Educational Studies
School of Public Policy and Professional Practice
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Last Updated 20 January 2012

Principal Course Timetable Blocks 1


Educational Studies is a Principal subject offered within Keele's undergraduate course structure. It has been designed as a programme that combines in-depth academic study with work that also has an 'applied' orientation. The rationale underlying the development of the Educational Studies course is that education and training are major societal pursuits with a wide range of purposes and major economic and cultural implications and therefore merit more detailed study at University level.

Modules offered in the first year are 'foundation modules' on which subsequent modules build. However, direct access to the latter is open to students with appropriate prior experience. All modules involve two contact hours per week for one semester and are assessed on the basis of essays, examinations, or equivalent pieces of work prepared by the students.


Further descriptions of Educational Studies modules can be found on the Education Department's website at:


www.keele.ac.uk/education/


PLEASE NOTE: LEVEL 2 & LEVEL 3 MODULES ARE PROVISIONAL AND MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Educational Studies Dual Honours - Level 1 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-10029 Childhood, Policy and Education EP C 7.5 15
This module encourages students to think critically about the concept of childhood as a social and historical construction. It explores a range of institutional and other discourses in which childhood is encoded including media, literature, art and the law but there is a particular focus on state policies and education. Through a critical review of a range of recent interventions, strategies and agendas including Every Child Matters, Sure Start, Inclusion and Creativity, and their enactment through the early years and primary curriculum, the module explores the role of the state in current constructions of childhood, parenting and associated rights and responsibilities.
EDU-10033 Understanding Learning C C 7.5 15
Is learning a matter of conditioning or making impressions on a blank sheet, or is the mind itself active in exploring the world around it? Do we learn individual items one by one or in a random way? What is the relationship between language and learning? Why do some people learn easily at school and in higher education while others encounter enormous or insuperable difficulties? What are the most effective learning strategies to adopt? This module will introduce students to contemporary and historical theories of learning. It makes use of these in an exploration of educational practice at various levels and encourages students to focus on and reflect on their own learning in the context of higher education.
EDU-10067 Back to the Future: issues in the history of schooling EP C 7.5 15
This module is intended to introduce you to aspects of the history of schooling in Britain from 1870 to 1944. The module will cover distinct topics that run through the history of this period. This includes a focus on education and inequalities of social class and gender; education and nation-building, churches and state education, education and the economy, arguments over the curriculum. A consistent theme is that of the diversity and unevenness of educational provision and the ways in which debates and policy have responded to the problems and opportunities to which such features have given rise. The module draws on primary and secondary sources. Alongside histories of the period, you will read extracts from novels, government reports, parliamentary debates and political pamphlets. One of our reasons for doing this is to encourage you to make use of first hand evidence in your own research and inquiry.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-10030 Education in Britain:past, present, future C M 7.5 15
This module will cover the period of compulsory state education in Britain (but concentrate mainly in the period 1940s - 2010), and will be historical and sociological in its approach. The emphasis will fall on contemporary educational issues, in school and higher education, and will seek to draw in part from students&© own educational experiences.
EDU-10068 Digital Technologies: Rethinking Learning and Teaching EP C 7.5 15
It is argued that age related, and generational differences in digital technology use and preferred learning styles, increasingly divides lecturers from students. This module will explore the students use of contemporary technologies, often referred to as Web 2.0 technologies to investigate some of the assertions being made about the apparent digital divide between lecturer and student. Example web 2.0 technologies being 'social networks', twitter, iPods etc. Students will work to explore the emerging use of these web 2.0 technologies in supporting formal teaching and learning within educational settings. Students will have the opportunity to develop a range of skills through the development of competence in using Athens to access research papers and RefWorks to manage their findings. The module supports the course themes: * Digital technology and Higher Education * Teaching and learning in Higher Education * Digital resource creation Through participation in a mini inquiry based learning project themed on the notion of 'sustainability' the students will, in small groups, produce a digital learning resource on an aspect of this topic.

