School of Education and Professional Development

An award-winning School of enthusiastic, highly experienced professionals committed to increasing understanding of education, learning and youth work through high quality research.

The School of Education and Professional Development offers an excellent working environment with a wide range of courses across teacher training and education. 

We prepare students to work with all ages and levels, from early years through to adult education. As well as initial training for professionals in early years and for teachers, lecturers, trainers and youth workers, we offer extensive opportunities for continuing professional development. And, welcoming a wide range of international undergraduate and postgraduate students to study and do research with us and also providing short courses in teacher education for international delegates.

We aim to offer our students an excellent experience and to develop them to be superb professionals, critical thinkers and action researchers. 

Most academic staff have very close working relationships with the professional field and are engaged in a range of outreach activities.  We strive to reach out with our research, scholarship and partnerships to influence the world around us. Staff consistently rate working in the School very highly in the Quality of Working Life Survey.   We expect high standards from ourselves and take considerable pride in our work. 

The School is located in two adjacent buildings, the Lockside and Haslett buildings, which are converted mills that run alongside the Huddersfield Canal.  They are well–equipped and maintained, and provide an attractive and welcoming environment for students and staff. 

Our reputation 

Our graduate employment record is exceptionally good; the School’s courses perform consistently well with respect to the employment outcomes recorded by the Higher Education Statistics Agency and graduate and postgraduate starting salaries are above the norm.  In the latest (2015) survey of graduate destinations, 94% of our education students were working or in further study.

The School has a thriving research culture, and hosts a range of lectures and seminars, which attract external partners as well as staff and research students. Our research activities have a collaborative approach and are organised through our overarching Huddersfield Centre for Research in Education and Society (HudCRES).  In the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) 94% of the School’s research was celebrated as being world class or of international importance.

Our undergraduate programmes have a strong focus on employability and applications to these programmes have been growing year on year.