Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Early Childhood Studies

at University of Plymouth United Kingdom

Education is a driving force for a better and more just world. BA (Hons) Education informs, supports and promotes those looking to become innovators, pioneers and leaders of societal change. Educators can have a lasting impact on people’s lives. Whether you want to become a teacher, work in the social or care industries, as an educator in business, the environment or community development, BA (Hons) Education offers a flexible path to challenging and rewarding careers.

Explore social and political issues, consider diversity in education and discover how the environment shapes learning. This degree will help you make a difference to adults' and children's wellbeing and our global future.

Key Features

• We are about exploration: we love Plymouth but we also love to explore. Within the course there is the opportunity to broaden your understanding of Education in different environments and cultures: residential trips; an option to study for the second semester in the USA; work based learning placements, and more.
• Learning and working with others: students are given space and tools to develop your individual voice, critical insight, and knowledge over a wide range of the education field. We encourage you to engage with different views and ideas about what a meaningful, inclusive and socially just form of education is.
• Enriched student experience: there are many additional opportunities to nourish a thriving student experience, such as benefitting from visiting speakers; wide ranging free public lectures/performances; Makaton training; teaching English as a second language fully certified course; and a range of volunteering experiences and placements in schools and the community.
• Developing confidence and critical thinking: we encourage and foster students’ knowledge and understanding of yourself and others, to develop confidence and conviction in personal opinions and beliefs and to have these challenged, as well as to build the courage to step outside of your comfort zones and to embrace new things.
• Becoming a researcher: students arrive imagining they might enter teaching, or social work, etc, at the end. Often, however, as you develop as an academic researcher, it opens up new opportunities and you catch the research bug! Doing research also helps to build confidence and skills which are useful for many work disciplines in the years ahead.
• Individual journeys and development: one of the things we particularly prize is the way we work to nurture, challenge and encourage personal growth and development. The course has the journey of 'you' at its heart: the person you wish to be, providing you with the enthusiasm and knowledge you need change the world around us.
• Early Childhood options: You can dip your toe into another program; as well as the BA (Hons) Education course, you will have the opportunity in your second year to take one or two modules in Early Childhood Studies.
• Other learning opportunities: Take advantage of paid or unpaid work-based learning module/s to help you stand out when it comes to starting your career. You can also participate in education-related volunteering, or pursue the opportunities presented in our International Students Exchange Programme.

Broaden your geological horizons by exploring the connection between the Earth and its marine and nearshore environments on our joint honours degree. Geology with ocean science will arm you with the theoretical and practical aspects of geology, as well as enabling you to develop an understanding of oceanography and coastal processes. Gain an awareness of the interplay between the solid Earth and marine processes, and learn how these factors control the development of coastal regions.

You will take part in the substantial fieldwork offered in a variety of UK and overseas locations such as Morocco, Iceland, Sicily, Spain and Cyprus. You'll become an experienced field-worker, able to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in the classroom to existing Earth science problems. You’ll work towards becoming a Chartered Geologist, our accreditation by the Geological Society helps you to gain the required experience.

Have you Considered

• BSc (Hons) Geology
• BSc (Hons) Physical Geography and Geology
• BSc (Hons) Geography

Key Features

• Gain a breadth of knowledge of the Earth and marine sciences not possible with a single honours degree.

 Autonomous systems will increasingly be adopted into every aspect of our daily lives. The future of autonomy, in the transport sector alone, is projected to grow tenfold to over US$550 billion by 2026. Plymouth is fast becoming a global centre for excellence in marine and robotic autonomy systems development. You will have the opportunity to use our specialist laboratories including the COAST and Robotics Laboratory for your dissertation.

Our one year course covers core principles of this emerging field: sensor technologies for machine perception; machine learning and AI for adaptation and decision making; embedded systems, communications, security and data management, for safe and efficient operations of an Autonomous System. The course also encompasses general ethical issues related to the societal acceptance of these systems. The course has been designed in conjunction with employers who contribute seminars and guest lectures.