Educational Studies Dual Honours - Level 2 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-20012 Education Studies - Study Abroad I EP C 7.5 15
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
EDU-20013 Education Studies - Study Abroad II EP C 7.5 15
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
EDU-20023 Play, Power and Pedagogy EP C 7.5 15
Can children learn whilst playing? Is play embedded in early years pedagogy? The broad aim of this module is to use the topic of play to exemplify the wider sociological and pedagogical issues that underpin particular educational ideologies and practices. The definitive aim will be to track the use of play as pedagogical tool throughout the establishment of education in the UK. This module encourages students to examine the discourse of play as core methodology of learning in school. It will introduce students to contemporary theories and practices surrounding the introduction of Early Years Education. Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a single quality statutory framework introduced in 2008 that aims to integrate the approach to care and education for children from birth to 5/6. It emphasises the importance of play in education. This module will look at the pedagogy of the early years and how the policy aims relate to practice.
EDU-20024 Education Matters: Contemporary Issues and Debates in Education C M 7.5 15
This module provides a detailed and critical overview of significant processes of educational change, and the thinking (political, ideological, and economic) behind them. All the issues covered in this module are of contemporary relevance and highlight the fundamental re-positioning of educational systems, structures and processes in society and economy. This module will explore broad, ideological shifts in education over the past four decades, as well as examining how these translate into specific policy initiatives. It will examine how the meaning, purposes and goals of education have changed over time, and continue to do so. it also engages with the way in which educational values, ideologies and policies impact upon educational institutions and processes, and their effects on the experiences of those most closely involved, namely pupils, students, educators and managers.
EDU-20027 Reflective Teaching: Critical and reflective approaches to teaching in secondary education EP C 7.5 15
In this module students will be introduced to key concepts such as $ùreflective teaching&© and $ùcritical pedagogy&© and to some of the ways in which these have been theorised. Students will explore pedagogical issues in teaching in secondary schools and the critical role of teachers in delivering and shaping school knowledge. The module aims to explore critical and reflective learning and its applications to various school subjects drawing primarily on $ùconstructivist&© learning theory. Students will also explore the policy context for secondary school teaching and how the work of the teachers is shaped by it.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-20014 Education Studies - Study Abroad III EP C 7.5 15
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
EDU-20015 Education Studies - Study Abroad IV EP C 7.5 15
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
EDU-20019 Special Education: introduction to theory and practice EP C 7.5 15
This module will introduce students to key debates, issues and concepts in the field of inclusive/special education. It will critically explore current and past theories and philosophies that provide the basis for current special education practice. The module will also explore the applications of special/inclusive education research on classroom practice and, the applicability of pedagogic strategies from one context to another but with a particular focus on comparisons across UK and US contexts. In order to achieve this, students will engage with debates and research on characteristics, assessment techniques, educational considerations, and the role of technology in dealing with particular learning needs in the school context. Finally, they will reflect on the consequences of special education theory and practice for the role of the teachers.
EDU-20020 Research Strategies and Methods in Education C C 7.5 15
This module is concerned with enquiry into educational issues. It relates to issues of theory, focus and method. Our aim is to provide students with an introductory experience of education research - of the questions it asks, the practices that it employs and the methods by which it seeks to find 'answers'. In doing so, we aim to offer an insight of different traditions of research. Our overall intention is two-fold: first, to enable students to read, understand and assess educational research publications; second, to enable students to engage in small-scale research of their own, working on micro projects suggested as part of the module.
EDU-20021 Issues in Public Education EP C 7.5 15
Education has experienced unprecedented change over the past few decades. Much of this change has been planned, a lot has not. New policies, new ideologies, new practices, a new understanding of professionalism within education, have all contributed to the sense of transformation that now pervades every part of the sector. In many respects, these changes are also visible in other areas of the public provision. Indeed, we can see almost identical pressures for change occurring in other countries, eliciting many opposing views as to where education should be heading in the 21st century. Nevertheless, despite often having differing perspectives on the aims and purposes of education, one thing politicians and educationalists do agree on and that is the importance of education to the economic, cultural and social well-being of a nation. Recognising, then, the centrality of education at the turn of the millennium, it is entirely appropriate that we try to identify and understand some of the key issues that currently configure the sector. The module will therefore enable students to identify key issues in public education, examine the relationships between education policy and practice-based change and explore the implications of such policies and practices for students, educational professionals and work cultures.
EDU-20022 COMPARATIVE EDUCATION EP C 7.5 15
This module teaches students how to make valid and socially instructive comparisons of educational policy and practice across Britain and the United States. Students will compare and contrast national and regional approaches to governance, stakeholder roles and responsibilities, competition, and the tension between striving to maintain standards and being inclusive. They will explore how and why countries 'borrow' educational policy or practice from each other. Students will learn to describe significant differences and similarities between Britain and the US using a range of sources including statistics, policy documents, personal experience and themed discussion, explaining and accounting for educational difference effectively in both written and presentational formats.

