BA (Hons) Primary Education Studies

Our Primary Education Studies course is designed for those looking for a career working with children aged 3-12 and their families. It’s also a great option if you already work in education but want to learn more about the subject or progress in your career.

We focus on education history, policy and the way children are taught today. You’ll graduate with a thorough understanding of classroom management, lesson planning, National Curriculum subjects, and the three Key Stages in primary education. We’ll also touch on special educational needs provision.

Throughout the course there’s a strong focus on the core subjects that all primary-aged pupils study: reading, writing, maths and science. You’ll become familiar with teaching approaches and how to make adjustments to suit learners of all abilities.

Of course, anyone working with children and families knows that it’s important to support the ‘whole child’ and so, as well as looking at education and teaching, we’ll explore related areas such as health, welfare, child psychology and children’s rights.

While studying at ARU, you’ll have opportunities to observe teaching in local schools. We offer our Primary Education Studies course as a three-year degree or an accelerated degree, which you’ll complete in two years. When you graduate, you’ll be ideally placed to join a postgraduate teacher training course with one of our partners and return to us to complete your PGCE.

Based in Cambridge, Chelmsford or Peterborough* our course will prepare you to join postgraduate Initial Teacher Training. You'll also take part in live briefs to gain work experience and important contacts, like our recent partnership with Chelmsford Museum, Fitzwilliam Museum, and Scott Polar Museum.

Foundation year options
You have the option to study this course as a four-year degree with foundation year.

If you apply to study in Cambridge or Chelmsford:

• you'll study with our partner, ARU College, on our Cambridge campus in Year 1
• you can choose to study in Cambridge or Chelmsford for Years 2-4.

If you apply to study in Peterborough, you'll be based at ARU Peterborough for all four years of your course.

*You can choose to study this course over two years by blended learning, a mix of remote and face-to-face teaching. Face-to-face sessions are offered in Chelmsford.