Education and Psychology

Education and psychology together examine the two processes that are most fundamental to human development: the ways in which knowledge, skills and values are transmitted and constructed across generations, and the scientific study of how minds develop, how people learn, and what factors support or hinder individual and collective flourishing. Education as an academic subject is not teacher training but the critical and comparative study of educational systems, policies, philosophies and practices, asking how and why education works, who it serves and how it can be made more equitable and effective. Psychology provides the empirical tools to examine learning, motivation, development and the social and emotional dimensions of educational experience.

At Liverpool Hope University this four-year, full-time programme includes a foundation year, providing a supported entry point before the main degree content begins. You will explore the personal, social, cultural and political forces that shape learning in the UK and around the world, examining educational philosophy, sociology of education, comparative education, child and adolescent development, cognitive psychology, learning theory and the psychology of individual differences. The programme includes a sandwich year, a year abroad and work placements, giving you direct professional experience in educational, psychological or social research settings and an international perspective on how education and development are understood across cultures.

Graduates of education and psychology programmes pursue careers in teaching and educational leadership, educational psychology with further postgraduate training, social work, youth work, community education, early years and childcare, educational research, policy and the voluntary sector. Many continue to postgraduate study in educational psychology, child development, education studies, counselling or clinical psychology, building on the combined undergraduate foundation.