Newman University College, BA (Hons), Education Studies with Local History and Heritage

This is a major/minor course which allows the student to study the 2 subjects in a ratio of 75% education studies and 25% local history and heritage; the education studies course has a broad appeal to a wide range of prospective students whose interests include education, teaching and training in schools, colleges and other employment contexts; in exploring contemporary educational issues, the course offers an excellent basis for graduate and postgraduate Initial Teacher Training; the course is not, however, restricted exclusively to school–based issues; through the taught modular programme the student works across a range of themes such a social justice, globalisation and sustainability, and management of change; these are of particular interest to those students whose aspirations lie in other educational environments, such as youth, community and charity work, non-governmental organisations and training and development; in each year of the course the student undertakes a work-related placement module; in the 2nd year this provides an opportunity for the student to visit a placement of their choosing and study the educational approaches in that setting; the local history and heritage course allows the student to explore the presentation of history to a popular audience and the controversial concept of heritage; the course covers the history and heritage of the West Midlands region, although the research skills learned and sources of information used apply to the study of any location; the student examines how the industrial revolution changed the way people lived, worked and interacted as communities; the student explores how the West Midlands region developed, why settlement took place here, and the character of its people.