Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Early Years Education

at University of Bedfordshire - Bedford Campus United Kingdom

Economies are increasingly global. With this degree - designed to give you the knowledge and skills to manage a business effectively in the global context - show potential employers that you understand how business operates on an international scale.

Alongside traditional business skills and disciplines such as strategy, human resource management, finance, operations and marketing, you will acquire global skills via units such as international economics, global marketing, and Intercultural awareness in business.

In your final year you are supported in finding a placement which delivers invaluable international experience, as well as credit towards your degree, as you apply your learning to project work in a live setting.

Whether you plan to work for an organisation in the UK or abroad, BSc International Business at the University of Bedfordshire Business School (UBBS) is designed to equip you with the skills you need to succeed in diverse global environments. The course offers you a global perspective of business and an education to perform in multi-cultural business environments across different organisations and industry sectors.

Choose International Business at Bedfordshire and

• Learn through lectures, seminars and workshops, plus projects, research exercises, presentations, and case study analyses with a focus on using your knowledge and understanding in practice
• Study business management, business research, marketing, finance, accounting, operations management and human resource management
• Develop your communication and collaborative skills as well as a recognisable high level of professionalism, enabling you to fit in and be effective from day one
• Gain an understanding of the roles and relationships of businesses in the international arena, and the specific operational and strategic issues, challenges and opportunities that they face at an international level
• Explore opportunities for further postgraduate and professional study
• Benefit from a degree which gives you understanding of global business operations, analytical and problem-solving skills, and personal effectiveness and credibility when working across cultures in international teams – attributes which are highly attractive to potential employers

Why choose this course?

BSc International Business offers students a holistic understanding of the global environment with a solid foundation in intercultural competencies, international business, marketing in a global context, global expansion strategies, international new ventures, cross-cultural negotiations, and international trade relations. The course units are delivered through stimulating modules and supported by an optional placement opportunity. You will also be encouraged to take advantage of other initiatives available to UBBS students including our popular Go Global programme and centrally-run employability language classes.

UBBS not only offers an international business degree, but most importantly an international business experience through

• International business programs, with various degree pathways, at all academic levels - undergraduate, Masters, and PhD;
• The opportunity to participate in international business and marketing competitions;
• A supervised final year project with an international focus;
• Research informed teaching delivered by an international faculty recognised for their top level research in international business, entrepreneurship, and marketing;
• Business Matters and other discussion forums where you can explore topical business issues;
• Go global experiences; and,
• Employability units and optional language classes.

If your ambition is to enter an Early Years profession and you have a Foundation Degree or equivalent, this top-up course will bring you up to a full Honours degree in just one year.

The Applied Early Years Studies BA (Hons) is a top-up (progression) course which builds on knowledge and skills gained from a previous relevant Foundation Degree or a similar 240-credit course.

Your studies take a whole-child approach to learning; early education; the needs of the child; and child development within the family and society, locally and globally. Your learning builds on your experience in the workplace and the course content adapts to suit your interests and circumstances.

 Why choose this course?

• Develop your understanding of the importance of education research and enquiry
• Choose a research dissertation topic and carry out research in your own area
• Gain practical skills by undertaking work placements
• Benefit from a course that provides a clear route into a professional graduate role, through Early Years teacher status, Primary initial teacher training or leadership and management

The huge popularity of sport and fitness means clinical exercise therapists are much in demand. This course gives you the skills to use exercise, physical activity and therapeutic treatments to promote health and fitness as well as help rehabilitation after an injury.

The course aims to provide you with the skills and knowledge to progress into a career as a graduate clinical exercise therapist (GCET). Completing the degree allows you to join the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) at Level 3. REPs is the independent public register recognising the qualifications and expertise of health-enhancing coaches and therapists in the UK.

The course explores relevant fields such as physiology and anatomical structure, and includes units on sports massage, manual therapies and the management of sports injuries. In your final year, you undertake a research project of your choice and can also follow a specialism with a range of optional units.

Why choose this course?

• Apply your knowledge and skills while completing a minimum of 150 hours on practice placement in a range of different environments
• Benefit from guidance from practising therapists, coaches and injury-rehabilitation professionals as well as academic staff
• Build your skills in planning and conducting your own research as well as in reading and interpreting other researchers’ work
• Learn wider transferable skills relevant to a range of career options
• As a graduate, enter degree-level employment within the field of health, fitness, sports and exercise medicine in the public sector (NHS) or private sector (health clubs and clinics)
• Take the course over four years and include a fee-free year in industry (see below), gaining experience and making contacts for the future
• If you need a step up into higher education, start with a Foundation Year (see below) which guarantees entry to the undergraduate degree

Find your individual voice and put your passion into practice on a course that will see you graduate as a versatile and highly employable dance artist, ready to forge a portfolio career within the dance sector.

