Welsh and Education (BA)

We offer a supportive learning environment, where you are enabled to acquire a range of skills and a wealth of specialist knowledge. Our courses foster intellectual skills, such as critical thinking, close analysis, evaluating evidence, constructing arguments, using theory and the effective deployment of language in writing and in debate. We also help you gain experience in team working, independent research and time management.

You will be taught both by lecture and seminar. Lectures provide an overview of the key concepts and frameworks for a topic, equipping you to carry out independent research for the seminars and to develop your own ideas. Seminars provide an opportunity for you to explore the ideas outlined in the lectures.

Seminars usually consist of about 15 students and the seminar leader (a member of the teaching team). Seminars may take various formats, including plenary group discussion, small-group work and student-led presentations. For Welsh, there is also an important role to be played by tutorials, workshops and language classes.

How will I be supported?

As well as having regular feedback from your personal tutor in each course, you will have a reading week each semester for guided study and a chance to catch up on assessed work, reading and revision. These weeks are also used by staff to visit students on their year abroad.

You will have access through the Learning Central website to relevant multimedia material, presentations, lecture handouts, bibliographies, further links, electronic exercises and discussion circles.

The University offers a range of services including the Careers Service, the Counselling Service, the Disability and Dyslexia Service, the Student Support Service, and excellent libraries and resource centres.

Feedback

We’ll provide you with frequent feedback on your work. This comes in a variety of formats including oral feedback during tutorials, personalised feedback on written work, feedback in lectures and seminars, generic written feedback and feedback on tutorial performance.

Coursework will be marked by your module tutor and your tutor will give you written feedback on your work. You will also have a feedback class after each assessment. Students will be given general feedback in relation to examinations following the May/June examination period and you will be able to discuss your overall performance with your personal tutor as part of the monitored student self-assessment scheme.

How will I be assessed?

A range of assessment methods are used, including essays, examinations, presentations, portfolios and creative assignments.

Essays and examinations are used not only for assessment purposes but also as a means of developing your capacities to gather, organise, evaluate and deploy relevant information and ideas from a variety of sources in reasoned arguments. Dedicated essay workshops and individual advice enable you to produce your best work, and written feedback on essays feeds forward into future work, enabling you to develop your strengths and address any weaker areas.

The optional final-year dissertation provides you with the opportunity to investigate a specific topic of interest to you in depth and to acquire detailed knowledge about a particular field of study, to use your initiative in the collection and presentation of material and present a clear, cogent argument and draw appropriate conclusions.

WHAT SKILLS WILL I PRACTICE AND DEVELOP?

As a result of engaging fully with this course, you will acquire and develop a range of valuable skills, both those which are discipline specific and more generic ‘employability skills’. These will allow you to:

• grasp complex issues with confidence
• ask the right questions of complex texts
• have an imaginative appreciation of different views and options and analyse these critically
• identify and apply relevant data
• develop practical research skills
• propose imaginative solutions of your own that are rooted in evidence
• communicate clearly, concisely and persuasively in writing and speech
• work to deadlines and priorities, managing a range of tasks at the same time
• learn from constructive criticism and incorporate its insights
• work as a part of a team, developing a collaborative approach to problem-solving
• use IT programmes and digital media, where appropriate
• take responsibility for your own learning programme and professional development

What skills will I practise and develop?

Knowledge & Understanding:

On successful completion of the Programme you will be able to demonstrate:

• Understand the origins and organisation of education systems;
• Comprehend the complex relationship between education and society;
• Be familiar with theories of learning and teaching and their implications for practice;

Intellectual Skills:

On successful completion of the Programme you will be able to demonstrate:

• Evaluate competing theories of the principles and purposes of education;
• Analyse contemporary developments in education from historical, sociological, psychological and political perspectives;

Professional Practical Skills:

On successful completion of the Programme you will be able to demonstrate:

• Critically evaluate the evidence on which educational policies and practices are based;

Transferable/Key Skills:

On successful completion of the Programme you will be able to demonstrate:

• Demonstrate personal and academic communication skills.

The Learning Outcomes for the Welsh half of this programme are not available in English and are as follows:

Bydd graddedigion nodweddiadol y BA yn y Gymraeg yn gallu gwneud y canlynol:

• arddangos sgiliau deallusol sy’n caniatáu darllen agos, disgrifio, dadansoddi, a chynhyrchu testunau o wahanol fathau (gan gynnwys cynhyrchu testunau ym maes ysgrifennu creadigol yn achos rhai myfyrwyr)
• dadansoddi rôl greiddiol iaith yn y broses o greu ystyr, a’r gallu i werthfawrogi grym affeithiol iaith
• gwerthfawrogi sut y mae rhagdybiaethau diwylliannol yn effeithio ar y broses o lunio barn
• gwerthuso testunau, cysyniadau a theorïau perthnasol i faes y Gymraeg a’u trafod gan ddefnyddio’r eirfa briodol
• dangos dealltwriaeth o ystod o destunau o wahanol gyfnodau hanesyddol ac o wahanol genres
• dangos dealltwriaeth dda o safle a phwysigrwydd y Gymraeg yn y gweithle cyfoes
• rhoi’r wybodaeth, y ddealltwriaeth a’r sgiliau a feithrinwyd ar waith:
  • yn y gweithle, drwy gwblhau cyfnod o brofiad gwaith a dadansoddiad beirniadol o’r profiad hwnnw
  • drwy gwblhau traethawd neu brosiect estynedig sy’n gynnyrch astudio annibynnol dan gyfarwyddyd tiwtor, gan ddangos perthnasedd y gwaith hwnnw i’r cam nesaf yn eich gyrfa
• rhoi sgiliau rhifedd sylfaenol ar waith wrth ddadansoddi data sy’n ymwneud â’r iaith Gymraeg
• defnyddio technoleg gwybodaeth i gyflwyno a dadansoddi deunyddiau mewn dull effeithiol a graenus, gan gynnwys defnyddio meddalwedd i wirio a gloywi iaith
• cynhyrchu Cymraeg ysgrifenedig safonol a Chymraeg llafar safonol
• defnyddio cyweiriau ysgrifenedig eraill, ar lafar ac yn ysgrifenedig, mewn cyd-destunau gwahanol, gan gynnwys y gweithle
• dangos dealltwriaeth dda o ddatblygiad y Gymraeg ar hyd yr oesoedd, o safbwynt ieithyddol a chymdeithasol, a dealltwriaeth o rai dulliau cyfoes o geisio ei hadfer a’i hyrwyddo