Why choose the School of Education and English
In the NSS 2025, our education courses scored student satisfaction rates of 90% and over for teaching; learning opportunities; assessment and feedback; academic support; and organisation and management.
They rank in the UK top 20 for student satisfaction (Complete University Guide, 2026).
They rank UK 4th (tied) in their subject field for career prospects (Guardian, 2026).
About the course
This degree brings together two important research fields to gain different perspectives on how today’s children and adolescents develop and learn in the UK and around the world. You will have the opportunity to apply your specialist knowledge to real-life practice and take your first steps into a rewarding career in the fields of education and psychology.
Facilities and specialist equipment
- Mock classrooms with specialist technology so you can watch and assess your lesson
- Forest School where you can deepen your understanding of the long-term educational benefits of outdoor learning
- Specialist sensory centre for teaching SEND and early years courses
- Multimedia space for webinars and podcasting
- A wealth of IT facilities and resources available throughout the campus
- Access to the wider University sports resources and facilities including our on-site gym
Industry links
As one of the largest providers of teacher education in the eastern region, we have well-established partnerships with more than 500 schools and other associated organisations, including community-led initiatives and support in the community. This network puts us at the forefront of educational developments.
Student experience
Our Bedford campus is a small, thriving academic community where academic staff get to know you well.
Study with an expert academic team from teaching, education and psychology backgrounds.
You benefit from the support of your own personal tutor, a unit and course coordinator, and the additional support of our experienced library staff, all of whom will help you throughout your student journey and with balancing study with work and personal commitments.
You have the opportunity to go on relevant field trips and attend educational conferences.
We have regular visits, internal seminars and talks on relevant areas of focus as well as external speakers to the University, which all students are able to attend.
with Professional Practice Year
This course has the option to be taken over four years which includes a year placement in industry. Undertaking a year in industry has many benefits. You gain practical experience and build your CV, as well as being a great opportunity to sample a profession and network with potential future employers.
There is no tuition fee for the placement year enabling you to gain an extra year of experience for free.
*Only available to UK/EU students.
with Foundation Year
A Degree with a Foundation Year gives you guaranteed entry to an Undergraduate course.
Whether you’re returning to learning and require additional help and support to up-skill, or if you didn’t quite meet the grades to pursue an Undergraduate course, our Degrees with Foundation Year provide a fantastic entry route for you to work towards a degree level qualification.
With our guidance and support you’ll get up to speed within one year, and will be ready to seamlessly progress on to undergraduate study at Bedfordshire.
The Foundation Year provides an opportunity to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy, and will also cover a range of subject specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree.
This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your bachelor’s degree.
Why study a degree with a Foundation Year?
- Broad-based yet enough depth to give you credible vocational skills
- Coverage of a variety of areas typically delivered by an expert in this area
- Gain an understanding of a subject before choosing which route you wish to specialise in
- Great introduction to further study, and guaranteed progression on to one of our Undergraduate degrees
The degrees offering a Foundation Year provide excellent preparation for your future studies.
During your Foundation Year you will get the opportunity to talk to tutors about your degree study and future career aspirations, and receive guidance on the most appropriate Undergraduate course to help you achieve this; providing you meet the entry requirements and pass the Foundation Year.
Course Leader - Dr Kathryn Nethercott
My research interests are in the areas of children, young people and families, as well as, professional working in the areas of inter-professional working and communication. Specifically in the areas of how professionals working with children, young people and their families engage with social care processes. I am also interested in undergraduate student motivation.
Course Leader - Dr Kathryn Nethercott
My research interests are in the areas of children, young people and families, as well as, professional working in the areas of inter-professional working and communication. Specifically in the areas of how professionals working with children, young people and their families engage with social care processes. I am also interested in undergraduate student motivation.
Studying our Education with Psychology BA (Hons) course will equip you with the in-depth skills and knowledge around child development, education and psychology. In core areas of study, you will explore contemporary ideas around the Psychology of Education, including theories of learning, educational contexts, engagement and motivation. You will consider this in more depth in our Positive Psychology in Education unit by exploring the purpose and impact of positive psychology in educational settings. If you are passionate about working with children, young people and families, our unit in the Narratives of Childhood will be useful in developing your understanding of theories on childhood, youth and education. In areas of teaching, our unit in the Lifelong Curriculum will not only teach you to design curriculum, but how to implement it based on established educational policy. You will keep this knowledge in mind during our Developing Teaching Practice unit, where you will learn to deliver effective classroom sessions based on current research in the field. Similarly, our Deschooling unit will allow you to critically analyse accepted norms in education and pedagogy.