Key Features

Creatively solve design problems as you learn to harness the power of typography within graphic design. Collaborate with students from other disciplines and world-leading researchers to discover how graphic design makes a positive impact in the world. Work hands-on in an inspiring and dedicated studio environment with 360-degree views of the cityscape and ocean before joining our community of graduates working for leading design studios worldwide.

Key Features

• Prepare yourself for your dream career: our graduates finding creative fulfilment working for companies such as DesignBridge, Leo Burnett, Snask, IBM and The Times.
• In your final year you can choose a specialism to match your interests and career goals with options that relate directly to the design industry. Choose from identity and branding, editorial and publishing and Information design.
• Draw on support from committed tutors with long-term industry and academic experience.
• Fly high and join alumni and current students who have won national and international competitions.
• Engage with live client briefs, giving your creativity real-world impact.
• Explore our range of resources including printmaking workshops, photographic studios and Apple Mac workstations complete with the latest Adobe CC software.
• Develop your knowledge and develop yourself by taking advantage of a learning environment that includes open plan studios with a 360 degree view of Plymouth, a city at the heart of art and culture in the South West.
• Have direct contact with prestigious visiting speakers such as Jonathon Barnbrook, Michael Johnson and Angus Hyland. Get feedback on your work from practicing graphic designers during our ‘Industrial Liaison Day’.

Whether you are interested in mechatronics, artificial intelligence or the possibilities for biosensors, the BEng Robotics will encourage you to push your limits. Our emphasis on high level robotics, including mobile and humanoid automation, and our focus on the electronics and hardware that support industrial and service robotics is complemented by the hands-on approach you'll develop in our specialist laboratories.

You will work in a world-class research environment with staff internationally renowned for conducting cutting-edge service and cognitive robotics research. You will take part in robotics competitions offering invaluable opportunities for exciting and highly formative, practical sessions of intense study. You’ll capitalise on the opportunity to take a work placement in your third year, putting your robotics skills into action in the real world.

Have you considered

• MEng (Hons) Robotics
• BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Key Features

• 100% of our graduates said the course was intellectually stimulating in the 2019 National Student Survey. No doubt because from the day you join us until the day you graduate you’ll be testing and applying everything you learn in our fantastic labs.*
• Our robotics courses have a large number of laboratory practical sessions embedded in their modules, and this is a strong feature of the robotics teaching in Plymouth. This ensures that you can consolidate theory learned in lectures using real practical tasks, making your understanding of topics much more concrete.
• Develop in a broad range of subjects ranging from analogue and digital electronics to software programming and artificial intelligence, all in the context of robotics. 
• Advance your knowledge of electronics, microprocessors, and embedded systems forming the technological core of the course. This is supported by a thorough understanding of robotics concepts, such as control theory, sensors and motors. 
• Learn by doing in our high specification electronics, communications and robotics laboratories.
• Work in a world-class research environment with staff internationally renowned for conducting cutting-edge service and cognitive robotics research.
• Take part in robot football and other robotics competitions offering invaluable opportunities for exciting and highly formative, practical sessions of intense study. 
• Benefit from individual and group projects offering the possibility for you to consolidate your robotics knowledge by building and programming a variety of robots including small wheeled robots, industrial robots and humanoids.
• Draw on unique opportunities to engage in world-class robotics research, and in a variety of activities (for example, in the humanoid robot football, Federation of International Robot-soccer Association (FIRA) competition).
• Capitalise on the opportunity to take a work placement in your third year, putting your robotics skills into action in the real world.
• Join our Robotics Society and take the opportunity to assist robot development for international competitions such as the Robocup humanoid football league and robot athletics. 
• Immerse yourself in a degree accredited by the Institution for Engineering and Technology (IET), and meet the educational requirements for becoming a Chartered Engineer (CEng).
• Benefit from free IET membership while you are on the course.
• Work alongside internationally-renowned staff in a leading service and cognitive robotics research environment.
• To complement your formal learning we offer regular PALS sessions that provide the opportunity for you to learn with and from your peers. Share knowledge, discuss ideas, and ask questions in a relaxed and friendly environment.

