What will I learn on this module?
In the second year of your degree you will be building upon the opportunities for collaborative and independent learning experienced during the previous year of the programme. The main focus in Year 2 is on developing your subject knowledge, understanding and passion for your chosen subject enhancement area. You will be supported to research and evaluate thinking at the forefront of the discipline within your chosen subject. This will take the form of researching literature, including current government documentation and Ofsted reports and consideration of the curricular requirements within the Early Years Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum at Key Stages 1 and 2. You will reflect upon your learning across the other modules as you apply underpinning concepts and principles of learning to your chosen subject. You will develop the specific subject knowledge for planning, teaching and assessment in your subject enhancement area. The module aims to provide you with collaborative peer-led opportunities to develop a framework of skills, experiences and training, to enable you to communicate your knowledge, understanding and passion for your subject enhancement area, enabling you to teach this subject with confidence.
How will I be supported academically on this module?
As with all other modules on your programme, successful academic achievement requires a system of robust support and guidance to help you focus on your learning needs. In addition to the pastoral support you will receive, the tutors involved in delivering this module will provide guidance and academic counselling to ensure that you are able to confidently engage with the academic rigour of this module. This dialogue will be face-to-face in collaborative grops, lectures, workshops or individual tutorials and is an essential aspect of the programme’s assessment for learning strategy. There are also extensive peer-support opportunities built into this module as you work collaboratively with peers from the same subject enhancement area. Extensive support is also accessible online as part of the University’s commitment to technology enhanced learning. This employs the use of the e-learning portal (Blackboard including Pebble+) and social networking and collaborative tools.
A central feature of the academic support available to you is the service provided by the University Library. This 24/7 service caters for all your learning needs, has extensive access to electronic texts and tutorials that will directly support the development of academic skills aimed at improving your critical thinking and analytical writing.
What will I be expected to read on this module?
All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.
What will I be expected to achieve?
Knowledge & Understanding:
1Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of the key concepts, principles and approaches to teaching and learning within your subject enhancement area and communicate these effectively
2Demonstrate a critical understanding of the unique nature of your subject enhancement and the its contribution to children’s experience of a broad and balanced curriculum
Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
3 Justify your developing pedagogy within the context of your subject enhancement
4.Communicate effectively a range of knowledge and principles relating to your subject enhancement area.
Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
5.Work collaboratively to develop approaches to teaching beyond the classroom that foster curiosity, evaluating the appropriateness of these to your subject enhancement
How will I be assessed?
Summative Assessment
A 2500 word written assignment will form 100% of your summative assessment for this module.
The assignment is designed to enable you to demonstrate your critical understanding of the nature of your subject and its unique place within the curriculum. You will draw on your experiences within the module of planning for learning both in school and on educational visits. This will enable you to explore your emerging pedagogy, secure subject knowledge and passion for your subject.
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Assignment Title:
‘From your research, discuss the ‘unique nature’ of your subject within the curriculum. Examine how it can enhance children’s learning, demonstrating your own emerging pedagogy’
(KU 1,2; IPSA 3,4,PVA 5)
Pre-requisite(s)
All Year 1 modules
Co-requisite(s)
Educational Placements 2
Professional Studies 2
Curriculum Studies 2
Module abstract
This module enables you to draw on university based and off-site, collaborative and independent learning to develop your critical and evaluative skills in relation to your chosen subject enhancement area. Through research you will identify current thinking and best practice within your subject area and use this to inform your growing understanding of the uniqueness of your subject within the curriculum. Building on your guided experiences last year, independently organised off-site visits will enable you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding in practise, identifying how you have challenged your own thinking about the potential of experience beyond the classroom and their impact on children’s learning. Your understanding will be consolidated by engaging in co-tutoring of students in Year One during their ‘subject enhancement taster sessions’.
Course info
UCAS Code X120
Credits 20
Level of Study Undergraduate
Mode of Study 3 years Full Time
Department Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing
Location Coach Lane Campus, Northumbria University
City Newcastle
Start September 2025
All information is accurate at the time of sharing.
Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.
Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.
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www.northumbria.ac.uk/exp
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