Master of Arts in English Literature

at University of Bedfordshire - Bedford Campus United Kingdom

If your dream career involves training athletes to maximise their physical potential and improve their performance, then this innovative course is for you. What’s more, you’re taught by a team who have trained some of the best sportsmen and women in the world.

This degree gives you the skills you need to be a strength and conditioning coach while developing your understanding and experience of performance sport.

You learn from leading professionals in the field, who have worked with elite England and GB sportsmen and women, and collaborated with the Rugby Football Union, Football Association and Amateur Athletic Association.

The course covers a wide range of disciplines including anatomy, physiology, biomechanics and sport psychology as well as specific units in strength and conditioning and sport science.

Why choose this course?

• Benefit from our modern, high-tech facilities, including extensive sport-science laboratories and a purpose-built strength and conditioning suite
• Develop your employability through work-placement opportunities which could lead to internships with local professional clubs and the University’s Sports Scholarship Scheme
• Become a professional on a course that has Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) qualifications embedded in it
• Completing the course also allows you to apply for professional accreditation with the United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association (UKSCA)
• Take the course over four years and include a fee-free year in industry (see below), gaining experience and making contacts for the future
• If you need a step up into higher education, start with a Foundation Year (see below) which guarantees entry to the undergraduate degree

If you’re interested in football and keen to work in a related area this course offers you an overview of football from business, coaching and development angles, as well as a detailed study of the sport industry.

It covers football administration, social issues in football and coaching (with a chance to gain coaching awards), as well as broader areas of sport.

There are opportunities to volunteer with local Football Associations, helping you build your CV and employability skills.

Why choose this course?

• Learn through a combination of lectures/seminars, field trips and practical experience – including on-site events management operations
• Study areas including football business, football and the media, developing coaching, football development, sport management and sociology of sport
• Gain football coaching awards
• Explore the study of football coaching, management and development in this multi-disciplinary course

This course is designed for recent graduates who are looking to develop their career in physical education teaching or youth sport coaching.

It will support you in developing the knowledge and skills required to progress to teacher education and/or higher-level employment. It will deepen your critical understanding of the issues facing professionals in physical education and sport settings.

The course undertakes a research-informed and practice-based theory approach. Many of the units require you to draw on observations and activities in work-related environments in order to link experience and theoretical learning.

MA Physical Education and Sport (Pedagogy) is a rigorously designed and intellectually demanding professional education and development programme.

It is studied in order to become a more effective and reflective teacher or coach in school, club and other community settings. Each unit is grounded in the most recent developments in research on physical education, sport pedagogy and youth sport, and draws on your practical experience.

We use intensive, compressed teaching time combined with flexible off-site guided learning to fit around your work in a school or youth sport setting.

This course will also provide the advanced knowledge and research training required for direct access to higher degrees by research (MPhil/ PhD).

Why choose this course?

• Study in a supportive environment, on a course covering a unique combination of topics designed to integrate research with current physical education policy and practice
• Develop an advanced and critical understanding of pedagogy and practice for social justice and youth voice; sport and education policy; action research; and public health concerns in physical education and youth sport environments
• Gain the necessary personal competencies, applied practical skill-sets and subject expertise to become a theoretically informed and reflective practitioner
• Gain a grounding in the theoretical study of physical education and sport pedagogy in your practical workplace experience.
• Develop your personal and professional network and benefit from our links with schools, Sport England, Governing Bodies, and Active Partnerships
• Receive support from peer mentors who are studying on our MA Physical Education and Sport (Leadership) course
• Exchange knowledge with aspiring graduates in sport, physical activity and health industries/institutions by attending units that will also include students from our other MA and MSc courses.
• Gain experience of working with young people, practitioners and employers to investigate and analyse real problems and develop the ability to develop innovative solutions
• Undertake a semester long research project on a chosen topic, working in a physical education, sport or physical activity environment of your choice
• Study using range of learning activities including lectures, seminars, practicals, problem-based-learning and tutorials
• Learn from a team who have a wide range of academic expertise and experience in specific subject areas including critical pedagogy, youth voice, models-based practice, policy, leadership, and the sociology of sport.
• Gain insights from experts through the seminar series coordinated by the Institute of Sport and Physical Activity Research (ISPAR)

You will gain deeper understanding of sport science and personal training as well as relevant experience through work placements/internships at sports organisations, schools and within a personal training environment, preparing you for a successful career.

