Undergraduate

Education Studies (Special Educational Needs, Disability and Inclusion)

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education student in the classroom
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Make a difference to the next generation of thinkers, makers and dreamers by challenging stereotypical thinking and interrogating inequality in education and society.
The University of Hull has extensive partnership networks, that will offer you the opportunity to undertake practice placements in each year of your study in the UK and/or abroad.
High quality and innovative teaching will enable you to draw links between theoretical approaches and real-life practice to provide you with key skills that are valued by employers.
A focal point of our campus, the Brynmor Jones Library offers a range of study spaces and group learning rooms, including a family room.
Study your way, this course gives the chance to complete a core programme in Education Studies or specialise in one of three pathways.
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education student in the classroom
teaching
The Brynmor Jones Library at dusk
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Code

Duration

Mode

  • Standard course
  • With a foundation year

Typical offer

What does this mean?

This degree equips you to tackle the challenges of Special Educational Needs, Disability, and Inclusion (SENDI), preparing you for a career in education, advocacy, policy, or support services.

The Special Educational Needs, Disability, and Inclusion (SENDI) course explores exclusion, discrimination, and barriers to learning by reshaping cultures, policies, and practices. You will examine neurodiversity and the voices of children, young people, and adults with SEND, challenging stereotypes, interrogating inequalities, and co-producing asset-based approaches that value diversity.

Engage with local, national, and global SEND communities through research, teaching, and placements. Develop key skills in participatory practices, equipping you to make a real difference in shaping policy, research, and practice in the SEND field.

  • 94.9% of students

    in work or further study 15 months after graduating 1

  • 1st in the UK

    for teaching on my course 1

  • Learn hands on

    with a work-based placement

  • Forest School

    certification opportunity

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Course overview
Module options

About this course

This forward-thinking degree challenges exclusion, discrimination, and barriers to learning, empowering you to create a fairer, more inclusive society. Rooted in equity and diversity, it equips you with the skills to interrogate inequalities, rethink policies and practices, and advocate for meaningful change.

Explore key topics such as neurodiversity, institutional inequality, and participatory approaches that amplify the voices of people with SEND. You’ll challenge stereotypes, co-produce asset-based solutions, and develop inclusive practices that celebrate diversity and recognise strengths.

Practical placements each year—locally or abroad—offer hands-on experience in SEND schools, charities, and advocacy organisations. These placements help you apply theory to practice, gaining first-hand experience working with children, young people, and adults with SEND.

To enhance your expertise, you can gain additional qualifications such as Forest School, and play-based therapies like Lego therapy—highly valued skills that will strengthen your ability to support individuals with SEND.

Guided by expert academics and enriched by Hull’s strong SEND networks, you’ll benefit from high-quality teaching, innovative research, and global collaborations. With a blend of theory, practice, and participatory approaches, this degree prepares you to lead change and drive inclusion at every level.

Scheduled study hours and how you’re assessed

Throughout your degree, you’re expected to study for 1,200 hours per year. That’s based on 200 hours per 20 credit module. And it includes scheduled hours, time spent on placement and independent study. How this time is divided across the year varies and depends on the module you are studying.

How you'll be assessed depends on the course you study, and the modules you choose. You may be assessed through a mix of examinations, coursework, presentations and group projects.

Choose your modules

Each year, you’ll study modules worth a certain number of credits, you need 120 credits per year – so you’ll study up to six modules each year. Some longer modules, such as your extended research project, are worth more. In these cases, you’ll study fewer modules - but the number of credits will always add up to 120. Some modules are compulsory, some are optional, so you can build a course that’s right for you.

Preparing for Learning in Higher Education

This module is designed to give you the best possible start to your university studies, making sure you have all the essential skills you need to succeed. Through lectures and workshops we will teach you how to write in an academic style, how to find quality sources, how to reference work, culminating in writing up a mini-research project.

Core•20 credits

Introduction to Education

This module sets the scene for the programme, starting with your own background and experience and exploring what education means, how it differs from schooling and key concepts and approaches. It will also help you to develop the academic skills necessary for your degree programme.

Core•20 credits

Research in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Education

This module will equip you with the necessary skills to conduct and analyse research in a specific interest, supported by academics within your subject. You'll navigate through the research process, from identifying an area of interest to presenting their findings to your peers.

