Primary Education and Teaching Studies with foundation year
Primary education and teaching studies is a degree that prepares you to work with children in primary schools, combining the academic study of education with the professional development and classroom experience that effective teaching demands. It examines how children learn and develop, what the primary curriculum requires, how excellent teachers plan and deliver lessons across a full range of subjects and age groups, and how schools function as institutions in the wider context of educational policy and community life. It is a degree with a clear vocational purpose, designed to develop the knowledge, skills and professional values of a future primary teacher.
At Coventry University, this four-year full-time extended degree includes a foundation year providing a supported transition into degree-level study and educational content. Alongside the academic components, the programme places strong emphasis on classroom experience: you will complete substantial school-based placements throughout the degree, developing your practical teaching skills in real primary classrooms alongside your academic work. The programme also includes a sandwich year with work placement opportunities and a year abroad, giving you the chance to gain professional experience in diverse educational settings and to encounter primary education in an international context.
Typical entry is around 120 UCAS tariff points.
Graduates from primary education programmes either enter initial teacher training, typically through a PGCE or School Direct route, to qualify with Qualified Teacher Status, or in some cases graduate with QTS already included depending on the specific pathway followed. Teaching careers in primary schools lead to subject leadership, middle and senior management, headship and advisory and inspection roles. Others move into early years leadership, educational publishing, curriculum development, family learning programmes or roles in international schools.
The professional and academic formation provided by this degree is a strong foundation for any career concerned with children's learning and development.