The course comprises daily technique classes including contemporary, ballet and commercial; fitness sessions; choreography and creative sessions; workshops in digital technologies, dance-teaching skills and community dance practices. You will also be encouraged to think, write and talk about how dance theory informs your work.

There are many opportunities to perform in works by professional choreographers for the University Dance Company, as well as works created by your fellow students. Performances are presented in our professional theatre.

The emphasis is on professional practice, technical competence, creativity and teamwork, a combination that supports students to be versatile, adaptable and employable.

Why choose this course?

• Learn from our highly experienced teaching team specialising in different areas of dance
• Develop your skills through visiting dance artists and choreographers
• Create your own work for performance, including a major piece for the annual student showcase and dance festival
• Gain performance experience in our up-to-the-minute dance studios and professional 280-seat theatre
• Explore extra-curricular activities including cultural exchanges, dance societies and trips
• Take up opportunities for internships and participation in external dance projects

Corporations today work in a highly regulated environment so need managers who understand the legal aspects of business. This degree gives you this knowledge as well as the skills to successfully manage any organisation.

By taking this course, you benefit from an integrated syllabus that brings together business management and the legal framework within which it operates. You study essential aspects of business management including marketing, accounting, human resource management, strategy and project management alongside the fundamentals of business law such as contract law, tort law and intellectual property law.

You also learn how to apply theory to real-life situations, making you an efficient and effective manager in any organisational, cultural or social context.

Why choose this course?

• Learn in small classes through lectures, seminars and workshops, cementing your learning via group projects, research exercises, presentations and case study analyses
• The combination of business skills and legal knowledge make you attractive to employers across a wide range of organisations. It is also an invaluable preparation if starting your own business
• Gain from the opportunity to work independently on a final-year dissertation, undertaking research in your chosen area
• Take the course over four year and benefit from a fee-free placement year in industry (see below), gaining experience, building your CV and making contacts for the future
• If you need an entry route into degree-level study, start with a Foundation Year (see below), completion of which guarantees you entry to this degree course
• Benefit from a degree which gives you access to careers in general management roles, plus more specialist opportunities in human resources, e-business, operations or project management

Pursue your own intellectual interests and develop advanced critical thinking and literary analysis skills.

Research-active experts in their fields deliver the taught elements - small seminar groups enabling significant individual support and guidance.

A thorough knowledge of 19th century and 20th century texts and contexts, and specific units in Reading Ulysses, Literary Pilgrimages, and Children’s and Young Adult Literature allow you to reflect on significant historical, intellectual and philosophical debates.

Research Methods develops further skills necessary at postgraduate level.

Building on your interests, a final dissertation project allows you to conduct independent research in a topic of your choosing.

Why choose this course?

• Study on an interdisciplinary course that combines the fields of language teaching and learning, teacher training management and leadership in an international context.
• Gain relevant and practical teaching experience and professional practical experience with a work placement programme where you will meet home and international students at various levels in their career, enabling you to work in an international environment and learn from each other’s experiences.
• Develop your understanding of English language teaching and learning in order to operate successfully in a management and leadership role and support others.
• Learn from experienced lecturers and researchers whose expertise and research lie in the areas of ELT, Language Teaching and Learning and Assessment, Materials Development for Language Teaching and Learning, and Leadership Management in Education. They are also involved in consultancy work with colleges and schools preparing for acceptance into accreditation schemes and inspections.
• Enhance your professional thinking and develop your own personal initiative as you conduct research in a specific area related to the fields of ELT, Management and Leadership.
• Benefit from close links with our Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment (CRELLA), a world-famous centre in language testing and programme evaluation.

This course enhances your knowledge, skills and understanding in specialist areas of education. It enables you to develop your critical engagement in specific areas of interest, such as Leadership, Special Educational Needs, Early Years and issues related to classroom studies.

The MA Education will allow you to gain further knowledge and understanding in areas of working with children and adults in a wide variety of local authority or social care settings as well as in nurseries, schools and colleges.

