BA Primary Education with QTS

About the Course

The BA Primary Education Honours degree with QTS is provided at Carmarthen by the South West Wales Centre of Teacher Education. It focuses on the professional study of the full range of primary education. The degree programme is designed to educate and train teachers for schools in Wales and beyond but giving particular attention to the linguistic contexts and educational priorities in Wales.

The over-riding principles are to provide you with a thorough understanding of the statutory curricula for primary schools, within a caring, supportive and encouraging environment. With our partner schools, we aim to ensure that you achieve your full potential in becoming both an effective and reflective practitioner who is able to teach in today’s primary schools and to deal with the challenges of tomorrow.

Six modules are studied during each of the three years, five of which are University based and one based on a range of experiences in school settings.

University-based Studies

The university-based provision includes modules designed to provide you with a broad understanding of the challenges and joys of teaching in the 21st century. The key elements include:

Principles of Pedagogy

These modules introduce you to the principles and practices of teaching and learning which are consolidated and developed in other aspects of the course. Issues discussed include the professional development of teachers, educational law, assessment, professional care of children and additional learning needs. You will gain skills, knowledge and understanding of teaching young children (3-7) in the Foundation Phase. You will also learn to make good use of guidance produced by the Welsh Assembly Government and other organisations, including ESTYN, the Welsh inspectorate.

Subject knowledge and understanding

The programme includes modules on English and Mathematics, which are the foundations of learning. You will develop your own personal literacy and numeracy skills as well as learning how to teach children. The programme also includes modules on learning through the expressive arts, the humanities and sciences. You will gain understanding of a broad range of work across all subject areas.

There is a strong emphasis on ICT within the programme and how this should support learning in other areas of the curriculum.

Themes

You will develop understanding of key themes such as personal and social education, education for sustainable development and global citizenship and Welsh culture. The programme has a strong focus on problem-based approaches to learning which seek to develop team-working, research and communication skills, essential for teachers of the 21st century.

The University has made good use of its long and strong tradition of offering training through the medium of Welsh in order to identify ways and means of promoting awareness of the Welsh dimension in education. You will be provided with wide perspectives of Wales through educational visits and fieldwork. The University-based studies also include opportunities to strengthen your Welsh-language and bilingual skills so that you are confident when teaching in Wales, while at the same time providing the skills necessary to teach in any multilingual classroom.

School-based Experiences

School-based Experiences are designed to enable you to apply the knowledge, skills and understanding that you have acquired within your University-based Studies to real teaching contexts. You are introduced to teaching and learning matters early in the course, before revisiting them at a more in-depth level of understanding as the course progresses, leading ultimately to the achievement of Qualified Teacher Status by the end of the third year.

There are 24 weeks of School-based Experiences in the three-year degree programme where you will be placed in schools across south, west and/or mid Wales. You will encounter a range of teaching experiences that will enable you to demonstrate your ability in the national teaching standards as you work towards achieving independence as a trainee teacher. School-based Experiences are provided through:

  • A series of visits to a range of educational settings
  • Teaching placements in each of the three years, choosing your preferred phase - Foundation Phase (3-7) or Key Stage 2 (7-11) for your final placement.

(If you are studying the degree through the medium of Welsh, you will be placed in a range of Welsh-medium schools).

The Cwricwlwm Cymreig

The University has made good use of its long and strong tradition of offering training through the medium of Welsh in order to identify ways and means of promoting trainees’ awareness of the Welsh dimension in education. You will be provided with wide perspectives of Wales through educational visits and fieldwork.

Award
BA (Single Honours)

UCAS Code
X120

BA Primary Education(QTS) -Welsh medium-X123

Language Choice
English
Welsh

Course Length
3 years full-time

Entry Requirements

Applicants are required to have a grade B at GCSE in at least 2 of the core subjects - English/Welsh Language, Mathematics and Science. Exceptions will be considered if the general profile of the results across all subjects is predominantly high. Extensive experience of working with children is an advantage.

If invited to attend an interview, you will be required to complete a form to confirm that you meet the requirements of the ‘Fitness to Teach’ document published by the DIUS.

Career Opportunities

Annual surveys conducted by the Careers Service reveal that over 80% of our graduates have traditionally secured teaching positions in Wales, England and Ireland within six months of completing their course. Employability of graduates is enhanced by a number of additional awards, e.g. Church School Certificate, Certificate in the Teaching of Welsh as a Second Language, First Aid and a variety of Sports Coaching Awards.

Department

School of Initial Teacher Education and Training

Campus

Carmarthen Campus

Key Features

  • High quality teaching as acknowledged by Estyn
  • Subject and pedagogical expertise
  • Staff training and research in Thinking Skills
  • A strong relationship with Partnership schools
  • Progressive applied ICT provision
  • Unique observation facilities in two local primary schools
  • A long-established experience and expertise in Welsh language and bilingual provision together with the Cwricwlwm Cymreig
  • Curriculum enhancement opportunities:
    • Optional modules
    • A range of school- based experiences and visits
    • An opportunity in Year 2 to visit schools in London
    • Educational visits abroad – currently to Lesotho, Virginia, New Zealand.

