Teaching
Teaching is provided through lectures, seminars and small-group supervisions.
You will usually have 4 to 6 lectures and seminars, and one or two hours of small-group supervisions each week.
Assessment
You’ll be assessed at the end of each year. Depending on the papers studied, this will be through practical work, coursework, written examination, or a combination of these.
In the third year, you will also be assessed through your dissertation.
You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams.
Year 1 (Part I)
You take 4 compulsory papers:
- Introduction to Education Systems and Disciplines
- Learning and Human Development
- Education, Creativity and Culture
- Education and Social Justice
These papers will provide you with a strong foundation to support you in a range of more specialist options in your second and third years.
Year 2 (Part IIA)
You take 2 compulsory papers:
- Designing Educational Research
- Dissertation: Literature Review
These papers will provide you with the foundations of Education research, in preparation for your dissertation in the third year.
You also choose 2 more papers which will build on what you studied in your first year. You can choose your own pathway through these papers which will continue into your third year.
You may choose to specialise in:
- psychology (accredited by the British Psychological Society)
- literature
- international development
If you don’t want to specialise, you can choose a range of papers that interest you.
Examples of papers that may be offered include:
- Children’s Literature
- Modernity, Globalisation and Education
- Theatre: Text and Production
- Education, Neuroscience and Society
- Formal and Informal Contexts of Learning
- Changing Landscapes of Childhood and Youth: History, Experience and Culture
- Case Studies in Education, Policy and International Development
- Play, Creativities and Imagination
- Postcolonial Literatures and Cultures
- Performance, Education and Society
Year 3 (Part IIB)
You take 4 papers:
- a compulsory dissertation of 8,000 to 10,000 words which will allow you to pursue a research project into a relevant area of particular interest to you
- 3 more papers from a list of options, so you can study what interests you the most
Examples of papers that may be offered include:
- Children’s Literature
- Modernity, Globalisation and Education
- Theatre: Text and Production
- Education, Neuroscience and Society
- Formal and Informal Contexts of Learning
- Changing Landscapes of Childhood and Youth: History, Experience and Culture
- Case Studies in Education, Policy and International Development
- Play, Creativities and Imagination
- Postcolonial Literatures and Cultures
- Performance, Education and Society
For further information about this course and the papers you can take see the Faculty of Education website.
Changing course
It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply.
In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.
You might also have to:
- take part in an interview
- complete an admissions test
- produce some written work
- achieve a particular grade in your current studies
- do some catch-up work
- start your new course from the beginning
For more information visit the Faculty website.
You can also apply to change to:
You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you have completed 1 year or more of your original Cambridge course.
You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.