Educational Studies Dual Honours - Level 3 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
+ EDU-30006 Inclusive Education O M 7.5 15
'Inclusive' education has been positioned and promoted as a positive reaction to segregated schooling, inequality and prejudice. Inclusion, more generally, has permeated policy and social discourse in the last few decades as a concept and practice that attempts to include everyone into the 'local' community. For example, mainstream education is promoted for ALL pupils including those with a range of difficult learning needs. In the face of this, politicians and policy makers emphasise their commitment to issues of 'inclusion' and 'social justice' and in the process the meanings,policy and practice of inclusive education have been rethought - nowhere more so than in relation to 'special educational needs'. This module offers insights into many different aspects of 'inclusive' education in relation specifically to 'special educational needs' and learning difficulties, including critical and historical engagement with policy development and implementation, theoretical positions on 'inclusive' education and exclusion, placement of 'inclusive' education within an international context and research methods that highlight topics such as; parents and their engagement with 'inclusive' education and ethnographies of mainstream schools.
+ EDU-30006 Inclusive Education EP M 7.5 15
'Inclusive' education has been positioned and promoted as a positive reaction to segregated schooling, inequality and prejudice. Inclusion, more generally, has permeated policy and social discourse in the last few decades as a concept and practice that attempts to include everyone into the 'local' community. For example, mainstream education is promoted for ALL pupils including those with a range of difficult learning needs. In the face of this, politicians and policy makers emphasise their commitment to issues of 'inclusion' and 'social justice' and in the process the meanings,policy and practice of inclusive education have been rethought - nowhere more so than in relation to 'special educational needs'. This module offers insights into many different aspects of 'inclusive' education in relation specifically to 'special educational needs' and learning difficulties, including critical and historical engagement with policy development and implementation, theoretical positions on 'inclusive' education and exclusion, placement of 'inclusive' education within an international context and research methods that highlight topics such as; parents and their engagement with 'inclusive' education and ethnographies of mainstream schools.
EDU-30064 The making of professionals: Education, Health and Social Work EP C 7.5 15
The role of professions and professionals such as doctors, lawyers, teachers and social workers has increasingly come under close scrutiny in terms of their standards of professional practice and contribution to society. This module explores what it means to be a professional and the ways in which professional identities are constructed. Students will engage with a range of innovative learning and teaching strategies and will, through discussion with teachers in training and other professionals in the making, examine the process of professional formation.
EDU-30064 The making of professionals: Education, Health and Social Work O C 7.5 15
The role of professions and professionals such as doctors, lawyers, teachers and social workers has increasingly come under close scrutiny in terms of their standards of professional practice and contribution to society. This module explores what it means to be a professional and the ways in which professional identities are constructed. Students will engage with a range of innovative learning and teaching strategies and will, through discussion with teachers in training and other professionals in the making, examine the process of professional formation.
EDU-30074 Higher Education: policy and the student experience O C 7.5 15
The extent and scope of recent change in UK higher education (HE) has been huge, reflecting wider HE changes across the world and affecting governance, culture, financing and learning. Today&©s universities are radically different in terms of social vision, ideas about the point of learning and relationships between stakeholders than those which many lecturers will be familiar with from their own student days. Once concerned with an elite form of scholarship, higher education is now popularly imagined as an automatic rite-of-passage in the journey from school to work. To that extent, popular imagination mirrors government policy, and the UK is in step with the rest of the developed world. Where governance was once autonomous and collegial, managerial models are now the norm. Where individual autonomy covered most aspects of an academic&©s job, lecturers are now minutely accountable to several central agencies as well as to fee-paying students, the transition from grants to fees having re-cast students as consumers rather than apprentices. Trans-national agreements have added to the economic imperative to compete for students, and the modularisation of courses has brought a level of transferability that means we can talk of something called $ùglobal higher education&©. The inclusion of under-represented groups and students with special needs, once an ad-hoc affair, is now subject to legal frameworks and targets. Yet it is argued that universities are still sites for the reproduction of unequal ideologies, practices and expectations. A UK national framework for $ùprofessionalising&© teaching in HE has been consolidated, and there is investment into marketing something called $ùthe student experience&© This module considers what such changes mean for ideas about knowledge (who defines it?) and learning (if students are paying for a $ùservice&©). Drawing on students&© own experience of being a student, the module helps students to make academic sense of this experience.
EDU-30074 Higher Education: policy and the student experience EP C 7.5 15
The extent and scope of recent change in UK higher education (HE) has been huge, reflecting wider HE changes across the world and affecting governance, culture, financing and learning. Today&©s universities are radically different in terms of social vision, ideas about the point of learning and relationships between stakeholders than those which many lecturers will be familiar with from their own student days. Once concerned with an elite form of scholarship, higher education is now popularly imagined as an automatic rite-of-passage in the journey from school to work. To that extent, popular imagination mirrors government policy, and the UK is in step with the rest of the developed world. Where governance was once autonomous and collegial, managerial models are now the norm. Where individual autonomy covered most aspects of an academic&©s job, lecturers are now minutely accountable to several central agencies as well as to fee-paying students, the transition from grants to fees having re-cast students as consumers rather than apprentices. Trans-national agreements have added to the economic imperative to compete for students, and the modularisation of courses has brought a level of transferability that means we can talk of something called $ùglobal higher education&©. The inclusion of under-represented groups and students with special needs, once an ad-hoc affair, is now subject to legal frameworks and targets. Yet it is argued that universities are still sites for the reproduction of unequal ideologies, practices and expectations. A UK national framework for $ùprofessionalising&© teaching in HE has been consolidated, and there is investment into marketing something called $ùthe student experience&© This module considers what such changes mean for ideas about knowledge (who defines it?) and learning (if students are paying for a $ùservice&©). Drawing on students&© own experience of being a student, the module helps students to make academic sense of this experience.
Semester 1-2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-30071 Independent Research Project - ISP O C 15 30
The Independent Research Project or Dissertation is a negotiated piece of work of 8,000-10,000 words in length. There is no fixed prescription for this module. However, projects will be on an educational topic (broadly-defined). They will include explict discussion of theoretical frameworks, methods involved in the collection of data, and matters of analysis and interpretation.
EDU-30071 Independent Research Project - ISP EP C 15 30
The Independent Research Project or Dissertation is a negotiated piece of work of 8,000-10,000 words in length. There is no fixed prescription for this module. However, projects will be on an educational topic (broadly-defined). They will include explict discussion of theoretical frameworks, methods involved in the collection of data, and matters of analysis and interpretation.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-30065 Education for citizenship O C 7.5 15
A changed policy and culture landscape focuses fresh attention on the relationship between education and citizenship. This module explores the nature of this relationship over time, in terms of ideas and in practice, and how re-configuring concepts of citizenship are reflected in educational policy and curriculum. It explores the relationship from a number of perspectives. From a modernist nation-state perspective, it introduces students to classic ideas about the importance of education to national development, identity, authority, values, and the creation of the educated citizen that is a pre-requisite for democratic citizenship. From a post-modern global perspective, against a re-drawn geo-political map, it introduces the idea of $ùnew&© citizenship, and the importance given to multi-cultural identity, sustainable development, values and the common good in the context of global change. Across two trans-national contexts, it examines education&©s role - both secondary level and higher education - in changing people&©s sense of belonging and their relationship with the rest of the world. It focuses especially on recent policy agendas around inclusion and radicalisation. And it provides students with both conceptual framework and skills to analyse how these concepts are used in educational policy and curriculum across a range of international contexts.
EDU-30065 Education for citizenship EP C 7.5 15
A changed policy and culture landscape focuses fresh attention on the relationship between education and citizenship. This module explores the nature of this relationship over time, in terms of ideas and in practice, and how re-configuring concepts of citizenship are reflected in educational policy and curriculum. It explores the relationship from a number of perspectives. From a modernist nation-state perspective, it introduces students to classic ideas about the importance of education to national development, identity, authority, values, and the creation of the educated citizen that is a pre-requisite for democratic citizenship. From a post-modern global perspective, against a re-drawn geo-political map, it introduces the idea of $ùnew&© citizenship, and the importance given to multi-cultural identity, sustainable development, values and the common good in the context of global change. Across two trans-national contexts, it examines education&©s role - both secondary level and higher education - in changing people&©s sense of belonging and their relationship with the rest of the world. It focuses especially on recent policy agendas around inclusion and radicalisation. And it provides students with both conceptual framework and skills to analyse how these concepts are used in educational policy and curriculum across a range of international contexts.
EDU-30072 Race, Politics and Education O M 7.5 15
This module will introduce students to key concepts such as 'race', nation and ethnicity and to some of the ways in which these have been theorised. It will explore political issues in the recent (1945-present) history of immigration in Britain including state responses to and public debates about immigration during this period. The critical role of education in such debates is the central core of the module. Current debates over multiculturalism, immigration and asylum as well as racism in the current global political climate of heightened 'security' concerns and preoccupations with $ùterrorism&© will also be connected to issues of schooling especially in relation to the schooling of Muslim pupils and children from asylum seeking backgrounds.
EDU-30072 Race, Politics and Education EP M 7.5 15
This module will introduce students to key concepts such as 'race', nation and ethnicity and to some of the ways in which these have been theorised. It will explore political issues in the recent (1945-present) history of immigration in Britain including state responses to and public debates about immigration during this period. The critical role of education in such debates is the central core of the module. Current debates over multiculturalism, immigration and asylum as well as racism in the current global political climate of heightened 'security' concerns and preoccupations with $ùterrorism&© will also be connected to issues of schooling especially in relation to the schooling of Muslim pupils and children from asylum seeking backgrounds.
EDU-30073 Education, Work and Identity O M 7.5 15
This module explores changing patterns of education and work, the dynamic relationship between these two institutions, and how this has developed over time. It will examine the wider social, cultural and economic contexts that shape both educational and work institutions, and how these affect the lives and identities of those involved in them. The module considers the way in which wider changes linked to globalisation, post-industrialism, education reform and marketisation, and related social and economic shifts, have affected people&©s experiences of education and employment, their social relationships and sense of self. The course draws upon a range of concepts and approaches, including: globalisation, post-industrial society, credentialism, human capital, gender and theories of self and identity. It will critically examine evidence about the changing labour market, and its impacts upon educational institutions.
EDU-30073 Education, Work and Identity EP M 7.5 15
This module explores changing patterns of education and work, the dynamic relationship between these two institutions, and how this has developed over time. It will examine the wider social, cultural and economic contexts that shape both educational and work institutions, and how these affect the lives and identities of those involved in them. The module considers the way in which wider changes linked to globalisation, post-industrialism, education reform and marketisation, and related social and economic shifts, have affected people&©s experiences of education and employment, their social relationships and sense of self. The course draws upon a range of concepts and approaches, including: globalisation, post-industrial society, credentialism, human capital, gender and theories of self and identity. It will critically examine evidence about the changing labour market, and its impacts upon educational institutions.

