Education Lectures - Introduction

Education is an extremely wide field by its very nature. Nobody is too old or too young to learn, and while formal education exists within clear age categories, there are ways in which just about everyone can undertake learning in this day and age. However, learning can often not take place without the expertise, guidance and support of a more knowledgeable other. There are many names we can give to such people - coach, mentor, guide - but in the formal sense, these people are known as teachers. An excellent teacher does not only know the subject matter they are teaching: they understand the processes of teaching and learning themselves, and they strive to have as much knowledge as possible about any external factors which may affect the ways in which people learn.

Maybe you already are a teacher, but you feel you could do with a refresher course in the key theory which informs educational practice. Maybe you're studying to become a teacher and you'd like a simple, hands-on way to engage with the ideas you're learning on your course. Maybe you're only just beginning to consider teaching as a career, but you'd like a comprehensive overview of what you're getting into before you begin applying for courses. Whatever your circumstances, if you have an interest in the fundamentals of education, this resource can help you build on your existing knowledge of education and develop insights which will positively inform your future practice!

Within this course, you'll study five different lectures. While you can, if you wish, study them in any order, we do highly recommend you follow the structure laid out here:

Table of Contents

Lecture 1. Approaches to Education will give you a grounding in all the seminal academic theories which have had a significant impact on the way we think about teaching and learning. We recommend that you start with this module because these theories underpin a lot of the content of the other modules, so it makes sense to have a good knowledge of these ideas before you undertake further learning.

Lecture 2. Policies, Pastoral Care and Practical Applications will move on to discussing the legal, practical and ethical requirements of teaching. You'll find an overview of the key laws which govern the way you must practice, which will lead into a discussion about the best ways in which to support learners holistically, whatever their specific needs.

Lecture 3. Planning and Delivering Learning will then move onto the more practical aspects of teaching itself, and how that leads to meaningful learning.

Lecture 4. Inclusion, will build from the knowledge you learned in Module 2, but will go into far greater depth not just about what your legal and ethical obligations are, but how you can meaningfully integrate inclusion into your practice, and why this makes such a positive difference for your learners.

Lecture 5. Best Practice in Teaching will consolidate all you've learned during the course, and will help you to learn how you can develop yourself and your skills in line with all these ideas in order to be the very best teacher you can be.

We truly hope you find these lectures useful to you, wherever you may be in your journey as an educational professional.