Programme Specification

Educational Aims:

The aims of the programme are:

  • To enable trainees to become reflective practitioners who examine critically the quality of their teaching and children's learning in the 3-11 age range.
  • To equip trainees with the knowledge, skills and understanding that will enable them to teach effectively.
  • To enable trainees to acquire a breadth of pedagogical knowledge to inform decision-making in a professional manner.
  • To enable trainees to show creativity, commitment, energy and enthusiasm in their teaching.
  • To enable trainees to understand the distinctively creative nature of learning in the Foundation Phase.
  • To enable trainees to develop the necessary skills to teach within a bilingual environment.
  • To enable trainees to acquire the Qualified Teacher Status Standards described in WAG Circular 41/2006 in relation to Professional Values and Practice, Knowledge and Understanding and Teaching.
  • To meet Welsh assembly requirements in respect of Trainees Entry, Training and Assessment, Management of the ITT Partnership and Quality Assurance.

Programme Outcomes

The outcomes of the programme are:

College-based Studies

  • To enable trainees to develop a breadth of knowledge and understanding in areas of learning and core subjects to a degree that underpins effective teaching of those subjects.
  • To research an area of professional interest leading to the production of a dissertation. This will enable trainees to keep up to date with research and developments in pedagogy; to access recent inspection evidence and classroom relevant research, and to use their knowledge to inform their teaching and learning.
  • To give trainees a breadth of experience in all the areas of learning and  non-core subjects and religious education to an extent that they will have a basic understanding of the teaching of those subjects with support from experienced practitioners.
  • To enable trainees to acquire a high level of general ICT skills, and an ability to know how and when to apply ICT across the primary curriculum.
  • To give a thorough training to trainees to allow them to teach within the 3-11 age group and provide an additional specialism within the Foundation Phase or Key Stage 2.
  • To provide trainees with the necessary knowledge and understanding to enable them to teach within the diverse bilingual contexts in Wales and beyond.

School-based Studies

  • To provide trainees with opportunities to familiarise themselves with school life and to explore teaching skills in practical teaching situations under the guidance of experienced colleagues.
  • To provide trainees with the opportunities to undertake substantial and sustained periods of class teaching so that they meet all the standards specified for the award of Qualified Teacher Status as required by Circular 41/2006.
  • To train trainees to be aware of their professional duties in school contexts. 
  • To enable trainees to develop an understanding of pupils in school, their similarities and differences, particularly in relation to their needs, behaviour, maturation and levels of attainment, and to show competence in maintaining discipline and managing pupil behaviour.
  • To enable trainees to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils through helping them (the pupils) to develop successful relationships and become active citizens while understanding issues relating to physical health and well being through developing  respect for themselves and others. Trainees should also understand the potential for developing  pupils’ ability to reflect spiritually within an ethos that offers stability, order and respect.
  • To give trainees the opportunity in collaboration with the College and schools, to identify areas of strength and developmental needs in order to establish a baseline for continued professional development.
  • To train trainees to take responsibility for identifying their own professional achievements through the compilation of a Professional Development Profile in working towards achieving the Standards for the award of Qualified Teacher Status as required by Circular 41/2006.
  • To provide trainees with the necessary knowledge and understanding to enable them to teach within the diverse bilingual contexts in Wales and beyond.
  • To provide trainees with opportunities to plan and prepare effectively for teaching in the Foundation Phase and Key Stage 2.
  • To provide trainees with opportunities to apply their knowledge and understanding of the  Areas of Learning in the Foundation Phase and the subject disciplines within the National  Curriculum at Key Stage 2 within classroom contexts.
  • To provide trainees with opportunities to foster pupils’ knowledge and understanding of ICT in the classroom.
  • To provide trainees with opportunities to apply their theoretical understanding of monitoring, assessment and recording within classroom contexts with particular emphasis in engaging learners in their own learning.

With reference to the Education Studies Benchmarking Statement, the Learning Outcomes of modules identified within the programme will enable students to demonstrate:

Knowledge and understanding

  • an awareness of the underlying values and principles relevant to Education Studies;
  • knowledge of the diversity of learners and the complexities of the education process;
  • an awareness of the different contexts in which learning can take place and the range of different roles of participants in the learning process (including learner and teacher);
  • an understanding of the societal and organisational structures and purposes of educational systems;
  • the ability to identify relevant theoretical and research based primary and/or secondary sources and to use these appropriately in their study to extend their knowledge and understanding.

Application

  • an ability to analyse educational concepts, theories and issues of policy in a systematic way;
  • an ability to identify potential connections between each of the aspects of subject knowledge and their application in educational policies and contexts;
  • an ability to accommodate new principles and understandings.

Reflection

  • an ability to reflect on their own value system;
  • an ability to question concepts and theories encountered in their study;
  • an understanding of the significance and limitations of theory and research.

Transferable Skills (1)

  • the ability to communicate in speech and writing using relevant specialist vocabulary;
  • an ability to use ICT for their study and other appropriate situations;
  • an ability to interpret graphical and tabular presentation of data and to collate and present numerical data;
  • an ability to work effectively as part of a team, carrying out allocated roles and fulfilling agreed responsibilities.

Transferable Skills (2)

  • an understanding of and an ability to articulate their own preferred learning styles and strategies and manage their development to organise an effective work pattern including working to deadlines;
  • an ability to process and synthesise empirical and theoretical data in addressing tasks and formulating possible actions.