Core•20 credits

Group Challenge (Humanities)

Formulate and execute a group led enquiry into texts, cultural artifacts, film, music or dance. You'll explore their topics in groups at supervised workshops and develop questions on the cultural object relates to the living world of human experience, as well as developing your own methods to answer these questions.

Compulsory•20 credits

Foundation in Data Analysis

Develop a strong foundation in data collection and analysis. This module will introduce you to qualitative and quantitative data and how to analyse it; the collection of primary and secondary data; the production of high quality graphics; and report writing.

Compulsory•20 credits

Academic Writing Skills

Developing confidence in expression, oral as well as written, is a key feature of this module, which also aims to familiarise you with submission and assessment procedures in the context of Higher Education. This is a clear building block onto your degree programme and places you at a distinct advantage when you move into the following year.

Compulsory•20 credits

In the foundation year, you are introduced to subjects relating to education. Modules comprise aspects of psychological, sociological and historical aspects of learning; study skills; and an introduction to the environments for learning, which will investigate learning in a variety of settings.
6 Modules

Education, Power and Knowledge

Education is at the forefront of social change for social justice.  This module offers you the opportunity to make a difference, through Education, from the beginning of your studies.  As agents of educational change, you will undertake a collaborative project which focuses on the issues you are passionate about alongside fellow students and academics. You will examine how mainstream education has been shaped through agendas of power that reproduce social inequalities.  This module then introduces you to existing alternative approaches to education and to the direct action of educators and learners which come from those approaches. Alternative approaches to education can act as driver of change to challenge poverty, inequality, and sustainable community development at local, national, and global contexts.

Compulsory•20 credits

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

This engaging module provides foundation knowledge and skills that will enable you to develop understanding and analysis of social inequalities and the nature of discrimination in contemporary society. There will be opportunities to explore key equality legislation and policy. The module will explore the ethical and political rationale for developing equitable, diverse, and inclusive practices as part of an agenda for social justice and social change.  

Compulsory•20 credits

Learning Across the Lifespan

This module explores a diverse range of theories of human development and learning. Using real world examples, you will be encouraged to apply a combination of theories to understand, consider and reflect upon appropriate courses of action to address issues found across a range: of relevant settings and contexts.

Compulsory•20 credits

Ethical Dilemmas and the Moral Maze

Dealing with real-world, ethical, or moral dilemmas is both challenging and pertinent to all areas of lived experience and professional, practice.  The module will introduce you to a range of theoretical models and provide opportunities to explore these in relation to real world ethical dilemmas drawn from professional practice contexts.  

Compulsory•20 credits

Social Justice and Social Change

Social Justice and Social Change offers an exciting opportunity for you to make a difference from the outset of your studies. You will work collaboratively to co-produce the big social justice questions.  Why are so many children still living in poverty in the UK? Why does inequality still exist?  Why do so many young people leave school without being able to read and write?  What will good work look like in 2030. How is social media affecting ideas about education? What is your vision for the type of society you want to live in?  With these big questions in mind, you will become familiar with innovative, creative projects and initiatives that work with children, young people, and communities, locally, regionally, nationally and globally.  The module provides field work visits and placement alongside teaching and learning.

Compulsory•40 credits
5 Modules

Professional Practice Placement

You will have the opportunity to make a difference to the lives of people and communities through an extended placement within your chosen field, either in the UK or abroad.  The placement will support you to become increasingly confident, and able to drive your own professional development.  We have exciting placement opportunities in various contexts that will introduce you to a range of innovative ways you can work with and alongside SEND organisations, practitioners, children, young people, and families which have impact in their lives.

Compulsory•20 credits

Managing Self in Contemporary Practice Contexts

This module will provide opportunities to understand how organisations work in contemporary society and will consider different approaches to leadership. The module will encourage you to explore your own approach to leading and managing in the 21st century and introduce you to a range of graduate futures across all organisation types including for example schools, charities, health services or your own enterprise business. The module will encourage you to think about leadership in new ways as well as understanding the challenges facing organisations in developing ethical and socially just practices and services. You will acquire a range of skills and develop your knowledge to help you make a difference through activities such as knowing where to source funding and write a funding bid to evidence good practice.

