BA Hons Education & TESOL
ApplyKey facts
- UCAS Code: X0Q3
Second-year entry only: students will complete a Foundation Studies programme with the International Study Centre
International students: this course is only available to international students
Study with us
- opportunity to put theory into practice on a range of placements in schools and in the community and enhance your employability
- develop your knowledge and understanding of the education systems of Scotland and beyond
- experience research-informed, evidence-based teaching by internationally-recognised professionals
Why this course?
BA (Hons) Education & Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) blends Education Studies, TESOL and placement to create a unique course for undergraduate students who want to go on to teach English in an international context or to work in other related fields.
This three-year programme provides the opportunity for placement each year. Students will be taught about Education and TESOL by experts at the University of Strathclyde: the leading provider of teacher education in Scotland.
What you'll study
Year 2
- Informal Education
- Learners and Learning
- TESOL 1: An Introduction
- Digital Technology in Language Education
- Developing Language with Communication Skills
- Placement and Curriculum
Year 3
- History and Philosophy
- Social Pedagogy with Adults
- Children and Childhood
- TESOL 2: Methods, Approaches and Techniques in Language Teaching
- Language Awareness: Knowledge about Language
- Placement Learning: Community
Year 4 (Honours)
- Independent Study Module
- Dissertation
- Social Issues in Education
- Social Research Methods
- Educational Representations in Film and Literature
- TESOL 3: Current Issues in Language Education
- Placement Learning: Secondary School
Work placement
Placement is a fundamental feature of the BA (Hons) Education and TESOL programme. Students will work with children and adults in a range of settings. This will allow them to understand how children learn, how people acquire language, how communities can support language learners and the impact of formal schooling on language learning.
Students will develop their skills in learning about communities, reflective practice, collaborative learning, teaching children and young people, supporting learning, creating innovative methods of engaging learners and in making a difference in the settings in which they work.
Year 2
Placement and Curriculum – 70 hours working with children 0 to 12 years.
Year 3
Placement Learning: Community – 70 hours working with people learning English in a community setting plus 70 hours running a project teaching children in the students’ home language.
Year 4
Placement Learning: Secondary School – 180 hours in a secondary school setting.
Assessment
There are a range of written assignments and also the opportunity to be assessed as part of a project team. An 8,000 word dissertation will be completed in the final year.
Learning & teaching
Learning on the course is designed to be interesting and interactive. There will be opportunities to develop language teaching skills in small group settings and opportunities to learn with larger groups in lectures and seminars.
Group projects and placements will allow students to challenge themselves to make a difference within the communities with which they work.
Foundation
In year 1 students will join the Undergraduate Foundation Programme for Business and Social Sciences at the International Study Centre for Strathclyde. The programme provides students with a strong foundation in the academic culture of the UK university system while supporting them to develop their own academic and study skills including essay writing, taking part in seminars, delivering presentations as well as researching and referencing source materials. Students will study 4 core modules: Academic English Skills, Introduction to Social Sciences, Quantitative Methods and Understanding Education in the 21st Century. In addition, students are able to choose a further 3 module options from the Business and Social Science curriculum including Psychology 1 & 2, Politics, International Relations, Law 1 &2, Economics, and Human Resource Management.
Semester 1
Education & Learning
The overall purpose of this class is to develop student’s 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.
TESOL 1: An Introduction
This module introduces students to the fundamentals of language learning. Students will develop a basic understanding of current views on how languages are learned. Drawing on their own experience as language learner/users, this module will examine key theories and concepts in second language acquisition.
Digital Technologies in Language Education
This module explores the use of digital technologies for language teaching and learning. The aim is to give students an overview of the tools and activities used in the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). Students will also develop the practical experience of using digital technology, learn to design and evaluate digital materials for the language classroom, and create the digital environment for language learning. The module considers ways to develop students’ 21st Century skills both as language user/learners and as language teachers.
Placement and Curriculum
This module allows students to spend 70 hours working with children and young people in a setting of the student’s choice. Lectures and tutorials support students to develop the skills required to participate fully in the organisation with which they choose to work and allow students to explore issues that impact on the lives of children and young people.
Semester 2
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. Through a critical reading of excerpts from such historical and contemporary texts as The Prince, The Communist Manifesto, and Gender Trouble, the module will take what is foundational in cultural and sociological writing and explore it in the context of educational conditions.
Developing Language and Communication Skills
This module will equip students with the required knowledge of understanding the process of reading, writing, listening and speaking in a second/foreign language, especially in academic settings. The aim is to give students increased confidence in communicating in English. Students will extend their vocabulary, improve their pronunciation and grammatical accuracy, and develop their communicative competence.
