Why study Neuroscience and Education?

Neuroscience is influencing educational thinking and practice across the world. Insights from neuroscience are relevant for learners at all levels of ability, and all phases and ages across the lifespan.

Who is the pathway for?

This programme is suitable for teachers and practitioners of all subjects and across all ages. This includes teachers in mainstream schools, teachers of children with special needs, educational psychologists, education managers, policy makers and educators. It seeks to enrich the thinking and practice of these professionals with insights about typical and atypical learning from the sciences of the mind and brain. The programme also provides an excellent foundation for further research studies (e.g. at PhD level) involving the ideas and methods of cognitive neuroscience, in areas related to education and learning.

The pathway aims to:

The course aims to equip students with:

• Knowledge and understanding of learning from the scientific perspectives of mind and brain.
• Knowledge of the brain mechanisms by which individuals grow to maturity and can maximise their potential, and the implications of brain disorders on learning. 
• Understanding of the impact of education and learning on the brain processes underlying cognition, language, social and emotional development.
• Awareness of how neuroscience can contribute to reducing discrimination and disadvantage.
• The skills and confidence to undertake a critical approach when making connections between neuroscience and education.
• A basis for making decisions in educational policy and practice that are informed by brain research evidence (e.g. fMRI, EEG).
• The ability to generate new evidence and test their own ideas through research involving qualitative, quantitative and simple psychophysiological methods.
• Opportunities to draw on neuroscience when reflecting on their own experience and practice.