Compulsory•20 credits

Creatively and Critically Exploring Neurodiversity

This module utilises a novel and innovative approach to collaborative inquiry.  Working with the concepts of difference and affect students will be encouraged to develop asset based analysis that draws on first person accounts of neurodivergent people becoming the authors of their own stories, influencing and shaping approaches to policy, research and practice,  Students will be encouraged to develop their own critical literacy skills and build their own conceptual tool box in relation to neurodiversity that they can develop alongside children, young people, communities with whom they may engage with in the future.

Compulsory•20 credits

Working Therapeutically and Inclusively with Children with SEND

This exciting module enables you to consider how you might work more effectively and inclusively with children and young people who have Special Educational Needs Disabilities. You will be able to develop hands-on practical experience with therapeutic approaches such as play therapy, life story work and Lego therapy.  

Compulsory•20 credits

Communities of Practice

This is a participatory, experiential, and collaborative module in which you will be introduced to a series of provocations identified by practitioners working at a grass root level in range of SEND settings.  The module works alongside the professional practice placement and will enable you to undertake indepth investigation into issues you are encountering in practice

Compulsory•20 credits
5 Modules

Voice and Influence

This dynamic module will extend your knowledge and understanding of the role and purpose of voice and influence in your practice with children, young people, families, adults and communities. It is crucial that people have a voice and the opportunity to influence decisions that affect them and the matters that are of importance to them. The module will examine models of voice and influence from forums and campaigns to the role of the media. It will also explore issues of advocacy and   ways to support children, young people, adults and communities in representing their views, needs and wishes to decision makers.

Compulsory•20 credits

Extended Research Project

This module builds on your learning and development throughout the three years of your degree and offers an exciting opportunity to delve deeply into and explore a contemporary issue which you feel passionate about that is relevant to your programme of study. You will have the opportunity to design, develop and conduct your own research project. Through the process of this research and writing up your extended research project you will develop specialist knowledge and skills relevant to your graduate future, whether that be employment or postgraduate study. 

Compulsory•60 credits

Key Contemporary Themes in Education

This module gives you an ideal opportunity to pursue a final practice placement alongside subjects that you are interested and passionate about. It is an opportunity to discuss and draw together themes that you have encountered during your degree. As such it enables you to make full use of the skills and knowledge you have developed over the three years. Issues that you have described in year 1 (Social Justice) and analysed in year 2 (collaborative action learning) will become the focus of a principled response applying the insights you have gained from exposure to a range of contexts from across the field of SENDI within this key contemporary themes' module. 

Compulsory•40 credits
3 Modules

Playlist

Dr Patricia Shaw

Course Overview 2 mins

Rewilding Reading

Research Highlight 9 mins

Teaching facilities

University Life 1 min

Accommodation at Hull

University Life 2 mins

Entry requirements

What do I need?

When it comes to applying to university, you'll need a certain number of UCAS points. Different qualifications and grades are worth a different amount of points. For this course, you'll need…

Use UCAS's calculator to work out your estimated points

We consider experience and qualifications from the UK and worldwide which may not exactly match the combinations above.

But it's not just about the grades - we'll look at your whole application. We want to know what makes you tick, and about your previous experience, so make sure that you complete your personal statement.

Have questions? Our admissions team will be happy to help.

What do I need?

If you require a student visa to study or if your first language is not English you will be required to provide acceptable evidence of your English language proficiency level.

See other English language proficiency qualifications accepted by the University of Hull.

If your English currently does not reach the University’s required standard for this programme, you may be interested in one of our English language courses.

Visit your country page to find out more about our entry requirements.

Fees & funding

How much is it?

Additional costs you may have to pay

Your tuition fees will cover most costs associated with your programme. There are some extra costs that you might have to pay, or choose to pay, depending on your programme of study and the decisions you make:

  • Books (you can borrow books on your reading lists from the library, but you may buy your own)
  • Optional field trips
  • Study abroad (incl. travel costs, accommodation, visas, immunisation)
  • Placement costs (incl. travel costs and accommodation)
  • Student visas (international students)
  • Laptop (you’ll have access to laptops and computers on campus, but you may want your own)
  • Printing and photocopying
  • Professional-body membership
  • Graduation (gown hire and photography)

Remember, you’ll still need to take into account your living costs. This could include accommodation, travel, food and more.