In more recent areas of study, you will learn about the increasing presence of technology in children and young people’s lives in our Working with Children and Young People in the Digital Age unit. In areas of the mind, you will be introduced to Early Child Psychology where you will examine changes in development during early childhood and how to utilise this within educational settings. Moving up an age group, you will consider the same aspects in our Psychology of Adolescence unit. Similarly, our unit in Social Psychology and Education will allow you to explore key topics in developmental and social psychology, including aspects of biological, cognitive and social development from early to old age. With a particular focus on children and young people, our Inclusion and Psychology unit will expose you to the causes, symptoms and treatments for atypical or exceptional children. Furthermore, you will analyse social policy and inclusion in the context of UK contemporary welfare reform in our unit in The Inclusive Society. Moreover, with more young people experiencing mental health issues, our unit in Children and Young People’s Wellbeing will teach you to support children through understanding social and emotional issues in education.
Shifting to home environments, our Families and Communities unit will allow you to consider the social, economic and cultural factors that shape family experience in a contemporary British society. Additionally, you will be introduced to the concepts of coaching in our Coaching Psychology in Education unit. In other areas of study, you will discover why and how Safeguarding and Child Protection has changed in recent years while also completing relevant safeguarding training. Finally, you will complete an independent research project in our Dissertation unit where you will choose a topic of interest relevant to your course and apply your academic and practical skills under the guidance of a supervisor. To help you with this, our Key Concepts in Education unit will also give you the skills to produce academic work to a higher education standard and our unit in Investigating the Social World will equip you with an understanding of quantitative and qualitative research methods, data collection, analysis and reporting.
This course aims to provide a wide range of assessment methods to support the diverse needs of our learners. Assessments include exams exhibitions essays webfolios panel discussions debates practicals case studies reflective logs and presentations. The assignments will build directly on the teaching sessions and you will be supported by lectures to complete the assignments. Substantial guidance is provided on the VLE and in detailed assessment briefs. In level 4 more support is provided in the form of formative assessment opportunities and we will explain the role of constructive feedback to you. You will also have more hours dedicated to guided (staff directed learning activities) in level 4 compared to later in the course.
There are opportunities for 1 to 1 and group tutorials to support the assessments both within units and in personal tutorials and staff office hours. The overall purposes of assessment in this course are: 1. Objectively to measure your achievements against the specified learning outcomes of the unit and course (summative). 2. To assist student learning by providing appropriate feedback on performance (formative). 3. To provide a reliable and consistent basis for boards of examiners to determine the progression of and conferment of achievement.
Careers
Many of our graduates follow one of our postgraduate routes into teaching for rewarding careers in the education sector or working with vulnerable children and young people. In addition, we see our graduates go on to careers in healthcare as well as the tertiary and voluntary sectors.
You also graduate with the skills and knowledge to continue on to a Master’s-level psychology conversion degree to gain British Psychological Society (BPS) accreditation. At the University of Bedfordshire, completing our MSc Applied Psychology will give you BPS chartership, opening career opportunities (after further qualifications) in the clinical field of educational psychology.
Entry Requirements
Entry Requirements
Fees for this course
UK
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the Academic Year 2025/26 is £9,535 per year. You can apply for a loan from the Government to help pay for your tuition fees. You can also apply for a maintenance loan from the Government to help cover your living costs. See www.gov.uk/student-finance
Excellence Scholarships
Worth £2,500 per year of study over three years when you score a defined number of UCAS tariff points from specified qualifications*
» If you don’t qualify for an Excellence Scholarship but have 120 UCAS tariff points, you have enough points for one of our Achievement Scholarships offering £500 per year of study**
» Other scholarships, bursaries and financial support packages are available
* Points requirements vary depending on type of qualification.
** Threshold is 120 UCAS tariff points across all awarding bodies and qualifications.
International
The full-time standard undergraduate tuition fee for the academic year 2025/26 is £16,900 per year.
There are range of Scholarships available to help support you through your studies with us.
A full list of scholarships can be found here.
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