Applications for September 2024 are now closed
Explore psychology’s role in society and education in this psychology in education degree. Study the skills psychologists use to understand behaviour and development and gain the knowledge to address psychological needs.
Develop strong communication skills and prepare to inspire in a range of fields related to psychology and education. A final-year placement will allow you to apply your insights in real-life settings.
Top-ranked for teacher training: Our School of Education is ranked 1st in the UK for teacher training (Daily Mail University Guide, 2025)
State-of-the-art facilities: Access to first-class teaching resources designed to support your studies.
Expert teaching: Learn from a team of skilled academics who bring years of research-informed experience to help you develop your expertise in psychology.
93% of Herts graduates are in work or further study 15 months after graduation (Graduate Outcomes, 2021/22).
Many of our graduates have found work in the public sector and private sector, in roles such as:
Our aim is not only to teach you the principles of psychology theory but how to use those theories in practical work environments. This is the reason why so many of our students thrive in employment after graduation.
In your first year, you will be introduced to the foundations of psychology, exploring topics such as cognitive processes, behaviour, and social psychology. You’ll gain practical skills for working in psychology, including research methods and ethical considerations. Additionally, you’ll examine the history and development of psychology, alongside its real-world applications in education and human behaviour.
As part of your second year, you’ll focus on advanced topics such as brain and behaviour, critical evaluation of psychological myths, and research methods. You’ll also explore global and cultural influences on behaviour, and the impact of social media on learning and identity.
You will carry out an independent research project in your third year, applying the skills you’ve learned to investigate a psychological topic. You’ll also explore areas such as counselling, mentoring, and the psychology of place, considering how environments shape learning. The year concludes with career preparation in psychology, helping you consider your next steps in the field.
You’ll get a personal tutor to guide you through your course, all the way to graduation.
You might also want or need extra support during your time with us. Rest assured, no matter what you study, we’ve got you covered. For help with study skills, including referencing, essay writing and presentations, you’ll have access to our academic support services. You can attend workshops, 1-to-1 sessions and online tutorials. Both our LRCs run drop-in study skills sessions. And the best thing is, it’s all free.
We have a dedicated Student Success and Engagement Team who are there to support you with your welfare and academic writing support. There are also opportunities to have a peer mentor, who will be a more experienced student specially trained to provide support.
Your main campus is de Havilland which you’ll share with students from business, law, sport, and education subjects. The student housing is close to our Sports Village which includes a gym, swimming pool and climbing wall. You can get breakfast, lunch, or dinner in our on-campus restaurant or bar (in the newly built Enterprise Hub) on days you don’t feel like cooking. You can also use the common room to play pool, video games or just to hang out with friends. Our Learning Resources Centre's are open 24/7, which means you can study whenever suits you best. Want to pop over to the other campus? You can take the free shuttle bus or walk there in just 15 minutes.
You’ll be taught by a team of experienced, research-informed academics who bring a wealth of knowledge from a variety of educational backgrounds. With their expertise, they will support and challenge you as you develop your psychology skills. Our teaching team’s diverse experience includes working in schools, universities, local authorities, and education centres both in the UK and internationally. This broad range of expertise will offer you valuable insights into your future career.
We offer a range of support services, from childcare to counselling, ensuring that you make the most of your time at Herts and can focus on studying, having fun, and have the support you need.
Katie - Why I love education
I loved my course because we learnt Psychology, History of Education, Contemporary Ideas and Philosophy-what is education. In my First Year, to give you a different view what education is about and then you were able to decide if you wanted to general overview of education or be more specific and I chose special education needs as I wanted to understand in more detail about special education needs what it meant in a different context.
In my Second Year, I learnt more about special education needs and what is inclusion I was able to explain what cerebral palsy is to my fellow classmates and we had real-life experiences from other people who had different disabilities talk to us which gave me the opportunity to see it through their eyes and I became to see things differently not everything is as straight forwarded as I first thought.
We were given the chance to have work experience within our modules and I really enjoyed this part of the course as I was able to go back to my old school and do my work experience there as I was able to go to two schools: Lonsdale and Nobel and it were nice to see how much they have changed for the better and I was able to improve their access as they asked my opinion and they have used some of my suggestions that I put forward.