The geosciences are critical to shaping the future of our planet. Geologists use their knowledge of the earth’s evolution and the physical, chemical and biological process that shape our planet, to pioneer sustainable futures. Our new modules explore geohazards and risk, clean energy transitions, and long term environmental change. Students gain specialist academic, international fieldwork and laboratory skills providing a springboard to an exciting and diverse range of careers.

Key Features

• Our new modules address critical sustainability challenges: reducing risk from natural hazards, harnessing cleaner energy sources and how to combat climate and environmental change.
• Our approachable staff share their cutting-edge research and expertise through varied teaching practices in lectures, tutorials, practical classes and field courses.
• Learn to apply the latest techniques in the field and laboratory. Our substantial fieldwork programme provides opportunities in a variety of UK and overseas locations including Death Valley USA, Spain, Sicily and Cyprus.
• Progress your skills in our open access laboratory, LABplus.
• Develop your confidence with a personal tutor, providing you with weekly guidance throughout your first year.
• Our PALS mentoring scheme provides you with support from students in the year ahead.
• Plymouth's coastal location, close to Dartmoor and two UNESCO World Heritage sites provides the perfect setting for studying geology, with opportunities for fieldwork right on our doorstep.
• Receive essential field safety equipment free as part of your welcome package.
• Work towards becoming a Chartered Geologist, our accreditation by the Geological Society, the world’s oldest and most prestigious national learned society for geology, helps you to gain the required experience.
• Take the opportunity to spend your second year studying abroad in Canada, Australia, USA or elsewhere through our direct exchange, Erasmus or ISEP programmes. Plymouth is currently the only UK institution to offer exchanges through ISEP, giving our students the greatest range of Earth science exchange opportunities available.

Are you motivated by a desire to understand processes in the world’s oceans that drive phenomena such as ocean circulation, ocean acidification, sea-level rise or coastal erosion? If so, this course prepares you for a career in applied oceanography, coastal zone management or scientific research. You’ll develop the practical skills needed to collect and analyse data from the marine environment alongside an advanced understanding of ocean dynamics and processes contributing to shoreline change.

You will participate in practical activities during field work in Plymouth Sound, and further afield during the residential field week. You’ll benefit from access to a range of high specification oceanographic instrumentation that you will be trained to independently prepare, deploy and recover. You’ll pursue optional subjects that interest you most.

Have you considered

• BSc (Hons) Ocean Exploration and Surveying

Key Features

• In the 2019 National Student Survey, 100 per cent expressed overall satisfaction with the course; 100 per cent of students felt staff on this course were good at explaining things; 100 per cent felt that the staff made the subject interesting and 100 per cent found the course intellectually stimulating.*
• Participate in practical activities during field work in Plymouth Sound, and further afield during the residential field week.
• Benefit from access to a range of high specification oceanographic instrumentation that you will be trained to independently prepare, deploy and recover.
• Pursue optional subjects that interest you most from a range including meteorology, remote sensing, marine conservation, hydrographic surveying, modelling ocean processes and marine pollution.
• Progress into work in oceanographic research and consultancy, coastal zone management and related marine-science industries such as the emerging field of marine renewable energy.
• Develop your range of practical skills with our own fully-equipped fleet of boats, a new £4.65 million Marine Station used as a base for fieldwork afloat and industry-standard oceanographic and surveying equipment.
• Choose to take the industry-recognised professional diving qualification (HSE Professional SCUBA) alongside your degree and an optional scientific diving module to provide training and qualification for diving-based research projects and employment (limited places and additional costs apply).
• Experience an overseas field course that integrates ocean science knowledge and understanding from across the different sub-disciplines to address real-world issues.

Enhance your skills in the areas of management, leadership and innovation - required by a wide range of healthcare professionals and health service managers. MSc Healthcare Management, Leadership and Innovation is designed to be a highly flexible entry into management within the health and care service, whether your interests lie in leadership, quality improvement, innovation methodology, organisation development, patient safety, or education.