Educational Studies Major - Level 1 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-10029 Childhood, Policy and Education EP C 7.5 15
This module encourages students to think critically about the concept of childhood as a social and historical construction. It explores a range of institutional and other discourses in which childhood is encoded including media, literature, art and the law but there is a particular focus on state policies and education. Through a critical review of a range of recent interventions, strategies and agendas including Every Child Matters, Sure Start, Inclusion and Creativity, and their enactment through the early years and primary curriculum, the module explores the role of the state in current constructions of childhood, parenting and associated rights and responsibilities.
EDU-10033 Understanding Learning C C 7.5 15
Is learning a matter of conditioning or making impressions on a blank sheet, or is the mind itself active in exploring the world around it? Do we learn individual items one by one or in a random way? What is the relationship between language and learning? Why do some people learn easily at school and in higher education while others encounter enormous or insuperable difficulties? What are the most effective learning strategies to adopt? This module will introduce students to contemporary and historical theories of learning. It makes use of these in an exploration of educational practice at various levels and encourages students to focus on and reflect on their own learning in the context of higher education.
EDU-10067 Back to the Future: issues in the history of schooling EP C 7.5 15
This module is intended to introduce you to aspects of the history of schooling in Britain from 1870 to 1944. The module will cover distinct topics that run through the history of this period. This includes a focus on education and inequalities of social class and gender; education and nation-building, churches and state education, education and the economy, arguments over the curriculum. A consistent theme is that of the diversity and unevenness of educational provision and the ways in which debates and policy have responded to the problems and opportunities to which such features have given rise. The module draws on primary and secondary sources. Alongside histories of the period, you will read extracts from novels, government reports, parliamentary debates and political pamphlets. One of our reasons for doing this is to encourage you to make use of first hand evidence in your own research and inquiry.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-10030 Education in Britain:past, present, future C M 7.5 15
This module will cover the period of compulsory state education in Britain (but concentrate mainly in the period 1940s - 2010), and will be historical and sociological in its approach. The emphasis will fall on contemporary educational issues, in school and higher education, and will seek to draw in part from students&© own educational experiences.
EDU-10068 Digital Technologies: Rethinking Learning and Teaching EP C 7.5 15
It is argued that age related, and generational differences in digital technology use and preferred learning styles, increasingly divides lecturers from students. This module will explore the students use of contemporary technologies, often referred to as Web 2.0 technologies to investigate some of the assertions being made about the apparent digital divide between lecturer and student. Example web 2.0 technologies being 'social networks', twitter, iPods etc. Students will work to explore the emerging use of these web 2.0 technologies in supporting formal teaching and learning within educational settings. Students will have the opportunity to develop a range of skills through the development of competence in using Athens to access research papers and RefWorks to manage their findings. The module supports the course themes: * Digital technology and Higher Education * Teaching and learning in Higher Education * Digital resource creation Through participation in a mini inquiry based learning project themed on the notion of 'sustainability' the students will, in small groups, produce a digital learning resource on an aspect of this topic.

