Education and Geography

Pursue your passion for Geography while developing the knowledge, skills and experience you need to become an educator across diverse settings.

• Explore pressing issues in Geography and Education – from climate change to how education can transform lives.

• Gain practical experience through work placements in educational settings and international Geography field trips.

• Develop skills that employers look for, including research, communication, data analysis, problem-solving and teamwork.

Our Geography and Education degree builds your knowledge of Geography 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 Geography, you'll explore environmental and social issues including climate change, migration, disaster risk reduction, river management, and cultural representation.

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.

Combined Honour Awards
At Bath Spa University many of our undergraduate programmes can be combined, so you don’t have to limit yourself to one subject. If you choose to study a combined award then in Year One you’ll start by studying both subjects in equal depth. From Year Two you can choose whether to continue with equal numbers of modules from each subject, or whether you want to select additional modules in one or the other. Upon successful completion of the programme you will graduate with a joint degree.

Course structure

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 Geography modules, you'll establish foundational skills and knowledge. You’ll cover both human and physical geography and build practical skills through a residential field trip.

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 themes such as global citizenship and wellbeing in more depth. You’ll have the opportunity to explore sustainable development. Depending on your choice of optional modules, you can undertake an education placement in your second year.

You'll develop more specialist Geography knowledge and skills and begin to specialise through optional modules in topics such as climate change, migration or geotechnologies. An optional field trip to Italy provides a tangible way to engage with disasters and sustainable development.

Year three 
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.

In Geography, optional module topics include disaster risk reduction, identities and inequalities, river management and environmental justice. An optional field trip to Spain allows you to specialise further in either human or physical geography.

You can either choose to:

• undertake a dissertation in Education which gives you the chance to use your research to help solve real-world problems with our industry partners; or

• demonstrate the skills you've acquired in Geography by undertaking an independent research project in an area that interests you.

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.