How do I pay for it?

How much is it?

Additional costs you may have to pay

Your tuition fees will cover most costs associated with your programme. There are some extra costs that you might have to pay, or choose to pay, depending on your programme of study and the decisions you make:

  • Books (you can borrow books on your reading lists from the library, but you may buy your own)
  • Optional field trips
  • Study abroad (incl. travel costs, accommodation, visas, immunisation)
  • Placement costs (incl. travel costs and accommodation)
  • Student visas (international students)
  • Laptop (you’ll have access to laptops and computers on campus, but you may want your own)
  • Printing and photocopying
  • Professional-body membership
  • Graduation (gown hire and photography)

Remember, you’ll still need to take into account your living costs. This could include accommodation, travel, food and more.

How do I pay for it?

Our academics

You'll benefit from the outstanding support of academic staff who are experienced education practitioners.

Our research is driven by the belief that education can challenge inequalities and injustices in society, and seeks social and educational change to enhance fairness, equity and social justice.

See more academics for this subject
Gwadabe-Kurawa-headshot
Featured academic

Gwadabe Kurawa

Gwadabe is the Pathway Lead for MA in Special Educational Needs, Disabilities and Inclusion. His teaching covers equality, diversity and inclusion in education, and international and intercultural perspectives.

Tricia Shaw
Featured academic

Dr Tricia Shaw

Tricia, a senior lecturer in Education Studies here at Hull, is currently the Director of the Doctoral College. She previously served as a primary school teacher and SENCO, ensuring support and inclusive education for children with SEND.

Take a look at our facilities

Education Lecture Room

Study the theory in our lecture rooms – before you put your learning into practice in the classroom.

Forest School Training Centre

You could access our Forest School Training Centre with outdoor classroom, gardens, wooded area and wildflower meadows.

Brynmor Jones Library

Our seven-storey library is a superb learning space. As well more than a million books, there’s a variety of study areas, over 400 open-access PCs and one amazing view.

Group Lecture Room

Collaborate in group lecture rooms working as part of our vibrant community of students and staff who all share an interest in developing excellent learning opportunities for others.

See more in our virtual tour

Look around

Forest School Training Centre

Look around

Look around

Education Lecture Room
Forest School Training Centre
Brynmor Jones Library Observation Deck
Wilberforce TV Teaching Room
Teacher in a classroom

Future prospects

Graduates of this course pursue impactful careers as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officers, SEND Co-ordinators, Pastoral Care Officers, Disability Rights Advocates, Mental Health and Wellbeing Officers and more. Many also work in teaching, educational management, youth work, and charities supporting SEND communities.

The course also provides a strong foundation for postgraduate study, for example our MA Social Justice and Community Engagement or MA SENDI degrees, opening doors to advanced roles in education and beyond.

University of Hull Open Day

Your next steps

Like what you’ve seen? Then it’s time to apply.

The standard way to apply for this course is through UCAS. This will give you the chance to showcase your skill, qualities and passion for the subject, as well as providing your academic qualifications.

How to apply

Not ready to apply?

Visit our next Open Day, and see all that Hull has to offer for yourself. Talk to our lecturers about your subject, find out what university is really like from our current students, and take a tour of our beautiful campus and amazing facilities.

Book your place now

You may also be interested in…

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BA (Hons) Education Studies
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BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies
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BA (Hons) Working with Children, Young People and Families
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BA (Hons) Primary Teaching Studies
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BA (Hons) Education Studies (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)
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BA (Hons) Education Studies (Youth and Community Work)
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BA (Hons) Early Childhood Education and Care (1 year top-up)
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B.Ed Education and Childhood Studies (1 year top-up)

1. 94.9% employability (Education Studies) UK domicile full-time first degree leavers; Higher Education Graduate Outcomes statistics, for the academic year 2021/22, published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency June 2024.

2. 1st in the UK for teaching on my course National Student Survey (NSS) 2024, HEIs only.

All modules presented on this course page are subject to availability and this list may change at any time.

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