Educational Studies Major - Level 2 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-20012 Education Studies - Study Abroad I EP C 7.5 15
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
EDU-20013 Education Studies - Study Abroad II EP C 7.5 15
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
EDU-20023 Play, Power and Pedagogy EP C 7.5 15
Can children learn whilst playing? Is play embedded in early years pedagogy? The broad aim of this module is to use the topic of play to exemplify the wider sociological and pedagogical issues that underpin particular educational ideologies and practices. The definitive aim will be to track the use of play as pedagogical tool throughout the establishment of education in the UK. This module encourages students to examine the discourse of play as core methodology of learning in school. It will introduce students to contemporary theories and practices surrounding the introduction of Early Years Education. Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a single quality statutory framework introduced in 2008 that aims to integrate the approach to care and education for children from birth to 5/6. It emphasises the importance of play in education. This module will look at the pedagogy of the early years and how the policy aims relate to practice.
EDU-20024 Education Matters: Contemporary Issues and Debates in Education C M 7.5 15
This module provides a detailed and critical overview of significant processes of educational change, and the thinking (political, ideological, and economic) behind them. All the issues covered in this module are of contemporary relevance and highlight the fundamental re-positioning of educational systems, structures and processes in society and economy. This module will explore broad, ideological shifts in education over the past four decades, as well as examining how these translate into specific policy initiatives. It will examine how the meaning, purposes and goals of education have changed over time, and continue to do so. it also engages with the way in which educational values, ideologies and policies impact upon educational institutions and processes, and their effects on the experiences of those most closely involved, namely pupils, students, educators and managers.
EDU-20027 Reflective Teaching: Critical and reflective approaches to teaching in secondary education EP C 7.5 15
In this module students will be introduced to key concepts such as $ùreflective teaching&© and $ùcritical pedagogy&© and to some of the ways in which these have been theorised. Students will explore pedagogical issues in teaching in secondary schools and the critical role of teachers in delivering and shaping school knowledge. The module aims to explore critical and reflective learning and its applications to various school subjects drawing primarily on $ùconstructivist&© learning theory. Students will also explore the policy context for secondary school teaching and how the work of the teachers is shaped by it.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-20014 Education Studies - Study Abroad III EP C 7.5 15
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
EDU-20015 Education Studies - Study Abroad IV EP C 7.5 15
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
EDU-20019 Special Education: introduction to theory and practice EP C 7.5 15
This module will introduce students to key debates, issues and concepts in the field of inclusive/special education. It will critically explore current and past theories and philosophies that provide the basis for current special education practice. The module will also explore the applications of special/inclusive education research on classroom practice and, the applicability of pedagogic strategies from one context to another but with a particular focus on comparisons across UK and US contexts. In order to achieve this, students will engage with debates and research on characteristics, assessment techniques, educational considerations, and the role of technology in dealing with particular learning needs in the school context. Finally, they will reflect on the consequences of special education theory and practice for the role of the teachers.
EDU-20020 Research Strategies and Methods in Education C C 7.5 15
This module is concerned with enquiry into educational issues. It relates to issues of theory, focus and method. Our aim is to provide students with an introductory experience of education research - of the questions it asks, the practices that it employs and the methods by which it seeks to find 'answers'. In doing so, we aim to offer an insight of different traditions of research. Our overall intention is two-fold: first, to enable students to read, understand and assess educational research publications; second, to enable students to engage in small-scale research of their own, working on micro projects suggested as part of the module.
EDU-20021 Issues in Public Education EP C 7.5 15
Education has experienced unprecedented change over the past few decades. Much of this change has been planned, a lot has not. New policies, new ideologies, new practices, a new understanding of professionalism within education, have all contributed to the sense of transformation that now pervades every part of the sector. In many respects, these changes are also visible in other areas of the public provision. Indeed, we can see almost identical pressures for change occurring in other countries, eliciting many opposing views as to where education should be heading in the 21st century. Nevertheless, despite often having differing perspectives on the aims and purposes of education, one thing politicians and educationalists do agree on and that is the importance of education to the economic, cultural and social well-being of a nation. Recognising, then, the centrality of education at the turn of the millennium, it is entirely appropriate that we try to identify and understand some of the key issues that currently configure the sector. The module will therefore enable students to identify key issues in public education, examine the relationships between education policy and practice-based change and explore the implications of such policies and practices for students, educational professionals and work cultures.
EDU-20022 COMPARATIVE EDUCATION EP C 7.5 15
This module teaches students how to make valid and socially instructive comparisons of educational policy and practice across Britain and the United States. Students will compare and contrast national and regional approaches to governance, stakeholder roles and responsibilities, competition, and the tension between striving to maintain standards and being inclusive. They will explore how and why countries 'borrow' educational policy or practice from each other. Students will learn to describe significant differences and similarities between Britain and the US using a range of sources including statistics, policy documents, personal experience and themed discussion, explaining and accounting for educational difference effectively in both written and presentational formats.

