Modules

LEVEL 1

Education, Power and Society: Introduction to the Sociology of Education

This module is designed to introduce you to the sociology of education as an academic field. A key issue in the sociology of education is the relationship between educational institutions/cultures/systems and social inequalities. The focus here is placed on studying class, gender, ethnicity and disability and looking at the ways in which education systems serve to tackle or reproduce patterns of inequality.

The sociology of education also explores and evaluates different policy frameworks and goals. One important contemporary question asks whether the focus of education policy should be placed on nurturing active citizenship (and what this would look like) or whether the main priority should be to serve the needs of the economy (and how this might be achieved).

The organisation of learning and teaching is a third key area explored by the sociology of education. In addition to looking at pedagogical strategies such as setting, differentiated and personalised learning, a key sociological question is whether and how pedagogical practices serve to address or reinforce social inequalities and relations of power.

Child Psychology

This module explores the relationship between psychological theory and educational policy and practice, considering some of the ways in which Education and Local Authority services have been influenced by ideas about children developed in psychological research. Some of the core concepts of Psychology are introduced such as cognitive psychology (intelligence, language and learning), behaviourism (including modification techniques), social and emotional development (including family and attachment, trauma) as well as the study of individual differences (with reference to psychopathologies such as autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder).

Critical Curriculum Study

The curriculum is often taken for granted by those who experience it, such as parents, students and teachers. This module poses questions about curriculum – what is it and who is it for? Different perspectives on curriculum are explored to establish a framework for critical curriculum study. After examining school curriculum reform both in England and in international contexts, the module will focus in depth on a single case study curriculum in England. This focused study will be carried out from the perspective of curriculum history, policy reform, analysis and implementation through research involving classroom-based curriculum development.

Social and Historical Constructions of Childhood

In this module students will explore how childhood has been portrayed across different societies and at different times, and will examine how childhoods are shaped and influenced by the societies in which children live, learn and are cared for. Through a series of lectures, group work and individual study tasks, students will think about the ways in which childhood has changed over time and how different views and perspectives on childhood create different expectations of children. Through the study of historical and social constructions of childhood, students will develop a fuller understanding of how ways of working with children can be shaped by external influences.

Comparative Histories of Education

This unit introduces students to history as an academic discipline and education as a social practice. A broadly chronological approach to the history of education will be adopted covering the classical, medieval and modern periods. There will be a focus on the broader social conditions that provide the context for education. The recent history of mass education will be analysed through the policy and legislative landmarks that characterise it, mainly in a UK context, but with some comparative perspectives.

Historical interpretations offered initially will be considered through the mid-20th century debates about the nature of history. The module will conclude with a consideration of some of the implications of post-modern developments in the late 20th century which have challenged historicist epistemological assumptions and challenged the standard historicist meta-narrative accounts of the development of education.

Study Skills in Education, Culture and Childhood

Preparing you for success in your studies is the main aim of this module. It is integrated with the rest of the BA Education, Culture and Childhood, so the content and assessment fit closely with your other modules. It is also intended to build on your existing strengths as a learner, and offer opportunities for developing new expertise within interdisciplinary university study. The focus of the module is on the study skills essential for success in university, such as academic writing, presentation skills, information literacy, and becoming a reflective learner. The module will be taught in a highly participative and interactive manner.

LEVEL 2

Children and Digital Cultures

In this module you will have the chance to think about the ways in which digital technologies are affecting the lives of young people and the cultures they inhabit. We will consider how this affects their sense of themselves; the world they live in and their learning in informal and formal spaces. You will be introduced to theories, which attempt to help us make sense of the fast paced cultural and social changes we are witnessing.
The educational implication of digital technologies is a developing field of research and you will be able to engage critically with debates emerging from the field alongside examining websites and new practices. As well as reading about and exploring some of the digital technologies and websites we will be asking you to reflect on yourself and your digital practices.

Psychology and Learning Communities

This module explores the ways in which different theoretical conceptions of the learner and their community might impact on the learning, teaching and pedagogy that they experience. The module will introduce you to different theoretical perspectives on learners and their communities which will influence how educators approach learning, teaching and pedagogy. We understand learners in terms of their participation in formal contexts of education (early years settings, schools, colleges, universities) and informal educational and community contexts (including self-help groups, political and community activism organisations, leisure and the creative industries). One key question will dominate the course: How do you understand learners, learning and their communities?

Dimensions of Education Policy

This module looks at key issues in education policy. We will explore the origins and evaluate the success of the comprehensive system; look in detail at the debates surrounding grammar schools, faith schools, Academies, trust schools and free schools; assess a range of policies designed to tackle educational disadvantage (e.g. Education Action Zones, Sure Start, Aim Higher); critically explore the politics of teaching and assessment; and reflect more generally on the discourse of choice and diversity that frames current education policy as a whole.

