Criminology and Education

Criminology and education share a concern with how institutions shape individual lives, how power operates within organisations and systems, and how social inequalities are reproduced or challenged through the decisions that societies make about who gets support and who faces control. At Liverpool Hope University, the BA Criminology and Education with Foundation Year runs over four years of full-time study, including a sandwich year, a year abroad, and work placement opportunities, giving you extensive experience of real professional environments alongside your academic development.

The criminology strand introduces you to why crime occurs, how it is defined and measured, what the criminal justice system does and whether it works, and how communities and individuals are affected by crime and its responses. As the current description notes, you will explore how crime is defined, who makes those definitions, and what happens to people who pass through the courts, prisons, and probation services. Sociological and psychological perspectives on deviance, inequality, race, gender, and class are all central to this analysis.

The education strand examines how learning and teaching operate across formal and informal settings, how policy shapes educational institutions, and how educational experience varies by background, ability, and circumstance. Together, the two disciplines illuminate the overlapping territory between social control, opportunity, and social justice.

Graduates move into careers in youth justice, probation, social work, community education, the prison service, resettlement and rehabilitation work, teaching, educational support, and the voluntary and charity sector. The combination of criminological understanding and educational knowledge is particularly valuable in roles working with young people at risk of offending or with adults in the justice system who need educational support. The sandwich year and placement opportunities give you direct experience of professional environments before graduation.

Some graduates go on to postgraduate study in criminology, social work, education, or community development. The degree prepares you for careers where understanding both why people behave as they do and how institutions respond to behaviour is the central professional requirement.