Educational Studies Major - Level 3 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
+ EDU-30006 Inclusive Education EP M 7.5 15
'Inclusive' education has been positioned and promoted as a positive reaction to segregated schooling, inequality and prejudice. Inclusion, more generally, has permeated policy and social discourse in the last few decades as a concept and practice that attempts to include everyone into the 'local' community. For example, mainstream education is promoted for ALL pupils including those with a range of difficult learning needs. In the face of this, politicians and policy makers emphasise their commitment to issues of 'inclusion' and 'social justice' and in the process the meanings,policy and practice of inclusive education have been rethought - nowhere more so than in relation to 'special educational needs'. This module offers insights into many different aspects of 'inclusive' education in relation specifically to 'special educational needs' and learning difficulties, including critical and historical engagement with policy development and implementation, theoretical positions on 'inclusive' education and exclusion, placement of 'inclusive' education within an international context and research methods that highlight topics such as; parents and their engagement with 'inclusive' education and ethnographies of mainstream schools.
EDU-30064 The making of professionals: Education, Health and Social Work EP C 7.5 15
The role of professions and professionals such as doctors, lawyers, teachers and social workers has increasingly come under close scrutiny in terms of their standards of professional practice and contribution to society. This module explores what it means to be a professional and the ways in which professional identities are constructed. Students will engage with a range of innovative learning and teaching strategies and will, through discussion with teachers in training and other professionals in the making, examine the process of professional formation.
EDU-30074 Higher Education: policy and the student experience EP C 7.5 15
The extent and scope of recent change in UK higher education (HE) has been huge, reflecting wider HE changes across the world and affecting governance, culture, financing and learning. Today&©s universities are radically different in terms of social vision, ideas about the point of learning and relationships between stakeholders than those which many lecturers will be familiar with from their own student days. Once concerned with an elite form of scholarship, higher education is now popularly imagined as an automatic rite-of-passage in the journey from school to work. To that extent, popular imagination mirrors government policy, and the UK is in step with the rest of the developed world. Where governance was once autonomous and collegial, managerial models are now the norm. Where individual autonomy covered most aspects of an academic&©s job, lecturers are now minutely accountable to several central agencies as well as to fee-paying students, the transition from grants to fees having re-cast students as consumers rather than apprentices. Trans-national agreements have added to the economic imperative to compete for students, and the modularisation of courses has brought a level of transferability that means we can talk of something called $ùglobal higher education&©. The inclusion of under-represented groups and students with special needs, once an ad-hoc affair, is now subject to legal frameworks and targets. Yet it is argued that universities are still sites for the reproduction of unequal ideologies, practices and expectations. A UK national framework for $ùprofessionalising&© teaching in HE has been consolidated, and there is investment into marketing something called $ùthe student experience&© This module considers what such changes mean for ideas about knowledge (who defines it?) and learning (if students are paying for a $ùservice&©). Drawing on students&© own experience of being a student, the module helps students to make academic sense of this experience.
Semester 1-2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-30071 Independent Research Project - ISP C C 15 30
The Independent Research Project or Dissertation is a negotiated piece of work of 8,000-10,000 words in length. There is no fixed prescription for this module. However, projects will be on an educational topic (broadly-defined). They will include explict discussion of theoretical frameworks, methods involved in the collection of data, and matters of analysis and interpretation.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-30065 Education for citizenship EP C 7.5 15
A changed policy and culture landscape focuses fresh attention on the relationship between education and citizenship. This module explores the nature of this relationship over time, in terms of ideas and in practice, and how re-configuring concepts of citizenship are reflected in educational policy and curriculum. It explores the relationship from a number of perspectives. From a modernist nation-state perspective, it introduces students to classic ideas about the importance of education to national development, identity, authority, values, and the creation of the educated citizen that is a pre-requisite for democratic citizenship. From a post-modern global perspective, against a re-drawn geo-political map, it introduces the idea of $ùnew&© citizenship, and the importance given to multi-cultural identity, sustainable development, values and the common good in the context of global change. Across two trans-national contexts, it examines education&©s role - both secondary level and higher education - in changing people&©s sense of belonging and their relationship with the rest of the world. It focuses especially on recent policy agendas around inclusion and radicalisation. And it provides students with both conceptual framework and skills to analyse how these concepts are used in educational policy and curriculum across a range of international contexts.
EDU-30072 Race, Politics and Education EP M 7.5 15
This module will introduce students to key concepts such as 'race', nation and ethnicity and to some of the ways in which these have been theorised. It will explore political issues in the recent (1945-present) history of immigration in Britain including state responses to and public debates about immigration during this period. The critical role of education in such debates is the central core of the module. Current debates over multiculturalism, immigration and asylum as well as racism in the current global political climate of heightened 'security' concerns and preoccupations with $ùterrorism&© will also be connected to issues of schooling especially in relation to the schooling of Muslim pupils and children from asylum seeking backgrounds.
EDU-30073 Education, Work and Identity EP M 7.5 15
This module explores changing patterns of education and work, the dynamic relationship between these two institutions, and how this has developed over time. It will examine the wider social, cultural and economic contexts that shape both educational and work institutions, and how these affect the lives and identities of those involved in them. The module considers the way in which wider changes linked to globalisation, post-industrialism, education reform and marketisation, and related social and economic shifts, have affected people&©s experiences of education and employment, their social relationships and sense of self. The course draws upon a range of concepts and approaches, including: globalisation, post-industrial society, credentialism, human capital, gender and theories of self and identity. It will critically examine evidence about the changing labour market, and its impacts upon educational institutions.

Educational Studies Minor - Level 1 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-10029 Childhood, Policy and Education EP C 7.5 15
This module encourages students to think critically about the concept of childhood as a social and historical construction. It explores a range of institutional and other discourses in which childhood is encoded including media, literature, art and the law but there is a particular focus on state policies and education. Through a critical review of a range of recent interventions, strategies and agendas including Every Child Matters, Sure Start, Inclusion and Creativity, and their enactment through the early years and primary curriculum, the module explores the role of the state in current constructions of childhood, parenting and associated rights and responsibilities.
EDU-10033 Understanding Learning C C 7.5 15
Is learning a matter of conditioning or making impressions on a blank sheet, or is the mind itself active in exploring the world around it? Do we learn individual items one by one or in a random way? What is the relationship between language and learning? Why do some people learn easily at school and in higher education while others encounter enormous or insuperable difficulties? What are the most effective learning strategies to adopt? This module will introduce students to contemporary and historical theories of learning. It makes use of these in an exploration of educational practice at various levels and encourages students to focus on and reflect on their own learning in the context of higher education.
EDU-10067 Back to the Future: issues in the history of schooling EP C 7.5 15
This module is intended to introduce you to aspects of the history of schooling in Britain from 1870 to 1944. The module will cover distinct topics that run through the history of this period. This includes a focus on education and inequalities of social class and gender; education and nation-building, churches and state education, education and the economy, arguments over the curriculum. A consistent theme is that of the diversity and unevenness of educational provision and the ways in which debates and policy have responded to the problems and opportunities to which such features have given rise. The module draws on primary and secondary sources. Alongside histories of the period, you will read extracts from novels, government reports, parliamentary debates and political pamphlets. One of our reasons for doing this is to encourage you to make use of first hand evidence in your own research and inquiry.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-10030 Education in Britain:past, present, future C M 7.5 15
This module will cover the period of compulsory state education in Britain (but concentrate mainly in the period 1940s - 2010), and will be historical and sociological in its approach. The emphasis will fall on contemporary educational issues, in school and higher education, and will seek to draw in part from students&© own educational experiences.
EDU-10068 Digital Technologies: Rethinking Learning and Teaching EP C 7.5 15
It is argued that age related, and generational differences in digital technology use and preferred learning styles, increasingly divides lecturers from students. This module will explore the students use of contemporary technologies, often referred to as Web 2.0 technologies to investigate some of the assertions being made about the apparent digital divide between lecturer and student. Example web 2.0 technologies being 'social networks', twitter, iPods etc. Students will work to explore the emerging use of these web 2.0 technologies in supporting formal teaching and learning within educational settings. Students will have the opportunity to develop a range of skills through the development of competence in using Athens to access research papers and RefWorks to manage their findings. The module supports the course themes: * Digital technology and Higher Education * Teaching and learning in Higher Education * Digital resource creation Through participation in a mini inquiry based learning project themed on the notion of 'sustainability' the students will, in small groups, produce a digital learning resource on an aspect of this topic.