Understanding Education: Research and Researching

In this module we offer you the opportunity to examine and discuss some of the theories and methods associated with educational research. The module includes a consideration of various definitions and purposes of research, approaches to framing your enquiry and analysing data. You will be introduced to the idea of ‘methodology’ and to a range of research methods, which are critically assessed in both a theoretical and practical sense. The aim of this module is to equip you with the skills, knowledge and critical awareness needed to engage critically with data presented by other researchers and to conduct research of your own.

The emphasis is on activity. For each method, time is devoted in sessions to ‘enacting’ that method. Thus when we consider focus groups, for example, we will allow students to conduct their own focus groups with their peers on the course - similarly for interviews and observation. The session on documentary analysis will involve analysing a set of educational documents and feeding back these analyses to the others in the group. The notion of ‘survey research’ (which has a wide range of meanings) will be considered by carrying out surveys in the group (which students will design) and trying them; this will include the use of an electronic voting system.

Research Project in Education, Culture and Childhood

The aim of the module is to allow you to design and manage your own small scale research project. The objective is to give you the opportunity to engage with all the stages necessary in the planning and implementation of successful research, from the crafting of an appropriate set of research questions, through literature search, data collection, analysis of findings and dissemination of results.

Research can sometimes be a lonely and isolated activity – gathering and analysing data for a project that only you are working on. To avoid this, students have a series of small group tutorials spread across the academic year. This will allow you to develop and discuss your own individual research project in a supportive small group context.

Work Placement

This module provides you with the opportunity to develop your knowledge and skills in a professional workplace setting. Support will be provided in selecting an appropriate setting, and the placement can be undertaken any time between the start of the spring semester and the end of the summer vacation in your second year. The placement will be undertaken on a voluntary basis and you will be required to produce a detailed learning journal offering a reflective account of your experiences. This is an excellent opportunity to gain valuable work experience that both enhances your knowledge and skills and informs your thinking about future career paths.

LEVEL 3

Dissertation

The aim of the dissertation is to enable students to advance their knowledge of education and childhood studies by pursuing an independent research project on a relevant chosen topic. Students completing the dissertation will have examined a subject in substantial depth, shown evidence of an ability to undertake sustained critical analysis, developed and improved their research skills, and produced a long piece of written work that demonstrates a detailed and sophisticated understanding of a particular area of relevance to the BA (Hons) Education, Culture and Childhood.

Psychological Theory and Childhood Experience

This module explores the relationship between psychological theory and experience. Students drawn to the study of psychology are presented with a curriculum comprising subjects (memory, perception, language, cognition, development, emotion) they have spent a lifetime experiencing. Hence psychology as a scientific study presents a unique experience for the student, learning what in an experiential sense is already known. This module introduces reflective models of inquiry in which psychological understanding is sought through the exploration of preconceptions transmitted within psychology and psychological education. This module also explores psychological approaches that illuminate different orientations to childhood experience and the implications for these different approaches for the knowledge generated.

Education@Sheffield

In Education@Sheffield students are invited to explore and evaluate the rich and diverse research taking place within the School of Education. Through a series of seminars presented by active researchers, students are encouraged to critically engage with research—and the researchers themselves—in the fields of educational and childhood studies. The Education@Sheffield module enables students to acquire a critical understanding of various themes, settings and methodologies which shape contemporary educational research.

What is Learning?

What is learning? Everyone does it but how does it happen? How can it be influenced? That last question is asked by parents, educators, advertisers, partners, politicians, the media and others. Current understandings about learning are influenced by perspectives from the European Enlightenment of the 18th century and, perhaps surprisingly, from ancient Greece. But there are recent, more radical and challenging perspectives on learning that this module will also explore – perspectives that challenge the practices of educators and others and even call into question ideas about truth and reality.

Globalisation and Inclusive Education

This module considers the extent to which inclusive education might be viewed as a global context with a shared meaning. Moving outwards from the dominant concepts, principles and practices which frame `our own´ national, or regional responses to inclusive education, the module explores other possible ways of understanding difference. By examining `other ways of seeing difference´, in unfamiliar contexts, students are able to examine the implications of globalisation for inclusive education and explore the opportunities and obstacles for the inclusion agenda within a range of cultural settings.

Participatory Research with Children and Young People

This module explores the methodological and ethical issues involved in engaging children and young people as active participants in the research process. Students will analyse critically a number of case study research projects that have attempted to ensure the active participation of children and young people and will design a group research project that engages children and young people as active participants in the research process.