Education and English Literature, BA (Hons)

You explore a range of contexts from the classroom and the learner’s experience through to education as a lever for social and political change. Theoretical perspectives are drawn from themes which include gender, citizenship, representation, truth, power, childhood and inclusion, as well as by studying the ideas of the most exciting critical thinkers in contemporary cultural debate. Study in English Literature is wide-ranging and includes modern and traditional literature, cultural study and critical analysis, Shakespeare and rap poetry. Modern, philosophical, cultural, social, psychological and historical perspectives are all used as analytical tools to help examine educational debates and a wide variety of educational themes and concepts. You interrogate the educational process as a whole and seek answers to questions about the purpose, value, misuse and difficulties of education and learning. English Literature modules in the first academic year provide an awareness of the range of different approaches to understanding texts to develop skills of critical analysis, research and writing. Education modules introduce you to a broad range of educational themes, concepts, contexts and experiences. In the second academic year, Education modules focus on developing a deep and meaningful understanding of educational principles, concepts and ideas in readiness for their critical application to a range of contexts, practices and real life situations in the third academic year. English Literature modules involve studying a group of texts representative of a period of history, a particular genre or a particular area of the world ranging from Anglo-Saxon to the contemporary. Modules tend to be closely related to the research interests of teaching staff and engage with cutting-edge developments in the disciplines.