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Early Childhood Studies (including foundation year)

Entry requirements


GCSE/National 4/National 5

You will be required to have an English Language GCSE at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent)

UCAS Tariff

32

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Early childhood studies

**Why study this course?**

Our Early Childhood Studies (including foundation year) BA (Hons) will open doors for you to enter a career in early childhood care, educational or advisory settings. It has a built-in foundation year that will prepare you for undergraduate study and is the ideal choice if you don’t meet the necessary requirements to enter the standard three-year course.

On our course you’ll benefit from extra time to work on your study and transferable skills, but you’ll also graduate with the same award and title as students on the three-year degree.

**More about this course**

On our Early Childhood Studies (including foundation year) bachelor’s degree you’ll study the play, development and learning of children from birth to six years old. This will be taught in relation to practice in early childhood settings and within a socio-cultural context.

Your foundation year will be shared with students from other degrees with a foundation year, which will give you an opportunity to discuss the subjects you study with students that have different academic perspectives. It will also allow you to meet students outside of your course and expand your network, which you might find useful when job hunting after graduation.

The foundation year is designed to equip you with skills that are necessary for undergraduate study, such as essay writing, time management, research and critical thinking. During the foundation year you’ll also take a taster module in early childhood studies, which will allow you to prepare for more rigorous study of the subject in the subsequent three years of your degree.

You’ll receive exceptional academic and pastoral support from your tutors and a range of services at the University. This will be in the form of one-to-one sessions with your tutor or via small group workshops, during which you’ll be able to work further on your academic and transferable skills. The University also offers a careers service, which can help you to find work experience opportunities, improve your interview technique and learn best practice for writing job applications.

In the three years following your foundation year you’ll study the same content and modules as students on our Early Childhood Studies BA (Hons).

If you find that you’d like to specialise in a different discipline in our School of Social Professions, there will be flexibility to allow you to do this.

Modules

Example Year 0 modules include:

Critical Thinking
Interventions for Change
Media, Crime and 'Race'
Reflecting on Self and Society
Researching Discrimination
Researching Inequality
Social Issues in Context: Text to Essay

Example Year 1 modules include:

Perspectives on Children's Development
Safeguarding Young Children's Health and Well-being
Understanding Play
Academic Skills and Professional Placement
Adults and Children as Learners: An Introduction to Early Childhood Studies

Example Year 2 modules include:

Approaches to Pedagogy and Curriculum in the Early Years
Challenging Inequalities
Children's Rights in Today's World
Communicating in Multilingual Contexts
Enquiry-based Learning
Personal, Social and Emotional Development Matters
Promoting Early Learning Through the EYFS and Keys Stage 1
Reflective Practice and Professional Development
Creative Thinking and Representation from Birth to Six
Professional Studies and Practitioner Placement: Part 2

Example Year 3 modules include:

Early Childhood Studies Project
Leading Practice with Children, Families and Professionals
Reading Research and Research Methods in Early Childhood
The Project (Early Childhood Studies)
Debating Children and Childhood
Professional Practice in Key Stage 1

Assessment methods

Methods of assessment in your foundation year are varied and designed to help you flourish and gain confidence in your studies.

Assessments after the foundation year will be based on coursework with no formal examinations.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£17,600
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£17,600
per year
International
£17,600
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£17,600
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Holloway

Department:

School of Social Sciences and Professions

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

77%
Early childhood studies

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Childhood and youth studies

Teaching and learning

77%
Staff make the subject interesting
87%
Staff are good at explaining things
87%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
83%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

60%
Library resources
84%
IT resources
80%
Course specific equipment and facilities
71%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

99%
UK students
1%
International students
3%
Male students
97%
Female students
61%
2:1 or above
14%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
E

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Childhood and youth studies

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£20,800
med
Average annual salary
95%
med
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Childhood and youth studies

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£24k

£24k

£29k

£29k

£30k

£30k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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Course location and department:

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here