BA Hons Education & English and Creative Writing
ApplyKey facts
- UCAS Code: X3Q3
Ranked: 5th for English (Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024) / 1st in Scotland for Creative Writing (Complete University Guide 2025)
Study abroad: available
Study with us
Our BA (Hons) Humanities & Social Sciences degree, explained.
Why this course?
Our approach to the English & Creative writing course is innovative, modern and friendly, giving you a comprehensive understanding of English literature as a core basis for your creative work. You'll have the opportunity to work with award-winning scholars and creative writers.
The emphasis is on helping you develop a range of skills to grow your future career, including textual analysis and interpretation. With us, you can study everything from poetry, the novel and drama (stage, screen, and radio) as you would expect on an English and Creative Writing degree, but in addition, at Strathclyde, we offer the opportunity to use creative writing skills as part of your approach to literary criticism.
Education is essential if you wish to study initial teacher education courses. We offer you the chance to develop knowledge of the education systems of Scotland and beyond, looking at issues including policy, social justice, equity and inclusion.
Combining education with other subjects provides opportunities for those who wish to work in professions associated with education, but who don't wish necessarily to become teachers. We offer a wide range of options, many of them unique in the UK, reflecting our staff interests and expertise.
Please note that this course doesn't allow you to qualify as a teacher, though joint honours Education graduates will be able to explore postgraduate routes into teaching careers (via the PGDE).
What you’ll study
English & Creative Writing
Year 1
An introduction to literary studies, reading novels, plays, short stories and poetry, including contemporary and older texts. Classes also introduce techniques in creative writing.
Year 2
Core classes focus on literary history. Option classes focus on Scottish literature, and on the literature of humans and animals.
Year 3
There are two creative writing classes in year 3, currently on drama and on fiction. In addition to these, you can choose from options which currently include classes on Renaissance, Victorian, Twentieth Century and American literature, among others including an optional work placement.
Year 4
You can choose to write a short creative writing dissertation, consisting of a creative piece (fiction, poetry, drama, etc) and a critical commentary. In addition, there are specialized classes in creative writing.
Postgraduate study
We offer these taught masters degrees:
- Applied Gender Studies
- Interdisciplinary English Studies
- TESOL & Intercultural Communication
- Creative Writing
Masters degrees can be the first step to a PhD or help with career and personal development. We welcome overseas students, including visiting students. We also offer PhD and Masters research degrees, and these can involve creative work with a critical commentary.
Education
Year 1
Education issues explored include the impact of poverty and social class on children and society, the role of culture and community in education, how people learn and the place of policy and politics in education. You'll undertake a placement with children between the ages of 0-14.
Year 2
In second year, you'll look more closely at how people learn. You'll study how children learn from before they are born to learning in later life. You'll also learn about informal education and have the opportunity to study an education-focused module of your choice.
Year 3
This year explores the history and philosophy of education as well as looking at adult education. You'll also review how children and childhood are represented in film and literature.
Year 4
As a fourth year student, you'll have an element of choice in your study modules. You can look at policy and politics in education and/or broader social issues in education.
Major projects
Students enjoy a wide range of professional development opportunities. These might be ones run by students or by organisations that are invited in to speak with students.
Currently, we have leading professional development opportunities like learning British Sign Language, anti-sectarian education, and working with children abroad.
You'll have the opportunity to lead some professional development for staff and students if you have a particular strength or expertise relevant to education. There are also extra-curricular education activities such as a philosophy café and film group.
Outreach
We're committed to working with people from other disciplines and walks of life. Each year, we welcome distinguished creative writers and academics to speak about their work and encourage students to come and meet them. The Faculty has hosted numerous international conferences on topics ranging from texts and architecture to cyberculture. We currently host internationally recognised networks on Animal Studies and Stories in Scotland which involve other universities and organisations.
Work placement
As part of the first year in the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, all students choosing to study education must undertake a placement. This placement involves working with children between the ages of 0-14 for 70 hours across the course of the year and can be in a range of options other than a mainstream primary school setting.
Please note that you may be required to join the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme. This is for all applicants applying for courses which involve placement opportunities (working with children or vulnerable adults). The cost of the PVG scheme will depend on the related work you apply to, please check the fees and funding section for costs.
Research-based Teaching
You will be taught by researchers with international reputations. All of our staff not only teach but write books, articles, drama and poetry and appear in the media and on radio programmes. This keeps our students in touch with the latest ideas on the subject.