Working with my teacher again was one of the highlights as he said I’m still the same person; passionate about people seeing passed the wheelchair and I have had other students with disabilities come up to me asking who I am and they want to be as confident as I am! This gave me a different idea of what I wanted to do within education, which I will discuss further on.
With the new knowledge that I had gained helped me with my work as a governor as I was able to articulate my views very well and some of my ideas that I have suggested have been used at the school. We were also the opportunity to learn about research and all the terminology, so we had the skills ready for our final year.
They say Final Year is the hardest and I totally agree it is but that is the challenge as learning is not always meant to be easy. We only had one lecture a week for the research project in semester A, the rest were seminars to do with Research and Special Educational needs. Research Project was split into two sections: a proposal of our research project and presenting it as a presentation. This gave the tutors insight about how we thought through our question as it had to be a small example due to the time restrictions so that we focused on the question we wanted to answer.
I was grateful for this as I was able to use the proposed plan as my main structure for the writing part in part two which saved me so much time and effort. I would suggest that you use part one of the research as your layout in part two.
On a personal level, my time at Herts has been amazing even with the challenges that I had to face within the university and school of education are an amazing team to be a part of as they supported me to voice my ideas and express them to the relevant people.
As said previously I was passionate about people seeing passed the wheelchair and because of my personal challenges at university. I then realised I wanted to start my own business as a disability awareness coordinator as I feel that I can educate people on how to how to communicate with people with different disabilities. I have my Canine Partner still waiting for my partnership and I will have him work alongside me in this new journey. So, I have new experiences happening in my life after university which is exciting.
Noah - A day in the life on my psychology course
Hi! My name is Noah and I’m a third year psychology student here at the University of Hertfordshire 👋
Today I’ll be sharing what a typical day looks like for me:
5:30–7:30am: For me, I am definitely an early bird. On days when I have an early morning lecture, I’ll wake up at about half-past five, and spend around forty minutes getting ready for the day. After that, I will start block scheduling a general plan of my day on my calendar.
7:30-8:00am: Just before I arrive at University, I like to quickly stop to grab myself coffee (gingerbread latte with oat milk, if anyone is curious) – caffeine is a must!
8:00-9:30am: Once I arrive at Uni, I head straight to one of the many individual study spaces at the Learning Resource Centre (LRC) to begin some work. The LRC is open 24/7 and hosts thousands of books for every subject that the University teaches. The LRC is such a warm and wonderful environment for studying, with both group and individual study rooms, a café (The Retreat) on the lower-ground floor, as well as comfortable sofa, booths and chairs, allowing you to study in any way that suits you.
I prefer being in almost complete silence, by myself, with little to no distractions, so I absolutely love the individual study spaces.
9:30-10:30am: After my time in the LRC, I have a meeting with my project supervisor. All final year psychology students have to complete a ‘psychology project’, more often known as a ‘dissertation’, and each student chooses a supervisor for their project, often based on previous work.
During my meeting, I'm advised to make a few adjustments to my ethics and risk assessment forms, so I make a quick note to do so on my phone.
11:00-1pm: Straight after my supervision meeting, I have to attend my only lecture for the day. With psychology, there is a lot of independent research that you need to do, so I don’t really have that many lectures that I need to attend. The lecture that I was attending today was on the topic of counselling.
1-3pm: Once the lecture is finished, I make my way back home and have a little bit of a rest. During this time, I also make sure to eat some lunch!
3-5pm: After my break, I jump straight back into work. I begin with making the adjustments to my ethic and risk assessment forms, as I was told to do during my meeting earlier. Once completed, I then start studying for my Counselling module exams.
Once I have completed that, I am absolutely shattered! So I pack everything up and start to relax and unwind.
Thank you for reading my ‘Day in the Life’! This is an example of a very busy day for me, so it is vital to note that not every single day is as hectic as this 😀
Noah - About the psychology learning facilities and how I use them on my course
Hi, I'm Noah and I’m a final year psychology student at the University of Hertfordshire!
The University has a wide range of facilities geared towards psychology and I'd like to highlight a couple here:
Within the iLab, located in the Wright Building, is a classroom with over 40 networked, high-end macs. These macs host and run a wide range of software for undergraduate psychology students - SupeLab, SPSS, NVIVO, and Gorilla are just a handful of these softwares. These cannot run on chromebooks, which many students chose to buy before attending university because they are lightweight and have a low price-range, so the iLab allows students to conduct their own independent research.
