Education Studies and Criminology

Education Studies and Criminology
Combine the study of human behaviour from the perspectives of both criminal and community justice professionals with a multi-disciplinary social science approach to education, focusing on current educational curriculum, policy and trends.**

Why choose this course?

Who do we label as ‘offenders’, and why? Learn about human behaviour from the perspectives of both criminal and community justice professionals and wider society. You’ll explore the relationships of crime, deviance and offending, and victimisation to social divisions such as age, gender, sexuality, social class, race, ethnicity and religion.

Combine this with a multi-disciplinary social science approach to education, focussing on current educational curriculum, policy and trends. You’ll explore the concept of education through four key academic disciplines; sociology, history, psychology and philosophy to gain a broad understanding of education policy and practice.

How you will learn

You’ll be taught through a combination of lectures, group work and independent learning, directed study, lectures, seminars and tutorials to bring your subjects to life.

Our lecturers are experts in their curriculum areas and incorporate their latest research in taught sessions and resources. Students are encouraged to pursue their own interests in many module seminars and assignments, which supports students in becoming active researchers in their own right.

Opportunities and experiences

As well as traditional lectures and tutorial sessions, the programme features a strong practical element. You’ll develop your criminology skills through activities such as interviewing, negotiation, research and argument, decision making, and problem-based learning, ensuring that you achieve a wide-ranging understanding of systems of criminal and community justice. Our Criminology team work closely with courts, prisons and youth offender training centres, and bring this expertise into their teaching.

As part of your Education Studies modules, you could have the opportunity to undertake a work placement or work experience, take fieldtrips and study visits or study abroad to explore education on a global scale.

Careers and employability

As a Criminology graduate, you will receive an exceptional grounding for a career in the probation service, the prison service, the police, youth justice, voluntary organisations or the wider public sector. Alternatively, you may wish to pursue postgraduate studies at the University. Our strong links with local and regional agencies coupled with our staff’s extensive practice experience means that our criminology teaching is highly relevant to today’s job market.

Education graduates have gone on to a variety of employment opportunities, including primary and secondary teaching, teaching assistants, education liaison roles, social work, youth and community work; or further postgraduate study.

Based solely on more than 24,000 student reviews, we were named Uni Compare's University of the Year 2027, and voted 1st in the UK for employability and 2nd in the UK for course quality. Not only that, but 97% of students would recommend the University of Derby*, which we can offer you industry-relevant teaching, state-of-the-art study spaces, multi-award-winning accommodation, and a welcoming, inclusive community.

*Uni Compare 2027