For those already in work, the part-time route will support promotion to leadership and management roles. Our names awards will enable students to progress to doctoral study in specific specialist areas.

Why choose this course?

The course provides a dedicated route for those in management positions (or on a management career path). The course aims to develop both analytical and practical skills and will equip you to critically analyse current practices and processes as well as develop your own approaches to effective change.

The School of Sport Science and Physical Activity are focused on promoting football and developing students’ understanding of the variety of ways the football industry impacts on society. Figures released by a leading sports business consultancy reveal that 70 per cent of all football fans worldwide are now watching the English game.  Never has it been more necessary to prepare well-rounded graduates for entry into football-related professions and industries.

Building on the appeal of the UK’s most popular sporting competition, this course prepares you to work in a range football-related health, education, and social settings through increased participation in football setting placements.

The impact of the Premier League and Football League clubs goes beyond the obvious economic impact and encompasses investment in facilities. Community programmes supported by the Premier League in schools and deprived areas has reached a significant scale.

The rapid growth of the football sector has created opportunities to become a sports professional in an expanding, borderless industry.  Football is one of the most important industries in the UK in terms of interest, participation and consumer spending. This course has been developed to reflect the growing complexity of the football market. The courses offer students the chance to enhance their employability by equipping them with the knowledge and higher-level skills demanded of a career in a global sport industry

Why choose this course?

• Develop a professional approach and understanding of football with a focus on coaching.
• Learn a range of coaching skills to aid your delivery and planning of sessions relevant to the team/player standard.
• Be taught by top class professionals within the field. Staff have worked with many football bodies and a variety of individuals from within the industry.
• Develop your professional network to enhance your employability.
• Become an independent, critical, learner with the skills and knowledge to review current and future trends within the game as well as develop values associated with high quality coaching and player support.

If your dream career involves training athletes to maximise their physical potential and improve their performance, then this innovative course is for you. What’s more, you’re taught by a team who have trained some of the best sportsmen and women in the world.

This degree gives you the skills you need to be a strength and conditioning coach while developing your understanding and experience of performance sport.

You learn from leading professionals in the field, who have worked with elite England and GB sportsmen and women, and collaborated with the Rugby Football Union, Football Association and Amateur Athletic Association.

The course covers a wide range of disciplines including anatomy, physiology, biomechanics and sport psychology as well as specific units in strength and conditioning and sport science.

Why choose this course?

• Benefit from our modern, high-tech facilities, including extensive sport-science laboratories and a purpose-built strength and conditioning suite
• Develop your employability through work-placement opportunities which could lead to internships with local professional clubs and the University’s Sports Scholarship Scheme
• Become a professional on a course that has Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) qualifications embedded in it
• Completing the course also allows you to apply for professional accreditation with the United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association (UKSCA)
• Take the course over four years and include a fee-free year in industry (see below), gaining experience and making contacts for the future
• If you need a step up into higher education, start with a Foundation Year (see below) which guarantees entry to the undergraduate degree

This course aims to further develop your professional knowledge and understandings in specific areas of education and welfare.

It is based upon a critical concern for social justice and the ways this is understood and implemented through policy and practice to affect the lives of disadvantaged children and young people as well as poor and marginalised groups and communities.

The MA Education (Social Justice) aims to

• Increase awareness of, and access to, a range of academic ideas and research findings in relation to issues of education and  social justice
• Promote personalisation of broad themes around the challenges posed by changing global political, social and economic landscapes and to meet the needs and interests of students while providing a focused line of study
• Promote vocationally relevant and varied assessment formats with a negotiated focus to support individual and organisational needs
• Promote engagement with key issues in education and social justice, involving critical examination of a wide range of key sources and texts
• Encourage evidence-based practice and reflexive practice-based understandings through engagement with work-based settings allowing student to integrate theoretical ideas with practical implications

Why choose this course?

• The MA in Education (Social Justice) is designed to develop a breadth of understanding of the theoretical debates that underpin the process and practice of education and social welfare and will enable you to analyse and reflect on research that contextualise the complexities of working with disadvantaged and marginalised groups across community, local authority and voluntary sector settings.
• The course will strengthen your ability, and equip you to apply for jobs (or further training) in a wide range of educational settings as teachers, community workers, social workers, police, probation officers, education welfare workers, home school link or family welfare workers and professionals working across the voluntary sector.
• This Master's degree will also enable you to progress to doctoral study in specific specialist areas.