Welcome from the Dean of the School of Education

Dr Lyn Trodd

My passion and drive as Dean is to make sure our students are enabled to learn, succeed and have a positive experience of being a University student in a stimulating, supportive learning community.

Also important to me is our UH commitment to transforming lives. This is shared across our University but in the School of Education it means we focus not just on building our students’ confidence, but also on how we can give back to society and make a difference to people’s lives.

Amongst the opportunities we offer are studying abroad for six months – including in Australia, Canada, the USA, China and Malaysia. While you are studying with us you’ll be able to gain extra qualifications such as signing for the deaf or first aid, or take part in volunteering programmes. Depending on your choices our programmes may offer you extra opportunities for you to train as a peer mentor to other students, go on an outward bound visit to Wales, learn to canoe or play the djembe drums, create models, children’s story books and much more. All this means you’ll leave with more than a degree.

While the School is acknowledged as a leading provider of Initial Teacher Education (ITE), not everyone who studies with us wishes to go on to be a teacher. For example, studying our BA Early Childhood Education will be a sound basis for you to go into leadership and management roles in child care businesses and train as an Early Years Educator. Our BA Education Studies is a great foundation for doing an MA in Education, training to be a social worker, working in administration or advisory roles in universities or large schools or as an education officer in museums, galleries and visitor centres as well as a host of other careers.

My own professional background is in primary education and early childhood. Most of the staff here in the School have been head teachers or held leadership roles in the sector, so, while we are intensely interested in the theory and research underpinning education, we take a practitioner-related approach to everything we do. Your course will reflect the social, political and technological changes taking place in education. We are constantly re-assessing and innovating to ensure our students are in the best position to succeed.

It is important to us to try to ensure your learning is authentic, interesting and provides a strong foundation to launch your career and carry you forward in whatever you choose to do. If you’re not doing a teacher training degree you’ll still go on placements and visits to give a context to your learning and clarify your ideas about your future.

Our Student Success and Experience Team, your Programme Leader, Progress Tutor and Year Tutor or Pathway Tutor work together with your Module Tutors to provide you with an enabling mix of challenge and support and to help you enjoy your course to the full. Our view is that now you have managed to secure your place here as a student through your hard work and achievements, we want to find out what you want to make of the opportunity you have created for yourself and then do everything we can to assist you to be successful.