This module offers you the opportunity to build on your level 5 work placement through the more developed application of a negotiated work-based research project. You will agree with your placement tutor and workplace mentor a brief for a project which addresses a need within the organisation. Learners should complete a minimum of 100 hours in the workplace. It is in the spirit of this module that wherever possible, the focus will be on social or community / sustainable development.

This double module aims to draw and build upon your previous knowledge and experience in the study of primary education in order to enable you to investigate educational phenomena that holds particular interest for you for a research project. The dissertation requires you to select and explore an educational topic through field research in primary educational settings and reported in a written study. The module also provides an alternative mode of educational research for students who wish to acquire a detailed understanding of their chosen sphere of interest based upon published research in the field.  Students selecting the alternative mode of educational research are required to present findings based upon a robust and critical review of the current research in their selected field of study in the form of a portfolio.

TThis module builds on previous modules such as PSU405 and PSU406 and provides further opportunities to explore and critically evaluate social, moral and well-being issues in a primary classroom. You will deepen your knowledge of the whole child in the primary classroom and critically analyse the roles of professionals involved in supporting children in primary schools and their families. You will gain a critical understanding of the factors that can affect pupils’ participation and learning and can lead to underachievement. You will explore and critically evaluate support strategies and interventions designed to improve outcomes for primary children and their families.

This module focuses specifically on the multicultural multi-ethnic nature of the world and the fundamental impacts this has on early education in both contemporary and historical contexts. We explore central issues of diversity and the ways in which this concept exists in tension with neoliberal influences that promote conformity and encourage capitalism and inequalities. We unpick this by considering key concepts including colonialism and post-colonialism, otherness, race and racism, patriarchy and gender inequalities, and the datafication of the human subject.  The module offers an integrated exploration of global historical contexts to consider how these relate to current worldwide controversies and challenges in educational policy and practice. Active student participation is central to this module with teaching being based around close discussion of material and experience. Midway through the module you will undertake an ethnographic walk to critically explore a chosen area of the environment, the results of which are presented in the module to deepen understanding of sites of contest and the ways in which history and ideology are reflected in our everyday urban.

The thematic and analytical focus of this module is the impact of digital media and new information and communication technologies upon culture, notions of identity and education and learning. You will be introduced to the perspective that the spread of technologies is the source of some profound cultural changes that have huge implications for both socialisation and educational processes. You will also be introduced to some of the ways in which educational outcomes for the 21st century can be facilitated by the incorporation and creative exploitation of the new technologies. You will be expected to demonstrate that you can use the new technologies in your own creative educative production that critiques the impact of technologies on education.