Education with Sustainability [with Foundation Year]

Explore the effects of environmental and social change on education - and build practical experience for your future career.

Learn how education intersects with planetary health, sociology, globalisation, technology, and social justice.

At ARU in Cambridge you'll focus on Environmental Sustainability Education (ESE) in policy and practice.

Explore theories on outdoor learning, place-responsive teaching and creative pedagogies – and conduct your own research on these approaches.

As well as gaining academic knowledge, you’ll build practical experience through volunteering, placements, and community engagement.

• Study at a university with 20 years + experience of training education professionals

• Ranked 13th in the UK for Education (The Guardian University Guide 2025)

Careers

Gain specialisms in environmental sustainability, including outdoor learning, place-responsive pedagogy, conservation education, and environmental justice.

You could work in education in schools, further education colleges, environmental charities, zoological/botanical attractions and museums, or in policy making/research nationally or transnationally.

With further training you could progress to teaching, or other roles within the education sector. You may choose to work in policy or leadership roles or, like us, train future educators.

You might continue on to a Masters course such as a PGCE, or MA Education which includes options to specialise in leadership and management, SEND, and Montessori settings. Take advantage of our Alumni Scholarship to get 20% off your fees.

Year 1: Foundation year

Year 2: Journey through Life: Stages of Human Development; Safeguarding and Wellbeing; Research Foundations; The Power of Connection: Building Strong Educational Relationships; Environmental Sustainability Education: Policy and Practice.

Year 3: Equity in Education: Understanding Identity and Social Justice; Ruskin Module; Learning Theories in Education; Educational Research Methods; What's in a Place?

Year 4: Undergraduate Major Project; Neurodiversity and Inclusion: Strategies for Effective Learning; Education in the Digital Age: Policy, Theory and Global Trends; Leadership and Enterprise; Education and Environmental Justice.

Modules are subject to change and availability.

You’ll show your knowledge and understanding through a range of creative methods. These include digital scrapbooks, reflective journals and presentation tasks, as well as more traditional forms of assessment such as essays.