23rd May 2019
What we do
The Foundation Degree in Teaching and Learning is for people wanting to work, or currently working, in a learning or pastoral support role with children and young people from 4-25 years. The two-year programme will develop your knowledge and understanding of educational and psychological theory and research for supporting learners, and build your reflection and practice skills to make you the best learning support practitioner you can be. You will study six modules in the first year (Level 4) covering Educational Policy, Learners and Education, Inclusion and Wellbeing, Reflective Practice, Core Curriculum Support, and Professional Practice. The Professional Practice module requires you to be in practice (paid or voluntary) for at least two days a week. Working alongside your school-based mentor, this module will enable to build your professional and academic skills, irrespective of your starting point. In the second year (Level 5) of the programme you will begin to specialise in your areas of interest, both in terms of support for learners with particular learning difficulties or disabilities, and also conducting your own research project into an area of practice that intrigues you.
What we are planning to do
During Level 4 we join with our FdA Early Years students to visit the We the Curious (formally @Bristol) science museum to explore ways of embedding science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects in our everyday practice. In Level 5, students are offered the opportunity of an international trip to a European country to explore teaching and learning in that country. Both trips are designed to challenge your thinking about current practice in your schools and identify things you could incorporate into your classroom. Students will also take part in Forest School activities and have opportunities to undertake additional mini-qualifications in autism, challenging behaviour, safeguarding, Forest School and others.
Our Industry is growing
The way learning support or teaching assistants are used within schools is changing. More and more support staff are specialising in a curriculum or pastoral role, rather than providing general classroom support. Our FdA is design to support this upskilling of practitioners so that they have the knowledge and skills to move into more specialist roles, e.g. Special Educational Needs support, intervention leaders for core subjects, behaviour support, pastoral care or family support roles. On completion of the FdA students can progress onto one of the two UCSD Honours Degrees in education for the final year of their studies. After this our students choose to apply for teacher training or post-graduate study, or focus their careers on non-teaching roles. There is a particular growth in roles support for learners with wellbeing or mental health difficulties. The FdA Teaching and Learning will provide you with a strong grounding in education and psychology which will enable you to apply for these roles in the future.
Delivery
As many of our students work almost full-time in schools, the FdA Teaching and Learning is delivered flexibly. This means that full-time students attend UCSD for classroom learning one day a week (Mondays for the 2019/20 cohort) and complete additional online learning. In addition, work based learning and independent study are central to the course. You will be very busy for two years, but this enables you to study for a degree and continue to work in jobs you love!
