Are you interested in a professional career in family support, therapeutic or pastoral roles within education or the health and social care sector? Would you like to explore how children and young people learn and develop?
On this course, you’ll investigate the role of education in the creation of a fair and inclusive society, focusing on special educational needs (SEND) and mental health, and learn how education impacts on the life chances of children and young people.
Education, Mental Health and SEND is a unique, vocationally focused inclusive education degree with two central themes, Mental Health and SEND in children and young people, which you’ll examine throughout your studies.
Academic experts with established careers in mental health and SEND practice will share their extensive experience with you. They’ll teach you about current themes linked to mental health that are at the forefront of inclusive practice in education and related sectors, such as Trauma-informed and Responsive Practice. You will consider race equity, social justice and diversity across all aspects of your studies and discuss the challenges marginalised communities face in today’s society.
A key feature of this degree is the application of theory and knowledge to practice. You’ll undertake professional work placements in a range of settings that work with children, specifically in education, health and social care. This allows you to gain vital experience and employability skills that will help prepare you for your career. We also offer opportunities to undertake additional professional development and vocational qualifications that will allow you greater access to various specialist settings after you graduate.
This degree aims to give you the knowledge, skills and experience you need to start your graduate journey in the exciting and ever-changing sector of inclusive education, health and social care.
You will study a variety of modules across your programme of study. The module details given below are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
During your first year, you'll study five core modules.
In the first semester, you'll get to know about university and academic life at Leeds Trinity University.
You'll develop self-confidence, motivation and team-working skills.
Find out about different kinds of assignments and grading criteria.
We'll also teach you how to reference your work and show you how we check for plagiarism.
You'll develop your time management, critical thinking, digital and independent study skills, and find out how to make the most of your tutors.
In the second semester, we'll focus on your personal and professional development.
You'll consider ethical, sustainability and social justice issues related to work.
You'll develop employability, digital, and money management skills.
Find out about local, regional, national and global issues relevant to the professional sector.
Plan for your future career and development, and improve your study skills and module marks.
Explore safeguarding and protecting children.
You'll consider current legislation and policy along with relevant current research findings.
You'll engage with current procedures and understand the frameworks practitioners are expected to operate within.
We'll make specific reference to the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the current statutory frameworks.
You'll learn the different categories of abuse and develop the expertise outlined in current policies and legislation.
Ethics, social justice and cultural differences will be a theme running through this study.
Gain an awareness and understanding of the prevalence and spectrum of children’s and young people’s mental health condition.
You’ll be guided through the exploration of a range on interdisciplinary contemporary theories that share current understanding of mental health and influence the practice of preventing poor health and promoting positive well-being within an educational context.
Explore the potential influences on mental health and contemporary approaches to treatment and gain an insight into your own personal philosophy and how this will impact upon practice.
Develop skills needed to show reflective inclusive practice in working with children, young people and their families. You’ll be introduced to the challenges in the assessment and identification process of SEND as well as the current contextual policy and practice landscape of SEND and inclusive practice across various educational settings.
You’ll be introduced to the definitions, theories and models of educational inclusion including conceptions such as Neurodiversity linked to SEND. You’ll develop values beliefs and motivations in becoming a special education needs and inclusion practitioner.
You’ll study an explorational approach to global issues of SEND which will allow you to develop a comparative understanding of each topic and the evidence of best practice including the inclusionary challenges and facilitators in various countries
You’ll explore the changing concepts of childhood and the stages of development including aspects of personal, social, physical, emotional, moral and technological development.
Define your understanding of learning and development and consider a range of interventions to support children’s learning and development including play to give a sound underpinning for observing, analysing and discussing individual learning and development.
You’ll study theories and models of learning and development and explore the factors that can influence children’s development of their brains and bodies across compulsory education.
During your second year, you'll study five core modules.
You’ll be introduced the approaches of trauma informed and responsive, relational and restorative practices employed across a myriad of service provision contexts as well as in education.
Learn about the principles of trauma informed practice and the theory underpinning this. You’ll be presented multiple models of trauma-informed practices employed on an individual and whole system level. This will include links to the impact of inequalities on specific communities who have experience exclusionary practices.
We’ll enable you to develop responses in practice to children and young people with experiences of trauma, distinguishing between various responses to find appropriate ways of working with trauma experienced children and young people in an inclusionary manner.
You’ll focus on developing the practice needed to address the needs of trauma experienced children and young people in various service and educational contexts.
Explore a series of research methods, including their key features, usefulness and application in different contexts.
You'll critically examine research methodologies, with an emphasis on ethical research conduct.
You'll evaluate the usefulness of research methodologies to explore specific research questions, problems and designs.
You'll reflect on ethical issues relating to children, families, communities and professional settings.
You'll understand how to design, conduct and write up research, and understand the relationship between research, policy and practice.
There are three stages to the module - preparation, work placement and reflection.
You'll have workshops to develop your employability skills, analyse your career prospects and go through the practicalities of getting and undertaking a professional placement.
You'll complete a short weekly reflective log reflecting upon the practical skills gained through your placement experience and what you have learnt about applying theoretical understanding in practice.
Cover a broad range of definitions of key concepts of inclusion, diversity and social justice and these relate to the education of children and young people. You’ll explore topics relating to diverse identities, and students’ subjectivities across social class, gender, race and ethnicity, sexuality, disability and SEN and intersectional identities.
You’ll be encouraged throughout your learning to reflect and reframe your own position and practice to recognise and reduce inequalities when working with children and young people.
We’ll give you the opportunity to develop and review strategies to promote inclusive cultures within educational contexts through contemporary research, which could include policies and practices within schools, inclusive pedagogies, teaching through an ethic of belong and care, inclusive teaching for students experiencing mental health challenges or SEND and engaging with diversity across school communities.