Semester 1
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, the students will 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 and Childhood
This class will explore how children and childhood have been imagined and constructed in a range of historical and contemporary contexts. Drawing on representations of children we aim to support you in developing an understanding of children and childhood as part of a set of social and cultural relations. With a focus on environments other than formal education, the module will seek to open for discussion the nature of childhood according to themes such as politics, history, play, work, the global and queerness.
TESOL 2: Methods, Approaches and Techniques in Language Teaching
This module introduces students to the pedagogical processes in language teaching. The topics include traditional and contemporary language teaching methods (audiolingual, communicative language teaching, task-based language learning, etc.). We will also discuss practical issues such as lesson planning, material evaluation and design, needs analysis and profiling, and classroom management. In this module, students will gain some first-hand experience of English language teaching in practice through micro-teaching.
Placement Learning: Community
The community placement supports students in developing their skills in working with adults and children who are learning English as an additional language in Scotland. Students will consider barriers to learning, their own professional values, and social structures and systems to help them to participate in making a difference for the people with whom they are working. They will also be required to teach young people in their own language eg. Arabic. This will help them to consider effective methods of teaching to support language acquisition.
Semester 2
Designing Educational Research
This team-taught module will introduce students to the theory and practice of educational research. This includes lectures on the principles of research design and seminars in which students will collaborate in small group projects, familiarising themselves 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.
Language Awareness: Knowledge about Language
This module aims to provide students with an introduction to ways in which the English language can be described and analysed in order to help learners to develop their knowledge about language. The module deepens students’ understanding of core features of the English language and prepares them to apply their knowledge about language systems (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and discourse) in teaching practice.
Semester 1
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 students 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.
TESOL 3: Current Issues in Language Education
This module offers a critical examination of a range of contemporary issues in language education. Students will learn about key pedagogical issues and debates from the latest language education research. The aim is to challenge students’ existing beliefs and values in more specialised and advanced areas. Topics to be covered include individual learner differences from a sociocultural perspective, learner identity, language teaching methodologies in the changing local and global contexts, bilingualism and multilingualism, immersion and translanguaging.
Research Methods for TESOL
This module provides an introduction to research skills, research design and research methods in TESOL. It familiarises students with the research process in language education, focusing on developing students’ knowledge, skills and understanding before carrying out a small-scale research project in language education.
Semester 2
Educational Representations in Film and Literature
Educational Representations in Film and Literature provides students 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 students 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.
Placement Learning: Secondary School
Students will undertake a placement in a secondary school working with children learning English as a foreign language. This module will focus on professional identity, teacher agency and will give students the opportunity to reflect on the translation and transformation of their learning as they return to teach in their home country.
Entry requirements
This programme is only available to international students.
Students will normally undertake the Foundation Programme for Education and TESOL at the International Study Centre at the University of Strathclyde (see Pathways for entry to second year in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences). Other applicants will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
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.
Fees & funding
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 the majority of fees will increase annually. The University will take a range of factors into account, including, but not limited to, UK inflation, changes in delivery costs and changes in Scottish and/or UK Government funding. Changes in fees will be published on the University website in October each year for the following year of study and any annual increase will be capped at a maximum of 10% per year.
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. |
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International | £21,550 |
University preparation programme fees | BA (Hons) Education & Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) blends Education Studies, TESOL and placement to create a unique course for undergraduate students who want to go on to teach English in an international context or to work in other related fields. This three-year programme provides the opportunity for a placement each year. Students will be taught about Education and TESOL by experts in the University of Strathclyde: the leading provider of teacher education in Scotland. |
Additional costs | Placements & field tripsPlacements in years 2, 3 and 4 with travel costs for students. Students using their own transport may incur additional insurance costs. PVG SchemeAll students are new members to this scheme and need to pay associated costs to apply. Visa & immigrationInternational students may have associated visa and immigration costs. Please see student visa guidance for more information. |
Available scholarships | Take a look at our scholarships search for funding opportunities. |
Please note: All fees shown are annual and may be subject to an increase each year. Find out more about fees.
Careers
Education & TESOL graduates go on to become:
- teachers of English to speakers of other languages
- English teachers in an international setting, including schools, universities, public bodies
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Apply
Start date:
Education & TESOL (2 year entry)
Start date:
Education & TESOL (2 year entry)
Start date: Sep 2025
Education & TESOL (2 year entry)
Start date:
Education & TESOL (2 year entry)