Facilities
You'll have access to the Education Resources Centre. The Education Resources Centre is a library dedicated to education materials and is the best resource of its kind in the country.
Postgraduate study
By completing the BA joint Honours in Education, you'll be in a great position to apply for our Secondary Education (PGDE) courses. You might also be able to continue on to study for your Masters in Education with us here at Strathclyde
Single & joint Honours information
English, English and Creative Writing, History, Politics and International Relations and Psychology may be studied to Single or Joint Honours level.
Education, French, Spanish, Law, Journalism, Media and Communication and Social Policy are available only as Joint Honours Programmes. Economics, Human Resource Management, Marketing, Mathematics and Tourism can also be studied alongside a Humanities and Social Sciences subject.
The available subject combinations may change each year. Once accepted on the programme you'll be allocated an advisor of studies who will be able to let you know which subjects can be combined, in first year, and beyond.
Learning & teaching
English & Creative Writing
In Year 1 and Year 2 core classes, each class involves two lectures and one tutorial per week. In the second year option classes there is one lecture and one tutorial per week. The rest of your teaching is in your other two subjects.
In Years 3 and 4, most classes involve one lecture and one tutorial per week; some involve two-hour tutorials and no lectures.
A large part of your week will be spent reading in preparation for class.
Education
You'll take part in workshops for practical aspects of the course, and have access to lab space and specialist teaching space for science and the expressive arts, including physical education. Field trips and the chance to study elective and optional classes are also available to you.
Throughout the degree programme, you'll be invited to lectures by guest speakers that are visiting The Strathclyde Institute of Education. They'll also be invited to lectures specifically for Education students. As part of the work on professional development, you'll have the opportunity to organise guest speakers from relevant organisations to speak with students. The Strathclyde Institute of Education aims to be responsive to the interests of its students as well as ensuring that they have access to leading educationists when they visit.
Assessment
English & Creative Writing
Most classes are assessed by a mixture of essays or other written work. For some classes there are exams, and in some cases, oral work is assessed.
Education
In Year 1, you're supported in learning about academic reading, writing and referencing - skills that will help you become a successful undergraduate. Through peer support we encourage you to develop your own assessment skills and learn from each other. During the course, tutorials and presentations are assessed and feedback provided before you submit work for formal assessment.
English & Creative Writing
English 1A & 1B
This first-semester module offers an introduction to the study of English at university level. It offers a foundation for students interested in the historical and critical analysis of literary texts and for those who want to write creatively for themselves. It's the first module in the English and the English and Creative Writing degrees.
You'll have an opportunity to understand how particular historical and social contexts shape literature and to discuss ways in which historical literature continues to live and have relevance to the contemporary reader.
You'll also study in detail how literary texts are constructed. In understanding the mechanisms that make literary texts work – the choices made by an author about genre, form, and language – you'll become a subtler, more attentive reader and a better-informed and better-equipped writer.
Reading list
Primary texts
- Baldwin, Notes of A Native Son (Penguin Modern Classics, 2017)
- Alasdair Gray, Poor Things (Bloomsbury, 2002)
- Moore, Lorrie, ‘Which is More Than Say About Some People’ from Birds of America (Faber & Faber, 2010)
- Peele, Jordan, Get Out: the complete annotated screenplay (Inventory Press, 2019)
- Shelley, Mary, Frankenstein (1818 edition)
Secondary texts
- King, S (2000) On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft. London: Hodder & Stoughton
- Saunders, G (2021) A Swim in the Pond in the Rain. London: Bloomsbury
- Wood, J (2010) How Fiction Works. London: Vintage
Web links
The Literary Essay: Sophie
Education
Understanding Education in the 21st Century
This class introduces students to a large and rich seam of disciplinary knowledge. It is an introductory class of potential interest to all who want to understand more about Education. Some of the key content to be addressed in the module is around the following:
- the field of study that is education: what it is and how we know that
- the context of education: some contribution of political, historical and economic dimensions to curriculum, schooling, policy, globalisation
- education achievement: some contributions of psychological, sociological and philosophical perspectives to topics such as learning, diversity, gender
Placement & Curriculum
On this module, students from across disciplines work together to learn about children and the communities in which they live; children's health and wellbeing; child protection; children's voice; children's play and play places. The notion that the health and wellbeing of children and young people is central to the advancement of society is a seminal theme in this module.
