UCL Institute of Education

HISTORY

The UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL’s 11 constituent faculties. Prior to merging with UCL in 2014, it was a constituent college of the University of London. The IoE is ranked first in the world for education in the QS World University Rankings, and has been so every year since 2014.

The LDTC became a school of the University of London in 1909 and was wholly transferred to the university and was renamed the University of London, Institute of Education. Gradually the Institute expanded its activities and began to train secondary school teachers and offered higher degrees. It also moved into specific areas of research with its Child Development Department, administered by Susan Sutherland Isaacs and the training of teachers for the colonial service. At the outbreak of World War II, the Institute was temporarily transferred to the University of Nottingham.

As a result of the report of the McNair Committee, which was established by the Board of Education to examine recruitment and training of teachers and youth leaders a new scheme for teacher training was established in England. Area Training Organisations” (ATO) were created to co-ordinate the provision of teacher training and were responsible for the overall administration of all colleges of education within their area. The ATO for the London area was based at the University of London under the name University of London, Institute of Education, which was responsible for around 30 existing colleges of education and education departments, including the existing Institute of Education. The colleges (known as “constituent colleges” of the Institute) prepared students for the “Certificate in Education” of the Institute, and latterly for the Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Humanities degrees of the University. The existing Institute (referred to as the “Central Institute”) and the new ATO (referred to as the “Wider Institute”) had separate identities, but confusingly were administered from the same building and by the same administrate staff. This dual identity continued until the Wider Institute gradually disappeared and was finally dissolved in 1975, coinciding with the closure (or “merger” with local polytechnics and other institutions) of many of the colleges of education.

In 1987 the Institute once again became a school of the University of London and was incorporated by Royal Charter.

The IOE and UCL formed a strategic alliance in October 2012, including co-operation in teaching, research and the development of the London schools system. In February 2014 the two institutions announced their intention to merge and the merger was completed in December 2014.

COURSES

The University offers courses in:

• Education studies
• Psychology with education
• Social Sciences
• Social Sciences with Quantitative Methods
• Working with children: Education and wellbeing

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

To have all the list of the entry requirements visit their website for updated information

ACADEMIC STRENGTHS

The IoE is the largest education research body in the United Kingdom, with over 700 research students in the doctoral school. It also has the largest portfolio of postgraduate programmes in education in the UK, with approximately 4,000 students taking Master’s programmes, and a further 1,200 students on PGCE teacher-training courses. At any one time the IOE hosts over 100 research projects funded by Research Councils, government departments and other agencies.

TEACHING STANDARDS

A total of 219 full-time-equivalent staff from the IOE were submitted to the Education Unit of Assessment (UoA) of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), around 15 per cent of the total 1,442 staff submitted by all institutions to the UoA and by far the highest amount of any single institution (compared to 54 staff submitted by the second-placed Open University and 40 by the third-placed Edinburgh University). 28% of the IOE’s research was classified as 4* (compared to 19% in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008)) and 40% as 3* (compared to 38% in the 2008 RAE) and the IOE achieved a GPA of 3.21, ranking it joint 11th in the UoA. Furthermore, according to the UCL Institute of Education’s research page, one-quarter of all UK Education research occurs at the IOE, while the IOE is home to four times as many leading education scholars than any other UK university.

The IOE prepared 23 cases for impact evaluation, with the next largest submission in the UoA comprising six cases. In a league table produced by Times Higher Education the IOE ranked first for “research power” in the UoA with a rating of 703 (compared to 164 for the second-placed Open University and 140 for the third-placed Oxford University).

CAREERS GUIDANCE

Whatever stage the students are at in their career planning process, their team of Careers Consultants and Applications Advisers can help with a wide range of queries through the confidential and impartial one-to-one appointments they offer.

They offer a wide range of events which can help improve their knowledge of a particular industry sector or about specific employers as well as talks and workshops to help them develop key skills such as: effective job hunting; networking; writing applications; interview techniques and many others.