By linking closely to your previous studies and work experience it provides seamless progression to university-level study with the added benefit of a targeted initial induction and a week-long summer school to help support your academic development.

Why choose this course?

The course involves the detailed study of the physiological consequences of chronic debilitating diseases and highlights the changes that these different diseases cause during exercise testing.

This unique course gives you a solid grounding in theory and application of physiological tests in clinical populations including: graded cardiopulmonary exercise testing; cardiac ultrasound; vascular ultrasound; and muscle function analyses.

Throughout the course you will actively participate in practical sessions designed to increase your skills, with supervised practice sessions working alongside University sports teams in our BASES Accredited Sport and Exercise Science Laboratories. Integration of theory and practice ensures you will meet developing statutory professional requirements of practice-specific knowledge, understanding and skills.

 Why choose this course?

• Study on a unique course with a multi-disciplinary approach to teaching, with access to world-leading staff expertise and research
• Explore areas including: research design; exercise testing and diagnosis; exercise testing and prescription; physical activity, nutrition and metabolic health; laboratory skills; research methods; advanced exercise testing and diagnosis
• Develop the high-level professional standards demanded of members of a health care team; understanding your ethical, moral and legal responsibilities as well as acquiring the practical competencies, theoretical knowledge and research skills that will help you access careers in health and fitness or academia
• Gain from the opportunity to practice your skills on work placement, and shadow experienced staff
• Benefit from gaining the necessary skills to become a Health Promotion Specialist; Clinical Exercise Physiologist; Clinical Technician or researcher, and/or continue to further research-based study on MSc by research, MPhil or PhD programmes.

If your love of the English language is matched only by your fascination for the breadth of its literature this distinctive degree is an ideal choice.

Develop a sophisticated understanding of both the language and a variety of texts from core periods of literary history – from the medieval to the present day, with the opportunity to take units focused on central issues in the study of English language.

You will examine a range of key texts in literary and linguistic history, and a choice of specialist units will further deepen your appreciation of English literature across genres and eras.

• Learn valuable transferable skills on a course combining theory and practice
• Study areas including creative writing, publishing and broadcasting and translation and interpretation
• Develop your knowledge and understanding of literature whilst learning practical skills relevant to teaching and many other careers where a detailed, critical knowledge of language and literature are needed
• Gain from studying with academics who produce world-leading, internationally recognised research
• Explore the Hockcliffe Collection, one of the most important collections of children’s books in the country
• Benefit from a course which prepares you for a range of careers in teaching, editing, publishing, journalism, business, travel and tourism, or further postgraduate study

If you’re fascinated by the science behind sport and exercise performance, this course gives you a rare chance to be part of a world-leading research team, using high-spec equipment to get to the heart of what makes a great sports performer.

The course combines scientific knowledge and sports performance, covering the core areas of sport and exercise science. Study involves lab work using discipline-leading equipment including online gas-analysis machines, an environmental chamber, light gates and echocardiography. It also offers specialist units in biomechanics, exercise physiology and social psychology, to name a few.

You learn in a high-performance environment with a leading research team specialising in exercise physiology; molecular exercise physiology; and exercise and health. You can be part of the team working on prestigious projects for elite sports teams, governing bodies and government initiatives.

Why choose this course?

