Study Education (Primary) and graduate with a university degree

How do you provide an environment within which children feel safe and secure, and can develop their potential? What are the best methods of structuring learning and teaching opportunities? How do you manage behaviour effectively and ensure all children in the classroom are included?

Stirling is distinctive among Scottish universities in offering concurrent courses to prospective primary school teachers. These degree courses enable you to graduate with both a degree and teaching qualification for primary education, whilst studying a subject at university level.

As part of your degree you will have a specialist subject and teaching knowledge, understanding and skills in either Modern Languages, the Environment or Early Years. Primary school teachers with this specialist knowledge have recently become highly sought-after.

This course is accredited by the General Teaching Council for Scotland.

BA Professional Education (Primary) with specialism in Modern Languages
UCAS Code XR18

BA Professional Education (Primary) with specialism in the Environment
UCAS Code XC11

BA Professional Education (Primary) with specialism in Early Years
UCAS Code XX13

Year 1

Highers BBBB.
A-levels BBC.
IB Diploma with a total of 32 points.
HNC or HND with Bs in graded units.
Access courses and other UK/EU and international qualifications are also welcomed.

Year 2

Not available due to course requirements.

Further requirements

Entry is subject to a criminal convictions  check (PVG). Please note a conviction may not be a barr to entry to the programme, but those with a conviction should contact the Undergraduate Admissions Manager prior to application.

Required subjects

For all specialisms:

• Higher English/ESOL (C), or GCSE English Language and English Literature (C), or SQA Communication 4 and Literature 1.
• Mathematics Standard Grade (2), Intermediate 2 (C), GCSE (C) or equivalent.
• (Please note that Core Maths 4 is not acceptable for entry.)

There are additional required subjects for each specialism:

Other information

If examinations are taken over two sittings, or there are repeats or upgrades, the entrance requirements may be higher.

General entrance requirements apply.

information on possible sources of funding

Full time (three modules per semester). You can study part-time (one or two modules per semester) in the early stages. Teaching placements cannot be part-time.

The University currently has an Access Course which permits adult returners to gain entry to various degree studies. The courses offered by the School of Education are open to applicants who wish to gain entry through this route, and a proportion of our intake is set aside for this.  Due to the nature of the degree, and the requirement to have completed modules EDU9E1 and EDU9E2 before progressing onto Year 2 of study, direct access to Year 2 would necessitate a candidate having gained appropriate experience/qualifications elsewhere, generally in a higher education setting. Direct entry into Year 2 is at the discretion of the Director of ITE.

Entry to this degree is highly competitive. Applications received after 15 January will not normally be considered.

Please note that the main focus of this course is on teaching children and you should be able to demonstrate an aptitude for this.

You will follow a course of eight semesters (four years). This will lead to an Honours degree in Professional Education (Primary). During six semesters you will study modules in either Environmental Science/ Biology or Modern Languages or Psychology, Social Work, Social Sciences and Nursing.

Semesters 1 – 2

You will take the following core modules:

• Education: Purposes, Principles and Practice
• Education: Learning and Teaching

Semesters 3 – 6

You will take core modules in Education that cover a range of teaching skills, and advanced modules in your academic subjects (see subject listings for Environmental Science/Biology, Modern Languages or Psychology, Social Work, Social Sciences and Nursing). In addition, you will study specialised primary modules in literacy, numeracy and your chosen specialism (Environmental Science, Modern Languages or Early Years).

You will undertake two school placements, each lasting five weeks in January and February between Semesters 3 and 4 (nursery and early years) and between Semesters 5 and 6 (middle stages) (during vacation).

Semesters 7 – 8

In Semester 7, you have a school placement of 10 weeks' duration, as well as supplementary taught classes. In the final semester you will undertake an educational research project on an aspect of teaching either Early Years, Languages or Environmental Science within a primary school setting.

Optional work placement abroad or within a company

Students undertaking both BA (Hons) Professional Education (Primary) with Specialism in the Environment and BA (Hons) Professional Education (Primary) with specialism in Modern Languages have the opportunity to undertake an optional work placement for one year between Semesters 4 and 5.

