BSc (Hons) Secondary Teaching Studies (Psychology)

What does education really look like beyond your own school experience? This module opens new perspectives on how education works, with a particular focus on secondary schools.

Starting with your own experiences, you’ll explore what education means, how it differs from schooling, and how its purpose has evolved over time. You’ll examine how education is shaped locally, nationally, and globally- through the English National Curriculum and a range of alternative approaches, including SEND provision, Montessori, and other progressive models.

With regular school visits, you’ll see secondary education in action, exploring how teachers plan, support diverse learners, and respond to issues such as inclusion, safeguarding, and sustainability. You’ll also consider education from different viewpoints - including students, teachers, families, and wider society.

Broaden your perspective, build your academic skills, and take your first step towards a career in secondary education.

Explore the relationship between the brain and human behaviour, including how we sense the world, how we act in the world and how we think and feel about the world.

Delve into the fascinating world of the infant mind. You will cover a range of psychological processes, from the early building blocks of our cognitive skills, to how we form attachments and begin to create relationships. We will explore these processes from their very beginnings in the womb, through infancy, childhood, and adolescence.

How does your mind work? How do you see, hear, feel, and think? How do you make sense of the world and yourself? In this module, you'll discover the secrets of cognitive psychology - the science of the mind and behaviour. Learn how researchers use experiments and theories to understand the mental processes that shape our lives, explore topics like perception, attention, memory, language, and reasoning and see how they relate to your everyday experiences. This module will help you develop the skills and knowledge you need to become a critical thinker in the modern world. 

This module explores the “Big Questions” in Education, drawing on key thinkers and theorists from across many periods of history and diverse locations across the globe. It will prepare you for undertaking your own research later in the degree, and provide broad horizons to challenge some of your preconceptions and expectations about education.

Develop your research skills further with a focus on how we infer things about the world using data. This module gives you practical experience of research methods.

You may have encountered personality and intelligence tests in educational or occupational settings, but have you ever wondered how these tests were developed? This module explores the complexities of intelligence and personality conceptualisation and testing and gives an insight into why people are unique. By engaging with a range of theories and psychometrics, you will be able to assess the controversies and ethical dilemmas of personality and intelligence testing.

Following focused input from your lecturers, this module provides the opportunity to explore a particular topic of interest to you, supported by a tutor. Whether you want to learn more about child development, pedagogy, approaches to behavior management or an aspect of the school curriculum, you will be supported to develop critical insights into real life practice.

What if you could gain real classroom experience while developing the skills to become a reflective educator? This module gives you the opportunity to take part in an extended paid or voluntary work placement and bring your learning to life.

Whether you choose a local school, an alternative setting, or even an international experience, you’ll immerse yourself in environments that support children’s learning and development. Along the way, you’ll observe teaching in action and explore how theory, policy, and pedagogy shape real educational practice.

A key focus of the module is reflection. You’ll learn how to use professional reflective models to critically evaluate your experiences, developing the mindset and skills needed to grow as a thoughtful, adaptable practitioner.

Gain valuable experience, think like a professional, and take a confident step towards your future in teaching.