The placement experience has been designed to allow students to undertake a work placement with children and young people from 0 - 14 years. Placements will be provided in a range of settings outwith the mainstream classroom.
Compulsory
English & Creative Writing
Writing Through Time 1&2
These will situate texts in context, from genre to historical period and theory. The texts include poetry, drama, novels, short stories, life writing, and screenplays and you'll have the chance to choose between critical and creative writing responses for one assessment on each class.
Elective
The Construction of Scotland
This class explores how Scottish fiction and drama of the 20th and 21st centuries creates the idea of Scotland.
Making the Modern Human
This class looks at a range of literary texts and how they interpret and create the idea of ‘human’ at different points in history.
Education
Culture, Society, Formation
The purpose of Culture, Society, Formation is to introduce students to a sample of foundational texts which have informed and transformed our understanding of culture and society, and to consider the impact that these understandings have had and continue to have on education.
Education & Learning
The overall purpose of this class is to develop your understanding of educational thought and language. Because this class is not organised around a given profession (e.g. teaching in schools) the discussion of education will be quite general and applies to any educational context, from parenting, to school, to college, to lifelong learning and informal education. ‘Education and Learning’ addresses questions that are at the heart of understanding what education is and what learning is. That these terms denote different things is an important starting point.
Compulsory
English & Creative Writing
Writing Short Fiction & Poetry
Writing Short Fiction and Poetry is a module studying contemporary short stories and lyric poetry. Generally speaking, the aim of this class is to get you writing as soon as possible – each week is aimed at teaching some of the basics of Creative Writing alongside a case study of a writer and their particular approach to elements of the craft.
Dramatic Writing
We'll be reading screenplays, talking about them, and writing our own. What is the difference between writing for the page and writing for the screen? Screenplays are, in practice, a series of instructions: for actors, for crew members, for potential financiers. A screenplay is a dual-purpose document. It exists as proof of concept (i.e., proof of narrative); and it is there to communicate the spirit and tone of the finished film. More than anything, our first job as writers for the screen is to make the reader hear and see. Primarily it is to make the reader see. There are many ways in to a life in writing for the screen. But, as with any good work of fiction, it begins with engaging characters. Do they appear to us fully formed? Or does it take development? How can we get them onto the page? What are the decisions we make at the start of a project? What is visible and the invisible writing? This class encourages you to consider the shape of your story in order to point yourself—and your narrative—in the right direction.
Optional
The American Novel
This class aims to introduce you to some of the major forms and themes in the 20th century American novel with some more contemporary content. The module investigates how major social and historical issues have shaped some of the most important American novels and how the novel, as a form, has developed and adapted to describe new and different realities. Some of the historical and social issues covered in the class include:
- the suburbs and the city
- the legacy of slavery
- queer life in the US
- stories of migration and travel
This module is designed to equip students who wish to pursue studies in American literature or culture in more depth with an overview of the period. It's also designed to expand the knowledge of students with a general interest in the novel.
Victorian Literature
This class will study the literature of the Victorian period (1837-1901) and will focus on fiction, poetry, drama and non-fictional prose. It aims to situate this writing both in its contemporary political, social and cultural contexts and in the light of recent critical and theoretical debates. Themes to be covered may include:
- the 'crisis of faith'
- science and evolutionary theory
- realism and the Victorian novel
- medievalism and Victorianism
- literature and the visual arts
- key poetic genres, including elegy and dramatic monologue
- popular fiction
- the 'Woman Question'
- Empire and travel writing
- the new journalism and Victorian reading publics
- representations of the city and technology
- issues of canon and periodisation
Twentieth Century Literature
This class explores twentieth-century English literature with a focus on fiction, poetry, and drama. The survey examines major literary figures from the first half of the century, such as Woolf and Stein, along with their contemporaries and successors. Particular attention will be paid to the literary culture of Modernism before exploring the texts, culture and politics of the later 20th century through writers such as Spark, McGrath and Smith. Emphasis will be placed on understanding a diverse range of literature in historical, critical and theoretical contexts as a means of engaging with the rich literary heritage of the twentieth century, and what the twenty-first century might bring.
Sex, Revenge & Corruption in Renaissance Drama
This module will focus on drama, a key genre in the period from the 1580s to the closure of the playhouses in 1642. Reading work by major dramatists, we'll engage with a form that addressed a highly literate audience as well as a popular one, and is thus a particularly interesting place to trace ways of thinking in the period. The common thread that ties this selection of plays together is their interest in transgression: what happens when humans cross the limits set by tradition, religion and the state?