Personally, I love using the iLab as I find the large screens and fast responsiveness helpful when reading the detailed tables that come with using, for example, SPSS. Additionally, when I must conduct research using other software that I am not so confident on, the smaller room allows me to ask for help easily and quickly from one of my peers, or even the professor.
The LRC, whilst not geared solely towards psychology students, is still a University facility that aids in my work. The quiet environment on floors G-2 helps me when I really need to focus in on something while ‘The Retreat’ in the basement fosters an environment where I can freely and openly discuss situations with my peers without feeling as though I must whisper. Additionally, there are hundreds of psychology books available, so I can easily carry out extra reading when it comes to writing essays – allowing me to secure higher marks for doing so 😀
The University of Hertfordshire is committed to welcoming students with a wide range of qualifications and levels of experience. The entry requirements listed on the course pages provide a guide to the minimum level of qualifications needed to study each course. However, we have a flexible approach to admissions and each application will be considered on an individual basis.
Typical offer (UCAS points) | (enter tariff range) |
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Typical A Level offer | (enter range) |
Typical IB offer | (enter range) |
Typical BTEC offer | (enter range) |
Typical T Level offer | (enter range) |
GCSE | EG: Grade 4/C in English Language and 4/D Mathematics |
Access courses | EG: An overall merit profile in 45 credits at Level 3. |
Additional information | Find out more about our standard and contextual Undergraduate Entry Requirements. |
Typical offer (UCAS points) | 112–120 |
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Typical A Level offer | BBC–BBB |
Typical IB offer | 112 –120 points |
Typical BTEC offer | DMM–DDM |
Typical T Level offer | Design Survey and Planning for Construction; Design Production, Design and Development; Education and Childcare; Healthcare Science; Health; Science; Digital Support Services; Digital Business Services; Onsite Construction; Building Services Engineering for Construction; Accounting; Design and Development for Engineering and Manufacturing; Engineering, Manufacturing, Processing and Control; Finance; Maintenance, Installation and Repair for Engineering and Manufacturing; Management and Administration; Agriculture, Land Management and Production; Legal Services |
Access courses | An overall merit profile in 45 credits at Level 3 |
Additional information | All students from non-majority English speaking countries require proof of English language proficiency, equivalent to an overall IELTS score of 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each band. If you do not have the required IELTS or equivalent for direct entry on to your degree programme, our Pre-sessional English and International Foundation courses can help you to achieve this level. For more details on the University of Hertfordshire's entry requirements, please visit our Undergraduate Entry Requirements page. Find out more about International Entry Requirements. |
Start date | Study type | Apply |
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September 2025 | Full time | Apply via UCAS |
Part time | Apply with Herts | |
September 2026 | Full time | Apply via UCAS |
Part time | Apply with Herts |
At Herts, we’re dedicated to providing world-class teaching supported by industry-level facilities and incredible social spaces. We believe cost shouldn’t be a barrier to higher education, and we strive to keep both our standard and additional costs as low as possible.
Study type | Fees | |
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UK students | Full time | £9,250 for the 2023/2024 academic year |
Part time | £1,155 per 15 credits for the 2025/2026 academic year |
Tuition fees are charged annually. The fees quoted above are for the specified year(s) only. Fees may be higher in future years, for both new and continuing students. Please see the University’s Fees and Finance Policy (and in particular the section headed “When tuition fees change”), for further information about when and by how much the University may increase its fees for future years.
Scholarships, grants and bursaries | Depending on your circumstances, you may be eligible for a non-repayable scholarship, grant or bursary to support your studies. |
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Disabled Students' Allowance | The Disabled Students’ Allowance can cover any study-related costs you have because of a mental health problem, long term illness or any other disability. |
Student loans | Find out about securing a student loan, from how much you could be eligible for to when you need to start making repayments. |
Accommodation costs | We offer a great choice of student accommodation, on campus or nearby in the local area, to suit every student budget. |
Additional course fees | Read more about additional fees in the course fact sheet. |
Course fact sheets | |
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BA/BSc (Hons) Psychology in Education | Download PDF |
Programme specifications | |
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BA/BSc (Hons) Psychology in Education | Download PDF |
Additional information | |
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Applications open to international and EU students |
No |
Course length |
Full Time, 3 Years Part Time, 6 Years |