Educational Studies Minor - Level 2 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-20012 Education Studies - Study Abroad I EP C 7.5 15
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
EDU-20013 Education Studies - Study Abroad II EP C 7.5 15
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
EDU-20023 Play, Power and Pedagogy EP C 7.5 15
Can children learn whilst playing? Is play embedded in early years pedagogy? The broad aim of this module is to use the topic of play to exemplify the wider sociological and pedagogical issues that underpin particular educational ideologies and practices. The definitive aim will be to track the use of play as pedagogical tool throughout the establishment of education in the UK. This module encourages students to examine the discourse of play as core methodology of learning in school. It will introduce students to contemporary theories and practices surrounding the introduction of Early Years Education. Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a single quality statutory framework introduced in 2008 that aims to integrate the approach to care and education for children from birth to 5/6. It emphasises the importance of play in education. This module will look at the pedagogy of the early years and how the policy aims relate to practice.
EDU-20024 Education Matters: Contemporary Issues and Debates in Education C M 7.5 15
This module provides a detailed and critical overview of significant processes of educational change, and the thinking (political, ideological, and economic) behind them. All the issues covered in this module are of contemporary relevance and highlight the fundamental re-positioning of educational systems, structures and processes in society and economy. This module will explore broad, ideological shifts in education over the past four decades, as well as examining how these translate into specific policy initiatives. It will examine how the meaning, purposes and goals of education have changed over time, and continue to do so. it also engages with the way in which educational values, ideologies and policies impact upon educational institutions and processes, and their effects on the experiences of those most closely involved, namely pupils, students, educators and managers.
EDU-20027 Reflective Teaching: Critical and reflective approaches to teaching in secondary education EP C 7.5 15
In this module students will be introduced to key concepts such as $ùreflective teaching&© and $ùcritical pedagogy&© and to some of the ways in which these have been theorised. Students will explore pedagogical issues in teaching in secondary schools and the critical role of teachers in delivering and shaping school knowledge. The module aims to explore critical and reflective learning and its applications to various school subjects drawing primarily on $ùconstructivist&© learning theory. Students will also explore the policy context for secondary school teaching and how the work of the teachers is shaped by it.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-20014 Education Studies - Study Abroad III EP C 7.5 15
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
EDU-20015 Education Studies - Study Abroad IV EP C 7.5 15
This is a module that is automatically allocated to the records our Keele level II students who are going to Study Abroad at a partner University for a semester of their second year and cannot be selected by any other level II students.
EDU-20019 Special Education: introduction to theory and practice EP C 7.5 15
This module will introduce students to key debates, issues and concepts in the field of inclusive/special education. It will critically explore current and past theories and philosophies that provide the basis for current special education practice. The module will also explore the applications of special/inclusive education research on classroom practice and, the applicability of pedagogic strategies from one context to another but with a particular focus on comparisons across UK and US contexts. In order to achieve this, students will engage with debates and research on characteristics, assessment techniques, educational considerations, and the role of technology in dealing with particular learning needs in the school context. Finally, they will reflect on the consequences of special education theory and practice for the role of the teachers.
EDU-20020 Research Strategies and Methods in Education C C 7.5 15
This module is concerned with enquiry into educational issues. It relates to issues of theory, focus and method. Our aim is to provide students with an introductory experience of education research - of the questions it asks, the practices that it employs and the methods by which it seeks to find 'answers'. In doing so, we aim to offer an insight of different traditions of research. Our overall intention is two-fold: first, to enable students to read, understand and assess educational research publications; second, to enable students to engage in small-scale research of their own, working on micro projects suggested as part of the module.
EDU-20021 Issues in Public Education EP C 7.5 15
Education has experienced unprecedented change over the past few decades. Much of this change has been planned, a lot has not. New policies, new ideologies, new practices, a new understanding of professionalism within education, have all contributed to the sense of transformation that now pervades every part of the sector. In many respects, these changes are also visible in other areas of the public provision. Indeed, we can see almost identical pressures for change occurring in other countries, eliciting many opposing views as to where education should be heading in the 21st century. Nevertheless, despite often having differing perspectives on the aims and purposes of education, one thing politicians and educationalists do agree on and that is the importance of education to the economic, cultural and social well-being of a nation. Recognising, then, the centrality of education at the turn of the millennium, it is entirely appropriate that we try to identify and understand some of the key issues that currently configure the sector. The module will therefore enable students to identify key issues in public education, examine the relationships between education policy and practice-based change and explore the implications of such policies and practices for students, educational professionals and work cultures.
EDU-20022 COMPARATIVE EDUCATION EP C 7.5 15
This module teaches students how to make valid and socially instructive comparisons of educational policy and practice across Britain and the United States. Students will compare and contrast national and regional approaches to governance, stakeholder roles and responsibilities, competition, and the tension between striving to maintain standards and being inclusive. They will explore how and why countries 'borrow' educational policy or practice from each other. Students will learn to describe significant differences and similarities between Britain and the US using a range of sources including statistics, policy documents, personal experience and themed discussion, explaining and accounting for educational difference effectively in both written and presentational formats.