In the process of this theatrical interrogation, the plays pose questions about violence, identity, gender, desire, citizenship and the role of the theatre itself. We'll read tragedies and comedies; alongside these, you'll also be asked to think about the moral and theological debates that were taking place at the time these works were produced and consumed. Thus, for example, we'll read plays by Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson and Thomas Middleton alongside writing by Robert Burton, Sir Francis Bacon and Niccolo Machiavelli. This will enable us to explore how ideas about sex, revenge and corruption in the period are developed and contested between the stage and the work of some of the most influential thinkers at the time; it will also allow us to consider how some of these early modern limit cases still ask questions of us today.
Lectures will provide context for tutorials, which will be organised around worksheets that will be circulated in advance, and so will give you the chance to prepare for each class, and will allow everyone the chance to contribute to discussions.
Language in Business & Organisations
This class explores the ways in which language is used in businesses and other organisations. The class assumes no prior knowledge of linguistics, and teaches technical skills in discourse analysis, conversation analysis, and the analysis of other types of verbal interaction, in speech, writing and electronic communications. The analytical skills learned in this class, and the theoretical ideas, will be useful also in the analysis of literature or any other aspect of language in use. Seminars give you practice in the analytical skills. The class assumes that you have no prior knowledge or experience in discourse analysis, conversation analysis, pragmatics, etc.
The Body: Theories & Representations
What does it mean to ‘write the body’? How has the world of sensory experience been rendered in theory, literature, and film? What metaphors do we summon to understand physical experiences of joy, sickness, health, desire, exhaustion, and intoxication?
This class will approach these questions (and more) by studying literary, visual, and theoretical engagements with the body in late 20th and 21st -century culture. Over the course of the semester, you'll encounter some key debates about the body and its representation in literature and film. You'll engage with the fields of gender theory, queer theory, critical race theory, and disability theory. You'll also learn some strategies for analysing contemporary culture through the ‘lens’ of theory, developing skills you can take into other areas of your study.
TextLab
Textlab is one of several Vertically Integrated Projects (ViPs) running across the University. Each ViP brings together a team of undergraduates, postgraduates, and staff to work on a research-based project.
TextLab brings together students and staff from English/Humanities and Computer and Information Science. We work on research projects in the field of Digital Humanities (the application of computer-based technologies to the study of texts) – specifically using computers to analyse Shakespeare’s language, and building a website aimed at schools.
English & Creative Writing Work Placement
This placement module offers you the opportunity to gain practical, work-based experience (minimum 60 hours) in an area that is professionally related to or relevant to your BA. For your degree this might be working with a publisher, or literary agency, or in an office environment where you are using your skills in reading, interpretation and writing. Or you might use this as an opportunity to look towards a future career: so, if you plan to go into teaching, for example, you could look to get a placement working in a subject-related environment with young people.
The Glasgow Novel
This class will trace the development of fictional representations of Glasgow from the beginnings of industrialism to the present age. In doing so, it will consider a wide variety of historical and literary approaches to depicting the city. Beginning with a brief history of the pre-C20th Glasgow novel, the course goes on to consider some of the most famous literary depictions of Glasgow, including McArthur and Long’s No Mean City, Archie Hind’s The Dear Green Place and Alasdair Gray’s Lanark.
Education
Educational Encounters Past & Present
Who are you, and what do you think about education, and why? Despite everybody being somehow involved in education, those important questions are rarely asked and reflected upon. The best way to engage with such problems is the encounter with the Other in either historical or intercultural perspective. Using a set of questions around fundamental pedagogical notions and concepts (such as ‘educator’, ‘student’, ‘pedagogical relationship’, ‘curriculum’, ‘pedagogical ethics’, ‘Education Studies’, etc.) the module will explore different answers to those questions that either have been given in our own culture in the past, or in other cultures in the past or today (for example, in East/ South East/ South Asia, in the Arabic world, in African societies, in South America, and amongst indigenous tribes and peoples around the globe).
Fundamental problems explored could include:
- what is education perceived to be?
- what is the educator understood to be, what is the student, and how is their pedagogical relationship established, organised, and justified?
- what is/are the purpose/s of education, and how does it/do they get justified?
- what is the relation between individual and social needs and desires within education?
