Studying our Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) BA (Hons) course will equip you with the specialist knowledge and skills in the combined fields of educational needs and disability studies. 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. This unit will consider how children’s learning worlds are developed and regulated by adults while analysing the impact of social, economic, technological and cultural change on childhood experience. This knowledge will allow you to raise critical questions about children’s care policies, welfare and education. In SEND studies, you will learn to identify the ‘Need’ in Special Educational Needs and Disability by questioning what makes a special need ‘special’ and what the legal definition of ‘needs’ is in the UK. You will explore this in more depth in our Historical Development and Current Legal Context for SEND unit where you will examine the history of SEND provision, how it informs current policy, and what can be done for children who have not progressed.

Aside from this, you will engage in Understanding Human Learning to help you develop your knowledge on what informs learning and behaviour difficulty in educational institutions. To deepen your understanding on this topic, our unit in Understanding and Meeting Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties and Sensory and/or Physical Difficulties aims to develop your awareness of these needs and how to address them in classroom settings. Alongside this, you will also look at Approaches to Understanding and Addressing Communication, Interaction, Cognition and Learning Needs while debating ways to meet these needs in an inclusive society. You will then learn to assess these needs in our Assessment and Planning unit that will help inform meaningful and sensitive provision. As a SEND educator, you will also learn to support pupils with specific needs, such as those with Difficulties in Literary Acquisition, including dyslexia, and Difficulties in Numeracy Acquisition by exploring models of literacy learning and how educational institutions can facilitate this.

Moreover, you will adapt your teaching and pedagogy to meet these needs while keeping their wellbeing, progress and achievements in mind in our Differentiation in Classrooms unit. To help with this, you will be introduced to the Uses of ICT to Support Young People’s Special Learning Needs so that you can facilitate greater participation among SEND individuals in education. In other areas of study, you will discover how Children’s Literature provides insight into their lives and their transition to adulthood by examining material such as illustration, drama and popular fiction, as well as how to engage them with this material.

Finally, you will plan and execute an independent research project in our Dissertation unit where you will choose a relevant topic of interest to you and work under the guidance of a supervisor. In more practical work, you will partake in a SEND Placement that will allow you to understand how children and young people with a range of needs learn, as well as put SEND theory into practice. To help you with this, our unit in Investigating the Social World will equip you with an understanding of quantitative and qualitative research methods, data collection, analysis and reporting. As an additional unit, you can also undertake a Professional Practice Year (Education and English) as an opportunity to develop your employability skills and gain formally recognised work-based learning.