You’ll explore the purpose and function of the educational systems and structures before being guided through a thematic approach to the current educational issues to stimulate student engagement in developing practice.
You’ll draw upon the disciplines that inform contemporary discourses on learning, including philosophy, sociology, history and psychology.
Understand from a critical outlook and use research to explore and evaluate a variety of current practices that impact on the ability of schools to be inclusionary, and its aims to address contemporary challenges to benefit children, young people and families.
During your final year, you'll study five core modules.
You’ll be given the opportunity to complete an independent research study within a chosen field of education that is of particular interest to your own developing specialisms and be given the support to design, conduct and report on a specific topic chosen by you.
Apply the knowledge and skills you’ve developed over the course of your degree and extend your knowledge and understanding of a specific area of research utilising either primary or secondary strategies and the appropriate methodological approaches.
You’ll be introduced to the practice for specific areas of need, levels and types of SEND such as cognition and learning, speech language and communication, SEMH, sensory and physical disabilities including specific learning difficulties, autism and neurodiverse children and young people.
Study and understand the methods and approaches used to co-ordinate SEND provision in line with current national policy and advice across an educational setting. Develop ways of working effectively with individuals and their families to optimise the voice of the child and their family in developing appropriate plans and interventions.
You’ll understand the ability to develop highly personalised and evidence based reasonable adjustments for specific children and young people which is unique to them and their needs and aspirations.
You’ll critically analyse the role played by parents in fostering a child’s engagement and achievement within the education system and examine how a child’s systematic environment of home life and key familial relationships can impact upon their readiness to learn and the impact that parental needs and challenges can bring to any given situation.
Explore different interventions and approaches that be utilised by settings to foster an ethos of collaborative partnership work with parents, promoting the active involvement and co-operation of parents with their child’s education.
Develop a critical understanding of the cultural perspectives around parental involvement and a range of interventions to support parents and children.
You’ll be introduced to several parenting programmes used within early help and education settings to evaluate their usefulness and potential ethical and philosophical considerations.
You’ll be introduced to a range of therapeutic practices employed within educational settings for children with social, emotional and mental health needs.
You’ll focus developing your practice with children and young people using evidence-based intervention strategies, and develop your knowledge, skills and understanding of a range of interventions including direct work with children and young people.
Practices and interventions explored will be centred on harness the voice of a child and will include modes of group work, cognitive behaviour strategies, psycho-educational approaches for anxiety and low mood, bereavement, mindfulness.
You'll develop a theoretical understanding through practical work-based development in of your chosen context, this could be in a public, private or community sector.
Experience matters. That's why we embed professional work placements within the majority of our standard undergraduate degrees.
Careers+Placements will work with you to find a placement or help you to arrange your own, whether that's in Leeds, another part of the UK or even abroad. You will be able to take part in a series of workshops, events and live ‘employer challenges’ to boost your confidence and prepare you for your placement.
During your placement, you could have an opportunity to gain degree-relevant work experience, build your knowledge of career sectors and secure valuable employer references and industry contacts. This experience will help you to shape your career decisions and find the right path for you.
We have established links with schools and other education, health and social care settings across the region so you could undertake your placements within mainstream primary and secondary education, alternative provisions and SEND education institutions. You might look for a role in family support work, youth and community work, local government or in the charity sector working with children and young people. While on placement, you could be shadowing mental health practitioners and mental health leads both inside and outside of formal education establishments.
To find out how we can help you make your career ambitions a reality, visit:
Leeds Trinity University is committed to recruiting students with talent and potential and who we feel will benefit greatly from their academic and non-academic experiences here. We treat every application on its own merits; we value highly the experience you illustrate in your personal statement.
Information about the large range of qualifications we accept, including A-Levels, BTECs and T Levels, can be found on our entry requirements page. If you need additional advice or are taking qualifications that are not covered in the information supplied, please contact our Admissions Office.
Leeds Trinity University is committed to recruiting students with talent and potential and who we feel will benefit greatly from their academic and non-academic experiences here. We treat every application on its own merits; we value highly the experience you illustrate in your personal statement.
The following information is designed to give you a general overview of the qualifications we accept. If you are taking qualifications that are not included below, please contact our Admissions Office who will be happy to advise you.
| UCAS tariff | 104-96 |
For full-time undergraduate courses, you apply through UCAS. That's the University and Colleges Admissions Service.
On your application form, you'll need to know our institution code - it's L24 - and the course code. If you click through to the UCAS website using the button below, it'll take you to the right place with all the information you need.
As part of your application, you'll need to write a personal statement - we've prepared a guide to help you.
There's lots more information about the application process on the UCAS website, or you can get in touch with our Admissions team who will be happy to help:
Providing you with the opportunity to develop the professional skills and experience you need to launch your career is at the heart of everything we do at Leeds Trinity University.
This degree allows you to explore aspects of education, health (particularly mental health) and social care in preparation for further training or employment. Possible career routes include family support, therapeutic and pastoral roles within education or Education and Mental Health Practitioner or a Children’s Wellbeing Practitioner within NHS or healthcare settings. With its emphasis on social justice and welfare, this course also gives you the skills you need for a graduate career in other areas such as housing, local government, the police, government social research and the charity sector.
You could also progress onto a PGCE (if you would like to become a teacher) or other postgraduate study or research in education, mental health or SEND.
After you graduate, Careers and Placements will help you as you pursue your chosen career through our mentoring scheme, support with CV and interview preparation and access to graduate employability events.
To find out how we can help you make your career ambitions a reality, visit: