PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module is part of the Developmental Psychology stream of Level 6 Psychology optional modules and may not be running every year. In some years an alternative optional module within the Developmental Psychology stream may be offered instead.

This module considers the relationship between psychology and education and will give you a comprehensive understanding of how psychological theory and research intersects with education. We will consider how psychological theories and research can be applied to educational practice and issues in education including understanding the process of learning, differences between learners, special educational needs and educational policy. You will learn how to approach education from a scientific perspective and consider how personal experience informs your views.

This module builds on theories and research that you will have learnt about in your level 4 and 5 developmental, cognitive and social modules. The content will complement topics covered in other final year modules (e.g. PSY3103) and will develop your ability to apply psychology to an area of practice in a similar way to several other final year modules (e.g. PSY3127 and PSY3073). The summative assessments will enable you to further develop skills you have acquired during the course so far, such as conducting literature searches and reading articles, critical evaluation, essay writing and writing for a lay audience which will be useful for your dissertation and the future.

Module provider

Psychology

Module Leader

GOOCH Debbie (Psychology)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): 40

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None.

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Principles of education and views of learning


• Learning environments and classroom assessment


• Learner differences and learning needs


• Special educational needs in language and literacy


• Special educational needs in movement and coordination


• Special educational needs in numeracy


• Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) in schools


• Challenging behaviour and intellectual disability


• Inclusion: Theory, Policy & Practice

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to develop and demonstrate their understanding of how psychological approaches and methods can be applied to educational practice, their ability to consider education through the lens of evidence-based practice and key employability skills, resourcefulness and resilience.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Coursework: 4-page information leaflet (addresses learning outcomes: 2, 4 and 6)

The coursework will require students to demonstrate their understanding of how psychological principles, theory and research can provide insights into an area of special educational need (LO2) and inform the development of interventions/ strategies which a teacher could use to support a child in the classroom (LO4). To help develop key employability skills and demonstrate their digital capabilities students will be required to present information in an accessible format which would be of use to mainstream school teachers/educational practitioners (LO6).

• Exam: Online (open book) exam within 4hr window (1 hour, 4 page) (addresses learning outcomes:1, 3 and 5)

Students will be required to answer one question from a choice of two exam questions which may cover any aspect of the course content. The exam questions will require students to demonstrate their understanding of how psychological approaches and methods can be applied to educational practice (LO1), critically appraise research on educational issues and demonstrate awareness of the methodological challenges of research in this field (LO3) and critically consider educational policy from a psychological perspective (LO5). The exam will provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate resourcefulness and resilience by showing that they can work under pressure to synthesize the large body of knowledge they will have gained during the module and an opportunity to demonstrate their research, critical thinking and concise academic writing skills.

Formative assessment

For support, the assessment for this module will be discussed in class. Students will also have the opportunity to receive formative feedback directly related to each component of the summative assessment. Each student will have the opportunity to discuss a 1-page plan for their information leaflet and a 1-page practice essay plan to obtain formative feedback. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to attend an assignment Q&A session and students will be encouraged to obtain peer feedback on their draft coursework during class to help develop resourcefulness and resilience.

Feedback

Students will receive verbal feedback on their topic understanding, ideas and critical thinking from the lecturers, and from each other, during in-class discussions. At the beginning of each seminar, students will be given questions to discuss as a group to test and provide formative feedback on their understanding of the previous weeks' material. Students will have the opportunity to engage with discussion boards on SurreyLearn and the module convenor will respond to queries or issues that arise there. The module convenor will also hold weekly feedback and consultations hours which students are welcome to come along to with questions or to discuss module content. Feedback on the summative assessment will be provided on SurreyLearn.

Module aims

• To develop understanding of how psychological approaches and methods can be applied to educational practice and the barriers of doing so (LO 1,3).
• To critically consider how psychology can provide insights into a range of special educational needs and educational issues (LO 2,3).
• To consider education through the lens of evidence-based practice (LO 4).
• To examine educational policy from a psychological perspective (LO 5).
• To develop independent and critical thought through reading research literature, answering questions and discussing case studies (LO 3,4,5).
• To develop the ability to synthesize and communicate information to academic and non-academic audiences (LO 6).

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

 The learning and teaching strategy is designed to develop students’ resourcefulness and resilience, employability skills, global and cultural capabilities through:

• Providing students with a thorough grounding in the application of psychology to areas of educational practice and special educational needs.


• Encouraging students to reflect on their own experiences of education and apply these to critical evaluation of theories and empirical findings.