• It is endorsed by the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES)
• There is a fitness qualification, endorsed by Skills Active, embedded into the course, allowing you to enter onto the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) Level 2
• Gain employability skills with specific, industry-proven guidance and participation in the latest sports science research
• Explore your area of interest with a final-year research project of your choice
• Take the course over four years and include a fee-free year’s placement in industry (see below), gaining experience and making contacts for the future
• If you are looking to step up into higher education, take the degree with a Foundation Year which guarantees entry to the Undergraduate course (see below)

Study with one of the country’s most established providers, learning from an academic team at the cutting edge of teaching and research, on a course that’s your springboard to a career in the field of sport and physical education.

Combining theory of teaching with practical activities, this wide-ranging degree teaches you lab-based skills that develop your understanding of human performance while also focusing on sport psychology, in areas such as behaviour and motivation.

Other areas covered by the course include exercise practice; sport pedagogy; physiology and health; physical activity and social inclusion; physical activity and health interventions; and professional development. Opportunities for relevant work experience are embedded into the course and there is also the option to take a sandwich-year placement.

Why choose this course?

• Gain an understanding of teaching and coaching that gives you a skill set transferable across multiple career fields
• Develop research and analytical skills in your final-year professional study
• Choose either a BA or BSc degree route, giving you a unique chance to specialise
• A fitness qualification endorsed by Skills Active is embedded into the course, allowing you to enter onto the Register of Exercise Professionals Level 2
• Benefit from teaching that puts your future employability at the heart of the course: 97% of our graduates are in work or study six months after finishing
• Take the course over four years and include a fee-free year in industry (see below), gaining work experience and making contacts for the future
• If you need to step up into higher education, start with a Foundation Year (see below) which guarantees entry to the undergraduate degree

Corporations today work in a highly regulated environment so need managers who understand the legal aspects of business. This degree gives you this knowledge as well as the skills to successfully manage any organisation.

By taking this course, you benefit from an integrated syllabus that brings together business management and the legal framework within which it operates. You study essential aspects of business management including marketing, accounting, human resource management, strategy and project management alongside the fundamentals of business law such as contract law, tort law and intellectual property law.

You also learn how to apply theory to real-life situations, making you an efficient and effective manager in any organisational, cultural or social context.

Why choose this course?

• Learn in small classes through lectures, seminars and workshops, cementing your learning via group projects, research exercises, presentations and case study analyses
• The combination of business skills and legal knowledge make you attractive to employers across a wide range of organisations. It is also an invaluable preparation if starting your own business
• Gain from the opportunity to work independently on a final-year dissertation, undertaking research in your chosen area
• Take the course over four year and benefit from a fee-free placement year in industry (see below), gaining experience, building your CV and making contacts for the future
• If you need an entry route into degree-level study, start with a Foundation Year (see below), completion of which guarantees you entry to this degree course
• Benefit from a degree which gives you access to careers in general management roles, plus more specialist opportunities in human resources, e-business, operations or project management

Find your individual voice and put your passion into practice on a course that will see you graduate as a versatile and highly employable dance artist, ready to forge a portfolio career within the dance sector.

The course comprises daily technique classes including contemporary, ballet and commercial; fitness sessions; choreography and creative sessions; workshops in digital technologies, dance-teaching skills and community dance practices. You will also be encouraged to think, write and talk about how dance theory informs your work.

There are many opportunities to perform in works by professional choreographers for the University Dance Company, as well as works created by your fellow students. Performances are presented in our professional theatre.

The emphasis is on professional practice, technical competence, creativity and teamwork, a combination that supports students to be versatile, adaptable and employable.

Why choose this course?

• Learn from our highly experienced teaching team specialising in different areas of dance
• Develop your skills through visiting dance artists and choreographers
• Create your own work for performance, including a major piece for the annual student showcase and dance festival
• Gain performance experience in our up-to-the-minute dance studios and professional 280-seat theatre
• Explore extra-curricular activities including cultural exchanges, dance societies and trips
• Take up opportunities for internships and participation in external dance projects