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Why study Education at Christ's?

Many students who choose Education want to help change society in progressive ways. At Christ’s you’ll find a friendly space with plenty of opportunities to contribute

positively to the college community – and beyond – during your time here. We recruit internationally so there’s a richly diverse mix of people taking the subject with us.

We have a strong record of admitting talented students. Former graduates include Clementine Beauvais who did a doctorate and became a Junior Research Fellow in Cambridge. She’s now a multiple award-winning children's author and well-respected academic.A supervision

An Education degree can lead to a huge variety of career opportunities across the globe. As well as further study and teaching, graduates move into research, educational psychology and neuroscience, publishing and the Civil Service. Others work in government policy and administration, the media, theatre, heritage and museum education, HR, business and consultancy, charities and NGOs, and international development.
 

Course content and structure

Education is a major social science in its own right. At Cambridge, we encourage you to engage with important contemporary themes and the ongoing debates faced by educational researchers, policy-makers and professionals.

The Education course (or ‘tripos’) is a three-year degree. Please visit the University website for full details of the Education course content and structure, including the course film. You will also find information on  The Faculty of Education course page. If you have further questions about course content, please contact outreach@educ.cam.ac.uk.
 

Teaching

A guide to supervisions
Click here to watch the supervisions film (3.5 mins)

As well as lectures organised by the University, you have weekly ‘supervisions’ at the College. These small-group tutorial sessions give you the advantage of personally-tailored tuition and guidance, and are arranged by Christ's Director of Studies in Education Dr Blanka Grzegorczyk.

Professor Jenny Gibson is a Fellow at Christ's, and a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education.

Education is an interdisciplinary degree, so you benefit from some supervisions with students from other subjects in College, such as Education for higher degrees or PGCE courses. It’s a small course, and we hold dinners each year, so you get the chance to make friends in different years and support each other with useful advice.
 

What do our students think?

Student Q&A film
  Watch the Christ's student Q&A film

Read what Mira and Mikkeline have to say about studying Education here at Christ’s. In their accounts they describe what starting the course was like, the application process, balancing the workload with their social lives and other activities and much more.

If you’d like to hear from other Christ's students, please watch the Christ's student Q&A film, and visit our Student Profiles page.

 

How to apply

Visit How to Apply for full details and a timeline of the application process. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and school types, all over the world. If you're applying from outside the UK, please read our international students section.

News
  • If you are considering an application in October 2024 for October 2025 (or deferred Oct 26) entry, we recommend that you sign up for the next College Open Day, which will include an Education subject meeting.
  • There is no Admissions Assessment for Education.


Subjects: what do I need?

There are no set required subjects for Education, however we recommend that applicants take at least one relevant A-level or IB Higher Level subject. 'Relevant' subjects might include social science and/or essay-based subjects, e.g. English Literature, English Language and Literature, Sociology, Psychology and/or History. If you have any questions about your sixth form subject choices, please feel free to get in touch with us.

The most important thing to demonstrate in your application is that you have a genuine passion for Education. We encourage you to explore your own interests within Education and to find issues that really interest you.

Written work

After we receive your application, we ask you to send us two pieces of work you feel accurately reflect your abilities and interests. These should be work you’ve done during the normal course of your studies and already marked by a teacher. We recommend you keep copies for your own reference as we may discuss them at interview.

We publish full guidelines on written work in the Current Applicants section on 20 September each year.

Interviews

If we select you for interviews, these usually take place in early December. At Christ's we do all of our interviews online. You can have your interviews either at home (most applicants do this) or at school (if easier). Those selected for interview are normally interviewed for 35-50 minutes in total. At Christ’s, we usually split the time into two interviews with academics in Education.

Further, more general information about interviews (including two useful films) is available in the Cambridge interviews section, and it's worth also having a look at supervisions (short film here), as interviews are similar to what you do every week as a Cambridge student.

There is no written assessment for Education at Christ's College.

Offers

At Christ's we don’t have fixed quotas for places, so the number of students we admit in any year depends on the strengths of the applicants. In Education we typically admit at least two students each year.

We define the terms of each offer individually, but our typical conditional offer for Education is:

  • A*AA at A-level
  • 42 points overall in the International Baccalaureate with 7,7,6 in Higher Level subjects
  • A1, A2, A2 in three relevant Scottish Advanced Highers
  • If you're taking another qualification, we expect you to be working at or close to the top of the mark range i.e.

You can look up other qualifications in the offer levels for other exam systems and international entry requirements, and if you are applying from outside the UK please read the Christ's international students section for further information and check the country pages.

If you will have finished school when you apply, please also read about post-qualification applications, taking a gap year, and, if relevant, applying from a university.

 

Helpful resources

Suggested reading Ideas for reading around the subject, and to help you start thinking about some key debates
Education Faculty Blog Information about current research findings
HE+Education Website for secondary school students who want to explore Education
Department for Education UK Government website
Education podcasts Public seminars from Oxford Department of Education.
FutureLearn online course Challenges of 21st Century Education (University of Exeter)
CamGuides Introducing the academic and information skills that you will need during your studies, as well as how and where you be working.

 

Open Days and Online Events

Our open days and events page advertises regular online opportunities as well as events you can attend in Cambridge. If you can, sign up for a College Open Day (our October, February and September events normally include a meeting with a subject specialist). Between February and August we run regular webinars:

  • Subject Matters: The importance of post-16 subject choices (this one is also run Sept - Nov)
  • Cambridge for Beginners
  • Christ's College: A look at the Grounds and Facilities
  • Personal Statements and preparing for an application

Further subject-specific opportunities you might wish to consider include Subject Masterclasses organised by Cambridge Admissions Office, and subject-specific talks in the July Cambridge Open Days. If you are a UK student from a background where there is little tradition of entry to Higher Education, you can apply to attend a Sutton Trust Summer School in Education or to shadow a current undergraduate studying Education via the Cambridge SU Shadowing Scheme (do be aware that there's a high proportion of applicants to places for both of these last two opportunities so please don't be discouraged if you don't get a place).
 

Want to know more?

For a fuller picture of what the course involves, take a look at Undergraduate Education admissions on the University website and make sure you visit the Faculty of Education too.

If you have any queries about the course itself, please contact us at admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk . We’ll be glad to help.

 

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