• Developing critical thinking skills that cross the boundaries between theory and practice.


• Encouraging students to consider education through the lens of evidence-based practice.


• Developing students understanding of translational research and provide them with the opportunity to translate research findings for educational practitioners


• Encouraging students to participate in small group/class discussions to develop confidence to share their experiences, views and opinions and their ability to be considerate of other people’s experiences, views and opinions.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• Seminars including case studies to surface students’ pre-existing views on a topic, problem-based learning activities, group discussions, critical discussion of research findings, assignment introduction and Q&A sessions.


• Guided learning activities on SurreyLearn including weekly reading, ‘Consolidating and Applying your knowledge’ worksheets and reflective log books.


• Captured content including Panopto recordings of seminar content and links to documentaries, websites, videos and podcasts.


• Independent learning


• Formative assessments to develop an integrated body of knowledge

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: PSY3082

Other information

In line with Surrey’s Curriculum Framework, we are committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module contributes to the five pillars in the following ways:

Employability (E)

As this module is positioned towards the end of the programme, the coursework assessment takes on a distinctly authentic (real-life) appearance to increase student’s skills for future employment. Specifically, the process of producing a research informed information leaflet aimed at a non-academic audience (e.g. teachers/educational practitioners) reflects an aspect of the work an Educational Psychologist (or other applied psychology professional) might be asked to do. Being able to translate psychological theory/research for different audiences is a skill which is important in most psychology graduate jobs and thus would be a useful experience to refer to in a job application or interview. Having choice over the topic covered in the leaflet enables the student to take ownership over their learning and work independently. Students will therefore hone skills relevant to their Dissertation and other research-based work in the future, as well as glean insight into skills relevant to all future employment.

Digital capabilities (D)

As with all psychology modules there is a level of digital skill and ability that is expected and demonstrated through engagement with the content and learning materials. All teaching materials and key content will be made available in multimedia forms through the Virtual Learning Environment Surreylearn and students will be expected to supplement set reading with papers found through their own literature searches. Students will therefore gain in depth experience of accessing and using varied digital (and non-digital) sources and search engines. The coursework assessment will also require further digital capabilities, this may include use of various software tools (e.g. Word, PowerPoint Publisher, Canva).

Global and cultural capabilities (G)

Throughout the module students will be gaining substantial cultural knowledge about the UK education system in particular but with reference to educational systems around the word to increase their global capabilities. There will be the opportunity to consider how psychological approaches and methods have been applied to educational practice and issues in education across the world. In addition, impact of intersections between ethnicity, gender and/or social economic status on education will be considered.

Sustainability (S)

Associated with sustainability, is the central issue running throughout this module of social and

political inequalities in education. Specially, students will have the opportunity to consider how psychology can help us understand why inequities exist (e.g. attainment gaps) and inform approaches to minimize inequities and promote quality education for all. Additionally, students will consider the role educational institutions have in promoting wellbeing among students and how psychology can provide insights into special education needs and inform interventions. Students will complete this course with not only recognition of the importance in sustaining such approaches in order to gain future equity for marginalized groups (e.g. students with special educational needs or from minority backgrounds), but also the background knowledge and skill to further generate such thinking in the future and for this to affect their own approach in the workplace and in life more generally.

Resourcefulness and resilience (R)

In this module we aim to provide a supportive learning environment in which dialogue between teachers and students and between students and their peers is encouraged and valued. Assessments, in class activities and the guided learning are closely tied to this pillar for this module. To promote resilience, students have choice over their learning in this module i.e. they can choose which area of SEN they focus on for their coursework and can choose which question to answer in the exam. The coursework provides a space for students to demonstrate their decision making, research skills, critical thinking, digital capabilities, time management and provides an opportunity for students to practice their reflection skills. The exam provides the opportunity for students to show that they can work under time pressure to synthesize the large body of knowledge they will have gained during the module and an opportunity to demonstrate their research, critical thinking and academic writing skills. Each week students will discuss case studies in groups to provide the opportunity for students to share their experiences and develop their communication and reflection skills. Given the importance of reflection for resilience students will have the opportunity to complete a reflective log-book alongside the module which encourages them to consider their understanding of a topic before and after seminars and to reflect on their own personal experience. Students will also be encouraged to support each by providing feedback on draft coursework.

 

This module has a capped number and may not be available to ERASMUS and other international exchange students. Please check with the International Engagement Office email: ieo.incoming@surrey.ac.uk

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.