- what ways of educating are preferred, and why?
- how is the reflection on education (i.e. Education Studies) codified and institutionalised; who is reflecting and what counts as an acceptable form of reflection, and why?
Everyone who is interested in looking beyond their own educational horizon to learn about others and oneself is very welcome on this educational journey.
Adult Education with Placement
The purpose of this module is twofold. First, it aims to offer an overview of key considerations (e.g. literacy, multilingualism, new technologies) in the development of educational activities for adult learners through a series of pre-placement seminars. Second, you'll have the opportunity to apply the new knowledge and skills learned during a one-week placement with an organisation that works with adult learners.
Children & Childhood
This module will focus on children and childhood in contexts other than formal education settings that will be explored elsewhere. The aim of this module is to introduce students to the concepts of child and childhood through a range representations. The class will draw on children in film, art and literature to explore representations of children and childhood and experiences of childhood.
Designing Educational Research
This team-taught module will introduce you to the theory and practice of educational research. This includes lectures on the principles of research design and seminars in which you'll collaborate in small group projects, familiarising yourself with qualitative and quantitative methods and their uses for interdisciplinary education studies research. The module will be assessed through a short essay and a research proposal, in preparation for dissertation planning.
The Dissertation is compulsory for single honours students and optional for joint-honours students.
English & Creative Writing
Dissertation
This individual project involves original academic research under one-on-one supervision with a member of staff. In addition, you will choose from a range of research and practice led options.
Elective
Writing Gender in Contemporary Literature
This class examines how contemporary authors make sense of gendered experience. We'll investigate cultural practices of writing (and rewriting) gender in the twenty-first century, paying particular attention to the relationships between gender and literary genre, from transgender memoirs to autofictional masculinities, twenty-first-century romance novels, and the queer graphic novel. We'll also investigate the impact of feminist political activism on the publishing industry, from the indie press to the Women’s Prize for Fiction. The class will introduce you to key theories of gender and equip you with strategies for reading literature through the lens of feminist theory. Over the course of the semester, you'll encounter some of our most exciting contemporary writers and deepen your understanding of literary gender politics in the present day.
21st Century Science Fiction
This class introduces you to twenty-first-century science fiction from across the globe. Contemporary science fiction creates alternative technological bodies and worlds, allowing us to address questions around what it means to be human, what our relationship is to technology and how we might build worlds that are less destructive. With these major themes in mind, this class will focus on four key critical lenses:
- race
- colonialism
- disability
- sexuality and gender
Questions to be explored include:
- how are worlds reconfigured through queer sexualities and genders
- what futures are brought into being for previously marginalised peoples
- what is science fiction’s relation to the past
- how does contemporary science fiction challenge tropes of colonialism
- what bodies emerge in these future worlds and why?
Each week you'll read, watch or listen to a contemporary, global science fiction text exploring how histories, worlds, bodies and relations are represented and reimagined.
New Narratives
The publishing world is changing rapidly with the advent of digital publishing and the ebook. This class will enable students to explore new possibilities and write for new markets and platforms. It will also look at skills that students need for a career in both traditional and digital publication such as editing, submitting work and performing/reading work in front of an audience.
This class aims to hone the skills students have acquired in previous years to produce new work for print, performance and for a range of digital platforms. It will also provide an up-to-date examination of the publishing world and will include reflective element.
Present Day Victorians
Neo-Victorian cultural products have been recognised as a crucial site for the critical rediscovery and reinterpretation of Victorian literature and culture (in particular the themes of class, race, gender and sexuality). Evoking the genres of crime and mystery fiction, themes of science, technology and alternative futures, the figure of the Victorian author and the voices of marginal characters from Mrs Rochester to the ghosts of the séance circle, neo-Victorian writing seeks to understand the continuing impact of the nineteenth century on the present day. This class will consider how and why these texts have problematised Victorian discourses (e.g. imperialism, madness, sexual deviance, technology, the cultural roles of reading and writing). We'll draw on a range of interpretative strategies from post-colonial, feminist, queer, adaptation, appropriation, heritage and film studies.
The Power of Underlying Material: Adaptation, book to film & beyond
This class is an elective option in fourth year English that encourages students to look at the layering process involved in adapting a piece of underlying material either for literature or for the screen. We will examine a comprehensive range of source texts that inform many literary works and much of the screen drama available in the late 20th century and, in particular, in the current marketplace.