The work placement is not assessed, nor is any credit given for undertaking the placement. Students undertaking the primary course with a specialism in Modern Languages have the opportunity to undertake their work placement as an English Language Assistant in a country where their language(s) of study are spoken.

Year 1

• EDU9E1 –  Education: Purposes, Principles, Practice
• EDU9E2 – Education: Learning and Teaching
  

Year 2

• EDU9E3 – Pedagogy I: The Nature of Learning and Teaching
• EDU9L3 - Primary Pedagogy 1 (Literacy and language in the nursery and primary school)
• EDU9AO – School Experience (Placement)
• EDU9E4 –Pedagogy II: Differentiation, Assessment and Progression
  

Year 3

• EDU9N5 - Primary Pedagogy II (Developing numeracy in the primary school)
• EDU9AP – School Experience (Placement)
• EDU9E6 – Differences and Identities
  

Students will only take one1 of the following modules:

• EDU9S6 - Primary Pedagogy III - Environmental science in the primary school
• EDU9M6 - Primary Pedagogy III - Modern languages in the primary school
• EDU9X6 - Primary Pedagogy III - Early years teaching
  

Year 4

• EDU9P/T7- Final Teaching Practice/Evaluation
• EDU9P8 - Primary Professional Enquiry
  

The courses are taught through seminars, lectures and workshops. Assessment is by continuous assessment. School experience placements are supported by school-based teachers and through tutor engagement.

The School of Education offers a concurrent degree path towards qualification as a teacher. This means that students study both pedagogy (the craft and practices of teaching) and their subject specialism(s) in tandem, one frequently informing and enriching the other. Stirling has offered such a route for over 40 years, and our confidence in this process is reflected in, and validated by, the recommendation of the Donaldson Report into Teacher Education in Scotland that the model used by us should be propagated and adopted by the other providers of teacher education in Scotland. Our size may be considered another strength, as we believe that we get the opportunity to establish close working and pastoral relationships with the students enrolled on our courses over the four years they are with us.

You have the opportunity to study abroad through Stirling's well-established connections with several international universities.

Education was rated 1^st in Scotland for the quality of its research in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise.

1st in Scotland for Education (The Times Good University Guide, 2010).

The School of Education at the University of Stirling is currently rated number one in Scotland for Education by a number of University Guides and for the quality of its research, and has been highly regarded throughout its 44-year history. The School prides itself on its prominent position within Scottish Education, and works hard to maintain its cutting edge approach to developing new knowledge within the field, as well as feeding this new knowledge into our teaching courses to enrich our core provision.

We work in close partnership with the Local Authorities, schools, Education Scotland and GTCS to ensure that students are supported throughout their studies to become effective professional educators.

Academic strengths

The School of Education has at its head a group of world-leading academics, with strong and established research records, and a wealth of world-class publications ranging from Adult Education to Inclusion. These academics in turn lead successful research groups within the School of Education which are all engaged in knowledge acquisition and exchange. Our teaching is thus informed by the research undertaken by its staff, and this permeates the Initial Teacher Education courses offered by the School.

The ITE course is currently led by Gary Wilson. Gary has a long association with University of Stirling and the School of Education, having graduated twice, first in 1990, then again in 1993. He leads a group of academics engaged in research and scholarship, who are all experienced classroom practitioners, having worked in a wide range of educational contexts, both here in Scotland and elsewhere in the British Isles and abroad. The course’s core tutor complement is supplemented by a number of Teacher Fellows – practising teachers who work in a range of local secondary schools and are released from their schools one day per week in order that they may work closely with our students.

The great majority of our graduates enter the Scottish Government’s Probationary Teacher Scheme, which entitles them to guaranteed employment for one year as a newly qualified teacher in a Scottish Local Authority school.  Of course, your degree and teaching qualification will qualify you to enter into a wide variety of other professional roles, such as corporate training and development, museum and leisure education, as well as other career routes less closely allied to teaching.