.
Curriculum studies: Developing core subject knowledge
Continue to build on developing your key skills in the teaching of the core subjects. Extending your own subject knowledge through on-going audits and target setting helps ensure you are confident to put this into practice on your forthcoming placement.
Managing medium-term teaching & learning
Serial visits into schools help support this module as you learn how to plan units of work across the curriculum and develop your understanding of the key role of assessment in teaching and learning. This links straight into the second teaching practice.
Inclusion & primary education
Develop your understanding of how to meet the needs of all the pupils in your class. This module covers key aspects of theory and practice relating to special educational needs, disability and inclusion. Seminars and lectures led by experts in the field support your learning.
Specialism: Enhancing knowledge & understanding
In your chosen specialism area, develop further subject knowledge which builds on previous subject modules. Practical teaching activities or off-site visits enhance your understanding and enthusiasm for this specific subject.
Curriculum studies: Deepening core subject understanding
The module develops your ability to challenge and support all the pupils in your class with a specific focus on teaching pupils with English as an Additional Language and extending more able pupils. Input from school staff on supporting EAL learners makes this very practical.
Enhanced placement
Up to 3 weeks. Enhance your professional skills through a teaching placement in a special school, a residential experience or a specific project or choose your own focus and set up an individual experience anywhere in the world! A great chance to explore different options for future teaching.

3rd Year

Final teaching practice
10 week block. Your final placement will help ensure that you are well prepared for your NQT year. Working 75% of the school day with the class, you will be taking responsibility for much of the planning, teaching and marking as well as playing a full part in the wider life of the school.
Specialism: Critical application of knowledge and understanding
Develop the skills needed to lead a subject area in a school in the future. Learn about planning, assessment and resourcing your chosen specialism along with key issues related to the specific subject. Off-site visits or teaching experiences enhance your learning.
Professional studies: Current issues for the teacher
Through exploring a range of current issues, this module sets you up for your first job. Weekly sessions and a conference day consider how to support refugees, transgender pupils and bereaved children amongst others. This stimulating, challenging module is a highlight for students.
Dissertation
Support from your supervisor helps you to select an appropriate focus, plan, carry out your research and compile your findings. Researching something you are passionate about enables you to develop your independent research skills under the guidance of an experienced tutor.

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What might you become?

On completion you will be able to teach in a Primary or Special school as a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT). Graduates from this course have progressed quickly into specialist or leadership positions in a wide range of schools and locations. Ofsted praised the University’s ‘effective use of local diversity and wider links which ensures trainees have breadth and variety in their training, so making them highly employable’ (Ofsted, 2014). Over 90% of our trainees go on to secure teaching posts locally, nationally or abroad which is above the national rate. Others go on to further postgraduate study or research posts within Higher Education. Many have gone onto leadership and management positions in schools.

“Having the most amazing lecturers at uni has allowed me to have knowledge of most the things that happen within school, including SEN children, being observed and advice from lecturers on how to deal with things. University has taught me a lot and I cannot pin point all of the things. It taught me the importance of independence and this allowed me to move out and get a job in the new part of the country, which I would never have been brave enough to do if I didn’t go to uni.”

“The range of subject knowledge sessions was fantastic and really boosted my confidence in teaching a range of subjects. The mathematics specialism module gave me the insight and tools to consider developing my career as a specialist and possibly one day as a subject leader. The lecturers offered support throughout this course, scaffolding our development both academically and as a reflective thinker. This will greatly impact upon my practice as a teacher and as a member of a team in school.”

“The biggest highlight for me was the relationships, support and guidance with lecturers on the course. In particular, the support received when in difficulty, both from my tutor and head of the course. The friendliness and ‘close knit’ feel of the staff and other students on the BEd made my time thoroughly enjoyable. Subject specific specialists provided up to date training for lesson planning in the early stages and were excellent as they are clearly passionate about their subjects.”

How will you be taught?

Sessions are delivered in our specialist primary class rooms, often in small group workshops. Sessions are practical and interactive to mirror primary school scenarios. You will also have lectures, seminars, tutorials, experiences in schools and in outdoor locations, both on and off-site.

How will you be assessed?

By coursework only through a range of creative assignments including portfolios, presentations, designing and making resources and written assignments. Placement assessment is carried out by school mentors and university tutors against the Teachers’ Standards.

Current Students

“Without a doubt, the thing I most enjoy about my course is all of our placements. They are so full on and such hard work but it really allows you to experience being a teacher, which is the best thing. Placement makes the entire academic learning just click into place and you actually feel like you almost know what you’re doing! This course has really helped me grow in confidence. Being in such a supportive environment has allowed me to take more chances and to believe in myself a little more.”

“I love the fact you get to spend a significant amount of time on placement. It enables you to develop your skills as a teacher and build up professional relationships with the staff and students. When spending so much time with the children you are able watch them grow and progress which, in turn, makes you feel proud of your achievements as well as the children’s progress. You get experience in a range of schools which is very beneficial.”

“The support and knowledge you receive from lecturers on this course couldn’t be better, they push you to be the best you can be and won’t let you settle for any less. This course has supported my understanding of how to write academically which in the future will help me with job applications. My confidence has grown so much since I began this course. I now feel capable of achieving so much more than I did before I started, and that is because of the fantastic support I have received.”

“I enjoy the hands-on and practical nature of the course, in lectures, seminars and on placement. Each year I have been able to improve my grades due to regular feedback on assignments. Personally, this course has given me the confidence to grow as a person. I have met some great people and have made friends for life. This course has allowed me to shape an image of what an outstanding teacher looks like and has given me opportunities to be the teacher I want to be.”

Lecturers

Victoria Brown

Senior Lecturer

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Caroline Colfer

Senior Lecturer

Caroline teaches aspects of the course related to how children learn and leads on Design & Technology teaching.

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Sally Eales

Senior Lecturer

Sally is a Senior Lecturer in Primary Education and teaches across the programme, specialising in English and professional studies. She works closely with primary schools to support the mentoring of trainee teachers. She is responsible for Admissions of BEd Primary Education students.

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Alison Ewen

Associate Lecturer

Alison is a 'Specialist Leader in Education' and former Head Teacher. She teaches science and professional studies and has a PG Cert in coaching and mentoring.

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Kate Firks

Lecturer

Kate specialises in special educational needs, disability support and inclusion, and also teaches Primary Foreign Languages. She is a qualified teacher of the visually impaired.

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Dr Tara Hollins

Senior Lecturer

Tara specialises in teaching primary mathematics and is also currently involved with an international project about making maths more accessible to primary aged children and their parents.

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Clare Shaw

Lecturer

Clare teaches professional studies and her specialised subject is English. Clare is the Year 2 lead for the BEd Primary Programmes and works extensively with schools on supporting trainee placements and mentoring.

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Hannah Wood

Lecturer

Hannah Wood studied Applied Sports Science & Coaching (with ICT), then took a PGCE in Secondary Physical Education and a Masters in Education (all at Marjon). She then taught for ten years and now teaches at Marjon, mostly working with trainee PE teachers. One of her main research interests is in mentor and mentee relationships; expectations, roles and responsibilities of each; a passion that she brings to the course recognising the often informal mentoring role that PE teachers particularly can play in young people’s lives.

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