The class will complement the third year core class in Creative Writing, and will also be useful to those undertaking honours dissertations in Creative Writing. As well as exercises in close reading, and theoretical analysis, the class will emphasise the commercial realities of basing work on underlying material.
Songs: music & literature
This class looks at the relation between language and music in songs, treating songs as literature adapted to music. We'll look at the ways in which the forms and meanings of songs can be studied, in ways similar to the study of poetry, but also in ways specific to song. The class considers technical aspects, including technical aspects of music, but you're not expected to have prior knowledge of music. We look at ways in which songs relate to identity and how they produce emotion. We consider the ways in which songs tell stories, or relate to stories.
Victorian Gothic
This class traces the development of the Gothic across the nineteenth century, from its origins in the Romantic period to its heights in works like Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The class is organized around key concepts of the Gothic genre, including the sublime, the unseen, textual hybridity, un narrative unreliability.
We'll also look at subgenres like the Female Gothic and Eco-Gothic, examining how the Gothic allows authors to explore cultural anxieties including women’s rights, deviant sexualities, urbanisation, migration, and environmental devastation. Iconic monsters like Frankenstein’s monster, Mr Hyde, and Dracula will thus be situated within their specific cultural milieu, helping us to understand both their origins and their continued popularity.
Wild in the Renaissance
The concept of 'the wild' is one that emerges in many different ways in the writings of the Renaissance; in relation to self-cultivation (holding back the wildness within), the control of one's world (taming the ever-present wilderness); and in relations with fellow humans in a changing world (in savage domination). These ideas get played out in numerous ways in the period - from poetic use of the symbolic resonance of gardens and gardening; the religious underpinnings of the 'missionary endeavour' in the New World and what that says about the concept of human nature; to the anxious self-examination of humanity's inevitable sinfulness.
This class will thus introduce you to key canonical texts from the period – plays, poetry, and court masques – by writers including Shakespeare, Jonson, and Milton, and will also engage with a critical and theoretical debates about the relationships between humans and the natural world from the new fields of animal studies and ecocriticism.
Contemporary Travel Writing
This class engages with some of the key tensions in contemporary travel writing from race and sexuality, to issues of cultural stereotyping and ‘foreignness’. By working through a series of international case studies ranging from India to North America, the class will address why travel continues to be an important metaphor for thinking about our experience of the world, as well as offering a framework for how we understand it.
Forms of Feminism in Contemporary Literature
The class will explore how feminist concerns are represented in contemporary literature, and how literary forms shape contemporary feminism. Students will encounter some of the most important literary works of the post-1990 period, and learn to make connections between literary analysis and feminist theory. Engaging with a diverse range of literary forms—from novels, poems and plays to comics and manifestos—students will leave the course with an advanced understanding of the role literature plays in contemporary feminist politics.
Education
Compulsory classes
Educational Representation in Film & Literature
Educational Representations in Film and Literature provides you with opportunities to reflect on educational questions through popular literary and visual media. The opportunity to interpret and reflect upon education in the context of popular culture allows you to examine theories in practice, albeit fictional contexts of practice. As well as the representations of education, the literature regularly embodies the pedagogical intentions of the author, intentions which will be explored in the module. These and other considerations form the structure and content of this module.
Dissertation
The Dissertation in Education is designed to further your development of a questioning, self-evaluative and reflective approach in a major in-depth piece of work demanding independent, self-motivated study and the sustained application of professional research and enquiry skills. The widest possible range of topics, types of project, modes of enquiry and of research techniques is encouraged. What projects have in common is the individual student’s ownership and control of the project and the expectation of high quality work.
Elective classes
Choose from this list
Critical Issues in Education
Education is not uncontested. Its place within society, and the fact that nearly all have experience of education and related institutions means that a plethora of ideas and ideologies of education abound. This module discusses some of the ways in which educational moments are constructed through politics, society, culture and religion. It encourages you to delve deeply into the various forms theories and ideologies take: their formation and maintenance; and then deconstructs these. It locates education as a societal right rather than a personal endeavour so that internationally, nationally and locally agreed and contested matters take centre stage.
Independent Study Module
The purpose of this module is to allow you to engage in independent study on a topic in education of your choosing, and to develop skills in a self-analytical and critical approach to learning. The topic can be negotiated and developed within the context of the Joint Honours Education programme, and in relation to your own individual academic and professional interests. The module is intended to allow you to develop the knowledge and skills required to identify and conceptualise an area of study in education and develop a critical, informed and conceptual understanding of the topic chosen. The distinctive feature of the module is that it aims to provide you with the challenge of becoming independent, self-managing learners and of experiencing and understanding both the satisfaction and the challenges of working autonomously.
