Primary Education Studies
Entry requirements
96 UCAS Tariff points from a minimum of 2 A Levels (or equivalent).
96 UCAS Tariff Points
GCSE/National 4/National 5
5 GCSEs at grade C, or grade 4, or above, including English and Maths.
UCAS Tariff
UCAS Tariff points from a minimum of 2 A Levels (or equivalent).
About this course
Do you dream of educating the next generation? If you’re passionate about helping children to reach their potential, our Primary Education Studies degree is for you.
You needn’t be limited to primary school teaching, though. You might have your sights set on a career in the wider education sector, cultural institutions and NGOs, or related fields such as health and social work. On this degree course you’ll develop your understanding of primary education, and gain the knowledge and skills to work collaboratively in a range of settings.
Our Education courses ranked 7th in the UK in the Guardian University Guide 2024.
If you’re looking for a career working with children aged 3-12 and their families, or you already work in education but want to learn more and progress your career, our BA Primary Education Studies is a great option.
We focus on education history, policy and the way children are taught today. You’ll graduate with a thorough understanding of classroom management, lesson planning, National Curriculum subjects, and the three Key Stages in primary education. We’ll also touch on special educational needs provision.
Throughout the course there’s a strong focus on the core subjects that all primary-aged pupils study: reading, writing, maths and science. You’ll become familiar with teaching approaches and how to make adjustments to suit learners of all abilities.
Of course, anyone working with children and families knows that it’s important to support the ‘whole child’ and so, as well as looking at education and teaching, we’ll explore related areas such as health, welfare, child psychology and children’s rights.
While studying at ARU, you’ll have opportunities to observe teaching in local schools. We offer our Primary Education Studies course as a three-year degree or an accelerated degree, which you’ll complete in two years. When you graduate, you’ll be ideally placed to join a postgraduate teacher training course with one of our partners and return to us to complete your PGCE.
Our course will prepare you to join postgraduate Initial Teacher Training. You'll also take part in live briefs to gain work experience and important contacts, like our recent partnership with Chelmsford Museum, Fitzwilliam Museum, and Scott Polar Museum.
**Careers**
Our BA (Hons) Primary Education Studies is the first step on your career path to working with primary-aged children and their families.
If you’re interested in teaching, our degree will also prepare you for postgraduate initial teacher training programmes. We work with local ITT providers who actively recruit our students to School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITTs) and you’ll be prepared for interviews throughout your degree.
**Employability and personal career development**
Informed by employers, our courses support an integrated approach to employability. You’ll have opportunities to develop the skills and abilities they are looking for and gain a deeper understanding of how your academic learning relates to the world of work through Live Briefs and Ruskin Modules.
To amplify your career ambition, you will need to actively dedicate time outside of your studies, whether you choose to explore placements, internships or volunteering. Or you could make a social impact by collaborating with our partner organisations through our volunteer scheme Students at the Heart of Knowledge Exchange (SHoKE). These all give you an edge, providing you with experience that you will be able to evidence on your CV and talk about in interviews.
Our Employability and Careers Service offers a range of expert advice and support to build your unique professional profile, including tailored career appointments, advice on writing your CV, and help to complete job applications. You’ll have 24/7 access to the Careers Centre, our comprehensive online digital resource, which empowers you to start building a Personal Career Development Plan from the very start. Design your future at ARU.
Modules
Year 1 Core modules: Key Paradigms 1: History and Philosophy of Primary Education; Perspectives on the Child 1: Childhood as a Construct - Physical and Social Development of Children; Primary Pedagogy 1: The Curriculum and Primary Teaching, Research Foundations; Subject Knowledge for Teaching 1: Early Language, Reading and Writing and Early Mathematical Concepts; Subject Knowledge for Teaching 1: Science and Technology 1. Year 2 Core modules: Key Paradigms 2: Sociology and Politics; Primary Pedagogy 2: Creativity, Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods; Perspectives on the Child 2: Childhood Cognitive and Language Development; Subject Knowledge for Teaching 2: English and Mathematics 2; Ruskin Module; Year 3 Core modules: Key Paradigms 3: International and Global Perspectives in Education; Perspectives on the Child 3: Inclusion, SEND and Developmental Difficulties; Primary Pedagogy 3: Contemporary Issues in Education, Specialist Focus Project; Subject Knowledge for Teaching 3: The Wider Curriculum; Key Skills for Effective Primary Teaching. Modules are subject to change and availability, and may vary by location.
Assessment methods
Your progress will be assessed using many different methods, including poster presentations, group presentations, essays, reflective logs or commentaries, reports, and your Specialist Focus Project (dissertation by literature review). You'll also have opportunities for informal (formative assessment) to give you the necessary support and opportunities to be an active learner and make contributions to our learning community in lectures, seminars or online groups. Your tutors will monitor individual, group and cohort learning in order to personalise teaching approaches so that you learn in the way that is most suited to you.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Chelmsford Campus
ARU Peterborough
Cambridge Campus
School of Education
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
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Education
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Education
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Education
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£18k
£23k
£24k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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