Biology and Education (Professional Placement Year)
Bath Spa University
UCAS Code: 39P3 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) or Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BA/BSc (H)
Bath Spa University
UCAS Code: 39P3 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) or Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BA/BSc (H)
Entry requirements
A level
Grades BBB-BCC preferred.
Access to HE Diploma
Typical offers for applicants with Access to HE will be the Access to HE Diploma or Access to HE Certificate (60 credits, 45 of which must be Level 3, at Merit or higher).
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
A minimum of 32 points are required.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Extended Diploma grades from Distinction Distinction Merit (DDM) to Distinction Merit Merit (DMM) accepted in any subject.
T Level
Grade Merit is preferred.
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
**Develop the knowledge, skills and experience you need to become an educator across diverse settings.**
- Explore important current themes in Education, such as social justice, inclusion, wellbeing, sustainability, and education policy.
- Study a broad range of Biology topics, such as microbiology, ecology, animal behaviour, medical biology, plant biology and food studies.
- Build skills that employers look for, including research, teamwork, and the ability to understand and interpret complex information.
Are you passionate about changing lives through education?
Our Biology and Education degree builds your knowledge of biology alongside your understanding of how education transforms individual outcomes and societies.
In your Education modules, you’ll develop a portfolio of skills that employers look for, such as creative thinking, taking initiative, networking, and problem solving. You’ll explore these skills through the lens of sustainability, global citizenship and digital literacy, from local and global perspectives.
In Biology, you'll explore themes such as biodiversity, ecology, environmental management, microbiology and nutrition. We use our unique campus, with its rich variety of woodland, grassland and freshwater habitats, extensively in practical work.
Many of our graduates choose to become teachers in schools, but that's not the only path open to you. We'll support you in achieving your aspirations as a professional educator – however they develop during the degree.
**More about the Professional Placement Year**
A Professional Placement Year (PPY), traditionally known as a sandwich year, is where you undertake a period of work with an external organisation for between 9-13 months. The placement occurs between your second and final years of undergraduate study. You can engage in multiple placements to make up the total time and are required to source the placement(s) yourself, with support from the Careers team. The PPY Bursary can make work experience more accessible, with students undertaking a PPY able to receive between £500 and £1,500 to be used towards placement costs such as travel, food, workwear or accommodation.
Modules
Year one
The first year introduces key concepts and skills that underpin the study of education. You'll be introduced to formal and informal education and explore the potential of education to transform lives. Key themes include wellbeing, global citizenship and the impact of research.
In your Biology modules, you’ll explore fundamental biological topics through hands-on classes. Topics include cell biology, genetics, microbiology, anatomy and physiology, evolution, classification, and ecosystems.
Year two
In your second year you’ll be introduced to the key ideas and theories needed to understand contemporary educational issues. You’ll learn about education policy and its role on a local and global scale. You’ll also evaluate how education contributes to achieving change in the workplace. You’ll explore global citizenship and wellbeing in more depth. You’ll have the opportunity to explore sustainable development. Depending on your choice of modules, you can undertake an education placement in your second year.
Biology modules cover a range of concepts including biological systems and the importance of Biology in real life. You'll explore the most cutting-edge ideas in Biology and get the chance to choose from a range of topics for your optional module. Themes include ecology, environmental management, microbiology, human pathophysiology, biodiversity and food analysis. You could also develop your research skills to a higher level through a dedicated research module.
An optional Professional Placement Year between your second and final year gives you the chance to gain extended experience in the workplace.
Year three
Your third year is your Professional Placement Year.
Year four
You’ll develop a deeper understanding of a professional career in education and education’s role in sustainable development. Your dissertation in either Education or Biology will complete your studies.
If you choose to focus on Education, you’ll get the chance to use your research to help solve real-world problems with our industry partners. If you choose Biology, you'll undertake an independent research project in an area that interests you.
If you’re interested in a teaching career, and you’re on target to successfully complete your degree, we offer a guaranteed interview for our Primary or Secondary PGCE courses in your final year.
Assessment methods
Assessment methods vary, depending on the modules you choose.
You could submit essays, scientific papers, blog posts, reports, posters, video presentations, group presentations, or sit exams. You might take an even more creative approach, such as producing a graphic novel to communicate public health information.
We’ll provide regular guidance on how to improve your skills, knowledge and understanding so that you can enter the workplace with confidence.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Biology (non-specific)
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Education
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Biology (non-specific)
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
The recession was tough on biology graduates, and although the jobs market has improved for them - a lot - it's still not back to where it was a few years ago. If you want a career in biology research — and a lot of biology students do - you'll need to take a doctorate, so give some thought as to where you might do it and how you might fund it (the government still funds doctorates for good students). A lot of graduates also take 1 year Masters courses to specialise in this wide and deep subject - most students take a standard biology course for their first degree and then specialise in subjects like ecology, conservation or marine biology later. Hospitals, universities, biotech firms, zoos and nature reserves and clinical and scientific testing are common industries of employment for biology graduates.
Education
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Biology (non-specific)
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£19k
£26k
£31k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Education
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£16k
£23k
£23k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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