Creativity in Education
The ability to be creative is highly valued across society, and has at times been described as one of the key ‘21st Century skills’ in education. Well beyond their school days, learners are going to find situations where they need to use their imagination, and come up with ideas. Businesses need to find creative ways to thrive and serve their customers, teachers need to be creative when designing lesson plans, and citizens need to find creative solutions to their problems. This module will explore the psychology behind creativity, and tackle misconceptions such as the idea that it is the province of only certain fields, or that some people are creative and others are not. It will also provide a toolkit to help participants to develop their own creative strategies.
Second Language Learning
This module introduces students to how individuals learn a second/foreign language across the lifespan. Students will explore the process of acquisition, models of learning, and policies and political contexts that motivate language learning. This module covers language learning in both a Scottish and global context, with specific attention to the global spread of English.
Explorations in Educational Influence
Influences are everywhere. Parents try to influence children, and children try to influence parents. Friends sometimes try to influence each other. Teachers try to influence students, advertisers hope to influence consumers, politicians wish to represent, but also to influence, the public. In this 10-credit module, we will explore certain problems around educational influence. The module is structured around three main questions: what educational influence means, to what extent it is justified, and how it is achieved. The module will explore examples of educational influence drawn from one or more of the following contexts: morality; politics; religion; sexual orientation; psychology; environmentalism; art and aesthetics; technology and social media.
Entry requirements
Highers |
(including English plus at least one other social science subject from those listed under preferred subjects below; plus National 5 Maths or Application of Maths at B to C.)
(including English at B plus at least one other social science subject from those listed under preferred subjects below; plus National 5 Maths or Application of Maths at C.) Preferred subjects
|
---|---|
A Levels | ABB-BBB |
International Baccalaureate | 32-30 |
Irish Leaving Certificate | Two H2 passes and three H3 passes including English
|
HNC | Social Sciences: Year 1 entry: A in Graded Unit; Maths National 5 B, or equivalent |
International students | View the entry requirements for your country. |
Deferred Entry | Not normally accepted |
Additional Information
Students are required to register with the Scottish Government’s Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme.
*Standard entry requirements
Offers are made in accordance with specified entry requirements although admission to undergraduate programmes is considered on a competitive basis and entry requirements stated are normally the minimum level required for entry.
Whilst offers are made primarily on the basis of an applicant meeting or exceeding the stated entry criteria, admission to the University is granted on the basis of merit, and the potential to succeed. As such, a range of information is considered in determining suitability.
In exceptional cases, where an applicant does not meet the competitive entry standard, evidence may be sought in the personal statement or reference to account for performance which was affected by exceptional circumstances, and which in the view of the judgement of the selector would give confidence that the applicant is capable of completing the programme of study successfully.
**Minimum entry requirements
Widening access
We want to increase opportunities for people from every background. Strathclyde selects our students based on merit, potential and the ability to benefit from the education we offer. We look for more than just your grades. We consider the circumstances of your education and will make lower offers to certain applicants as a result.
Placements
The Flexible BA
With our BA (Honours) degree, you can choose from subjects in Humanities, Social Sciences and Business, with two of your three subject choices taught by the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences.
The BA degree is a four-year course allowing you try new subjects, develop your own ideas, build a broad range of knowledge and enhance your employability.
Subject combinations
Use our subject picker tool to see the combinations available to you in Year 1 of the BA Humanities & Social Sciences degree. Please note that in Year 2 you'll continue with two of these subjects.
Explore the structure of the BA Humanities & Social Sciences degree for detailed information on Single and Joint Honours options.
Degree preparation course for international students
We offer international students (non-EU/UK) who do not meet the academic entry requirements for an undergraduate degree at Strathclyde the option of completing an Undergraduate Foundation year programme at the University of Strathclyde International Study Centre.
Upon successful completion, you will be able to progress to this degree course at the University of Strathclyde.
International students
We've a thriving international community with students coming here to study from over 140 countries across the world. Find out all you need to know about studying in Glasgow at Strathclyde and hear from students about their experiences.
Fees & funding
All fees quoted are for full-time courses and per academic year unless stated otherwise.