You will study aspects of management, leadership and innovation in healthcare, relevant to professionals seeking to lead services and organisations into the future and explore the management and leadership theories pertinent to health and care practice. Gain practical experience of multi-disciplinary team working through problem identification and problem solving to encourage innovation and creativity in project design, development and knowledge transfer. You'll also be offered the choice of a traditional research-based dissertation or the option to undertake a work-related professional project or quality improvement project built on improvement science principles

Key features

It’s often said that the best way to see the future is to understand the past. History at Plymouth will help you do just that, giving you the tools to make a difference to tomorrow. Explore five centuries of history, from the Tudors to contemporary history. Study in 'Britain's Ocean City', one of the UK's most historic ports, and chart your course to the future with our partnerships with organisations like The Box and National Trust.

Key Features

We’re very proud of our National Student Survey (NSS) 2019 return showing 87% expressed overall satisfaction with the course.

92% agreed the course is intellectually stimulating and staff are good at explaining things.
98% expressed that they have been able to contact staff when they needed to.

• Enhance your career options with a degree that helps you develop highly sought-after analytical and communication skills while you home in on your passion.
• Participate in local/day, national and international field trips which are free or subsidised for all students
• Gain workplace experience with local public history and heritage sites so you can kick-start your career as soon as you graduate.
• Plot your own course through the centuries as you take the lead in your research projects and choose areas of study from our flexible range of modules, creating a tailor-made degree.
• Our international exchange programme gives you the opportunity to travel and spend either a semester or an entire year exploring history with one of our partner institutions in the US or Europe
• Explore history with your friends and course mates by joining the History Society, a lively and supportive community hosting educational and social events.
• Discover the most up-to-date ways of studying history through our online history resources including a vast eBook library, and array of online lectures and resources.

Get the best preparation to take on the challenge of a career as a primary teacher focusing on Special Educational Needs (SEN). With teaching methods shaped by our own research expertise, and plenty of on-the-job training in the classroom, you’ll gain the confidence and experience you need to work with SEN students in a variety of roles and settings. We’ll support you to explore the diversity of how children learn and develop your own toolkit for inclusive and effective teaching.

Have you considered

• BEd (Hons) Primary (FS/KS1 with QTS)
• BEd (Hons) Primary (KS1/KS2 with QTS)

Key Features

• Launch your career: obtaining integrated Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), which means you can begin your teaching career immediately. Expand your horizons, enhance your practical experience and set yourself above the competition.
• SEN focus area: this degree will look at teaching over the primary phase but also look at the way SEN and inclusion feeds into KS1 and KS2 preparing you to work with children from any phase of primary education in either mainstream or special schools.
• Partnership with special schools: throughout this degree you will be visiting special schools and working with learners with inclusive needs. You will have a good understanding of how these schools support children with their learning.
• No exams: learn through interactive workshops and with no end-of-year/semester exams.
• Close links to the Master of Education (MA Ed): this link enables students to achieve enhanced career progression in a profession in which masters level attainment is increasingly valued.
• Work based learning opportunities: students benefit from a wide range of placement types within our partnership of over 500 schools and other settings, from single days to extended block placements to develop and consolidate QTS standards.
• Professional identity: from the very start of the programme you are considered as a teacher in development. The programme supports you as you develop your professional standards and identity.
• Research -informed teaching: not only are all modules enhanced by tutors’ active research interests but students are immersed in a research culture and benefit from learning about the advantages of researching their practice first hand.
• Student support: within the Plymouth Institute of Education there is a strong ethos of support for all students. Your professional tutor will actively engage with you throughout the BEd programme to offer guidance and support in both academic and pastoral terms.
• OfSTED recognised: recent inspection rated the Primary ITE provision at Plymouth as good in all aspects, with particular strengths in the partnership led elements of the programmes and the quality of the graduates.