Educational Studies Minor - Level 3 Modules

Semester 1 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
+ EDU-30006 Inclusive Education EP M 7.5 15
'Inclusive' education has been positioned and promoted as a positive reaction to segregated schooling, inequality and prejudice. Inclusion, more generally, has permeated policy and social discourse in the last few decades as a concept and practice that attempts to include everyone into the 'local' community. For example, mainstream education is promoted for ALL pupils including those with a range of difficult learning needs. In the face of this, politicians and policy makers emphasise their commitment to issues of 'inclusion' and 'social justice' and in the process the meanings,policy and practice of inclusive education have been rethought - nowhere more so than in relation to 'special educational needs'. This module offers insights into many different aspects of 'inclusive' education in relation specifically to 'special educational needs' and learning difficulties, including critical and historical engagement with policy development and implementation, theoretical positions on 'inclusive' education and exclusion, placement of 'inclusive' education within an international context and research methods that highlight topics such as; parents and their engagement with 'inclusive' education and ethnographies of mainstream schools.
EDU-30064 The making of professionals: Education, Health and Social Work EP C 7.5 15
The role of professions and professionals such as doctors, lawyers, teachers and social workers has increasingly come under close scrutiny in terms of their standards of professional practice and contribution to society. This module explores what it means to be a professional and the ways in which professional identities are constructed. Students will engage with a range of innovative learning and teaching strategies and will, through discussion with teachers in training and other professionals in the making, examine the process of professional formation.
EDU-30074 Higher Education: policy and the student experience EP C 7.5 15
The extent and scope of recent change in UK higher education (HE) has been huge, reflecting wider HE changes across the world and affecting governance, culture, financing and learning. Today&©s universities are radically different in terms of social vision, ideas about the point of learning and relationships between stakeholders than those which many lecturers will be familiar with from their own student days. Once concerned with an elite form of scholarship, higher education is now popularly imagined as an automatic rite-of-passage in the journey from school to work. To that extent, popular imagination mirrors government policy, and the UK is in step with the rest of the developed world. Where governance was once autonomous and collegial, managerial models are now the norm. Where individual autonomy covered most aspects of an academic&©s job, lecturers are now minutely accountable to several central agencies as well as to fee-paying students, the transition from grants to fees having re-cast students as consumers rather than apprentices. Trans-national agreements have added to the economic imperative to compete for students, and the modularisation of courses has brought a level of transferability that means we can talk of something called $ùglobal higher education&©. The inclusion of under-represented groups and students with special needs, once an ad-hoc affair, is now subject to legal frameworks and targets. Yet it is argued that universities are still sites for the reproduction of unequal ideologies, practices and expectations. A UK national framework for $ùprofessionalising&© teaching in HE has been consolidated, and there is investment into marketing something called $ùthe student experience&© This module considers what such changes mean for ideas about knowledge (who defines it?) and learning (if students are paying for a $ùservice&©). Drawing on students&© own experience of being a student, the module helps students to make academic sense of this experience.
Semester 2 C/O TYP ECTSCATS
EDU-30065 Education for citizenship EP C 7.5 15
A changed policy and culture landscape focuses fresh attention on the relationship between education and citizenship. This module explores the nature of this relationship over time, in terms of ideas and in practice, and how re-configuring concepts of citizenship are reflected in educational policy and curriculum. It explores the relationship from a number of perspectives. From a modernist nation-state perspective, it introduces students to classic ideas about the importance of education to national development, identity, authority, values, and the creation of the educated citizen that is a pre-requisite for democratic citizenship. From a post-modern global perspective, against a re-drawn geo-political map, it introduces the idea of $ùnew&© citizenship, and the importance given to multi-cultural identity, sustainable development, values and the common good in the context of global change. Across two trans-national contexts, it examines education&©s role - both secondary level and higher education - in changing people&©s sense of belonging and their relationship with the rest of the world. It focuses especially on recent policy agendas around inclusion and radicalisation. And it provides students with both conceptual framework and skills to analyse how these concepts are used in educational policy and curriculum across a range of international contexts.
EDU-30072 Race, Politics and Education EP M 7.5 15
This module will introduce students to key concepts such as 'race', nation and ethnicity and to some of the ways in which these have been theorised. It will explore political issues in the recent (1945-present) history of immigration in Britain including state responses to and public debates about immigration during this period. The critical role of education in such debates is the central core of the module. Current debates over multiculturalism, immigration and asylum as well as racism in the current global political climate of heightened 'security' concerns and preoccupations with $ùterrorism&© will also be connected to issues of schooling especially in relation to the schooling of Muslim pupils and children from asylum seeking backgrounds.
EDU-30073 Education, Work and Identity EP M 7.5 15
This module explores changing patterns of education and work, the dynamic relationship between these two institutions, and how this has developed over time. It will examine the wider social, cultural and economic contexts that shape both educational and work institutions, and how these affect the lives and identities of those involved in them. The module considers the way in which wider changes linked to globalisation, post-industrialism, education reform and marketisation, and related social and economic shifts, have affected people&©s experiences of education and employment, their social relationships and sense of self. The course draws upon a range of concepts and approaches, including: globalisation, post-industrial society, credentialism, human capital, gender and theories of self and identity. It will critically examine evidence about the changing labour market, and its impacts upon educational institutions.
C Compulsory Core Module
O Optional Core Module
EP Programme Elective Module
EA Approved Elective Module
EF Free-Standing Elective Module
M Mixed Assessment e.g. a mixture of essay(s) and examination, with the latter's weighting below 90%.
E Examination, providing 90% or more of the mark.
C Continuous Assessment e.g. essay(s) or practical work (as appropriate).
+ Available to qualified non-principal, Erasmus, Exchange and Study Abroad students but there may be a restriction on the number of places available
~ Specific pre-requisite(s) needed by non-principal, Erasmus, Exchange and Study Abroad students wishing to take these modules
# Not normally available to Erasmus, Exchange and Study Abroad students (except by prior negotiation with Departmental Tutor)
Note: Modules not marked with a # are available to suitably qualified Erasmus, Exchange and Study Abroad students.