Fees may be subject to updates to maintain accuracy. Tuition fees will be notified in your offer letter.
All fees are in £ sterling, unless otherwise stated, and may be subject to revision.
Annual revision of fees
Students on programmes of study of more than one year (or studying standalone modules) should be aware that tuition fees are revised annually and may increase in subsequent years of study. Annual increases will generally reflect UK inflation rates and increases to programme delivery costs.
Scotland | £1,820 Fees for students who meet the relevant residence requirements in Scotland are subject to confirmation by the Scottish Funding Council. Scottish undergraduate students undertaking an exchange for a semester/year will continue to pay their normal tuition fees at Strathclyde and will not be charged fees by the overseas institution. |
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England, Wales & Northern Ireland | £9,250 Assuming no change in fees policy over the period, the total amount payable by undergraduate students will be capped. For students commencing study in 2024/25, this is capped at £27,750 (with the exception of the MPharm and integrated Masters programmes), MPharm students pay £9,250 for each of the four years. Students studying on integrated Masters degree programmes pay an additional £9,250 for the Masters year with the exception of those undertaking a full-year industrial placement where a separate placement fee will apply. |
Republic of Ireland | If you are an Irish citizen and have been ordinary resident in the Republic of Ireland for the three years prior to the relevant date, and will be coming to Scotland for Educational purposes only, you will meet the criteria of England, Wales & Northern Ireland fee status. For more information and advice on tuition fee status, you can visit the UKCISA - International student advice and guidance - Scotland: fee status webpage. Find out more about the University of Strathclyde's fee assessments process. |
International | £19,600 |
University preparation programme fees | International students can find out more about the costs and payments of studying a university preparation programme at the University of Strathclyde International Study Centre. |
Available scholarships | Take a look at our scholarships search for funding opportunities. |
Additional costs | Course materials
Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) schemeStudents must pay for the PVG Scheme. Students who require a new PVG certificate will pay £59. If you have an existing PVG and need to add Strathclyde, the cost is £18. International studentsInternational students may have associated visa and immigration costs. Please see student visa guidance for more information. |
Please note: All fees shown are annual and may be subject to an increase each year. Find out more about fees.
How can I fund my studies?
Students from Scotland
Fees for students who meet the relevant residence requirements in Scotland, you may be able to apply to the Student Award Agency Scotland (SAAS) to have your tuition fees paid by the Scottish government. Scottish students may also be eligible for a bursary and loan to help cover living costs while at University.
For more information on funding your studies have a look at our University Funding page.
Students from England, Wales & Northern Ireland
We have a generous package of bursaries on offer for students from England, Northern Ireland and Wales:
You don’t need to make a separate application for these. When your place is confirmed at Strathclyde, we’ll assess your eligibility. Have a look at our scholarship search for any more funding opportunities.
International Students
We have a number of scholarships available to international students. Take a look at our scholarship search to find out more.
Glasgow is Scotland's biggest & most cosmopolitan city
Our campus is based right in the very heart of Glasgow. We're in the city centre, next to the Merchant City, both of which are great locations for sightseeing, shopping and socialising alongside your studies.
Careers
Graduates from our English and Creative Writing programmes have gone on to have success in a very wide range of careers including in publishing, the civil service, management, marketing, journalism, creative writing, administration and teaching. Employers value our graduates’ ability to express themselves well and think critically.
Many of our graduates gain employment in areas associated with education, such as law, psychology, civil service and journalism. A joint Honours degree in education and another subject enables graduates to apply for the Professional Graduate Diploma in Education, in either primary or secondary education.
Chat to a student ambassador
If you want to know more about what it’s like to be a Humanities & Social Sciences student at the University of Strathclyde, a selection of our current students are here to help!
Our Unibuddy ambassadors can answer all the questions you might have about courses and studying at Strathclyde, along with offering insight into their experiences of life in Glasgow and Scotland.
Apply
Please note that you only need to apply once for our BA degree programme.
For instance, if you have applied for BA Honours English and are considering your options for a Joint Honours degree, e.g. a BA Joint Honours in English and French you only need to apply for one or the other on UCAS.
If accepted on to the BA programme, you can study one of the many available subject combinations.
Start date:
Education & English and Creative Writing (1 year entry)
Start date:
Education & English and Creative Writing (1 year entry)
Start date: Sep 2025
Education & English and Creative Writing (1 year entry)
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