BA Educations Studies tripos to be abolished at Cambridge

I recently graduated from the Education Studies degree, and I think amalgamating Education with Social Sciences is a great and much needed idea. I loved aspects of the sociology and psychology, but I was desperate for broader perspectives and deeper challenges.

Education Studies is best understood and most fascinating when placed in the wider contexts of society and culture, and I think the Faculty itself could really benefit from working alongside sociology and anthropology in particular.

Furthermore, I always felt the Faculty, when I was there, was quite insular: academic staff - whilst supportive of students and respected in their fields - often seemed not to have much of an awareness of what was happening in social science more generally; both in the university and nationally. Education Studies needs to be a subject which has a genuine grasp of its and learning institutions' place in society, culture, and politics on national and international levels; instead of, as I experienced it, focussing intensely on the minutiae of British curriculums and policy. I think making available to its students the real depths of Social Sciences through cooperation with other departments is exactly what the Faculty needs.

Oh yeh, I forgot to mention that I'm not at all impressed at the University Committee in question which thought it was a sensible idea to tell Varsity that part of their reason was inferior 'calibre' of Education applicants. They really could have chosen to simply list all the other reasons, rather than publicly undermining an entire subject's worth of students. How insensitive! Did we really need to know that? I don't think so...

Yes, but presumably that was a (major) part of the reason. The university aims to admit the brightest students it can, and if a particular subject isn't attracting enough high-calibre applicants then it makes sense to review what's going wrong. Of course not all Education students should be tarred with the same brush, but Education students (on average) have the lowest UCAS points of all the students in the university, by a considerable margin.

I don't mind that being their reason. I just don't think there was any need for the entire student body to know that it was. It would have made sense on several other practical grounds without throwing in 'oh and Education students are crap' They could keep it to themselves. Varsity had enough for an article on it without them happily divulging everything.

If it's a statistical fact, then presumably it's publically available somewhere, so there's no point hiding it. Also, I would think as a matter of principle that revealing the real reason for things happening is generally a good thing...

I agree that it certainly wasn't very diplomatic.

On another note, Homerton College - which takes more Education Studies students than other Colleges, though by no means exclusively - had its JCR today voted against reacting to the proposals. There was a motion by some Education Studies students and their supporters to make it JCR policy to oppose it, but the majority of students decided they would prefer the College JCR to have no stance - presumably because the favoured the integration of the course into the SST.

Well they needn't hide it. There just wasn't any need to flash it in neon lighting.

right, so you'd be like "we're gettin rid of the education course. no reason mate".

that's very bad PR.

All I'm saying is that if Varsity were being inflamatory by choosing to highlight the - on occassion (although by no means universally) - lower UCAS scores of Education Studies students in comparison to other undergraduates (bearing in mind that since 2006, the standard AAA offer has applied to Education), then they are only reflecting what seems to be a deep-seated academic insecurity across the entire university.

I could never work out why a university full of (in academic terms) the brightest brains in the UK and the world cared enough to be bitchy about a small group of students, who contribute to the university with the same vigour, enthusiasm and talent in all other areas of university life (sport, music, drama, RAG, Cambridge Union etc) as other undergrads, and generally worked as hard and were as committed to their subject, but simply had only 6 A*s, rather than 12.

Yeh it was the Committee I was blaming for citing that reason and publicising it to Varsity, not Varsity for reporting it.

I guess, though, if they'd chosen not to put that out as a reason and then someone decided to read what i presume is an at least somewhat public report, then it might have become a rather divisive question as to why they'd chosen NOT to list it as a reason, when someone decided to read it and noticed... maybe...

Yeh it was the Committee I was blaming for citing that reason and publicising it to Varsity, not Varsity for reporting it.

I could never work out why a university full of (in academic terms) the brightest brains in the UK and the world cared enough to be bitchy about a small group of students, who contribute to the university with the same vigour, enthusiasm and talent in all other areas of university life (sport, music, drama, RAG, Cambridge Union etc) as other undergrads, and generally worked as hard and were as committed to their subject, but simply had only 6 A*s, rather than 12.

How can you criticise the Committee for citing the reason, when it was a major part of the reasoning? If anything, trying to conceal it could have been worse as it could have prompted much speculation and exaggeration. The committee was simply stating the facts.

The university is an academic institution and work is the primary focus - not "all the other areas of university life". Since Cambridge has a limited number of spaces to offer, it makes sense to give those places to those who have achieved, or showed potential to achieve, the very best grades. Whilst I agree that slagging off subjects is immature and unnecessary, in the case of Education it is factually accurate to say that the academic standards of its students are well below the university average. Education students have an average UCAS point score of 438, which compares with 494 in SPS and 511 in Land Economy. It's clear that the latter two subjects don't deserve any "stick" for attracting inferior applicants, but as for Education it either needed to improve its entry standards or get scrapped......