Early Childhood Studies BA (Hons)

You’ll learn how to carry out research ethically when working with communities and organisations to address real-world issues.

You’ll develop your own research proposal with expert guidance - from forming questions to methodology design.

Build transferable research skills you’ll use throughout your degree, from reflective practice to clear communication of your findings.

You'll explore key theories and research on the ways children and young people develop, including physical, cognitive, social and emotional growth.

By the end of the module, you'll have a better understanding of how to support children's wellbeing and development.

You’ll look at the factors that affect children's development in terms of health and wellbeing, including government policy and current social issues.

You'll think about the challenges that families face and the issues that have emerged after the pandemic.

This module will help you develop your ability to communicate and advocate effectively for children and young people, and to achieve knowledge components of Early Childhood Studies Graduate Practitioner Competencies.

You’ll study pioneering ideas that planted the seeds for contemporary approaches to play, creativity and holistic development.

You’ll investigate how partnerships between homes and educational settings can foster children's success, and learn how to plan and carry out early learning experiences. To bring this to life, you’ll complete a 25-day (150 hours) placement with children aged 0-8 years, offering an invaluable platform for professional and personal reflection.

You’ll develop skills in independent thinking, teamwork, problem-solving and project work, and get to grips with academic writing, referencing procedures, and the use of technology to enhance your skills.

You’ll also begin developing your ePortfolio, a personal collection documenting your learning journey.

On this module, you'll explore the vital role of play in the lives of babies and children up to the age of 12, examining theoretical perspectives and research on the subject.

You'll discover how a child’s age and their individual needs shape the kind of play they engage in. You'll learn how important it is that adults working with children support and join in with them in play, and how to design enriching play environments.

You'll finish the module understanding the cognitive, social and emotional benefits of play, ready to nurture children's growth through purposeful play experiences.

You’ll learn how to apply classroom concepts in a practical setting, giving due consideration to any needs children may have when it comes to gender, class, race, disability and family life.

You’ll reflect on your own learning to articulate your personal and professional development goals, and relate your learning and experience to your career goals and training needs.

This module gives you the opportunity to achieve assessed work based learning at either Early Years Educator (Level 3), or to build upon your knowledge and experience in working with young children in the EYFS in order to develop their professional practice. You'll also continue to work towards completion of the Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies (Level 6).

You’ll look at the factors that shape childhood and the challenges children face, including the development, differences and successes of different education systems and the impact that has on children, teachers, and communities.

You’ll explore the relationships between education and social understandings with a specific focus on identities, inequality, and constructions of childhood.

By the end of the module, you’ll have developed a critical understanding of the complexities that shape childhood around the world.

Using existing studies as an example, you'll examine the key issues to think about, such as ethics, protection of the children involved, and data protection. You'll learn how to carry out ethical, meaningful research with children and young people, including quantitative and qualitative research methods that put children first, from observation and focus groups to surveys.

You'll think about how to choose a research area to investigate, and how to design and carry out a research project with children and young people – essential skills that will help you prepare for your dissertation.

On this module, you'll explore the magical world of children's literature, analysing storytelling techniques and illustrations, moral themes and literary devices. You’ll look at stories for children of all ages, ranging from picture books to young adult (YA) novels.

You'll think not only about the key ideas and concepts that have been published around children's literature, but the role of the child reader too – how they respond to books they read and find meaning within them.

As well as writing and discussion, you'll express your learning through creative activities like art and roleplay.

You‘ll explore how gender, race and other social markers play out within educational settings, practices and outcomes.

By evaluating persisting biases alongside growing diversity, you’ll understand what has to change to create educational environments where all individuals can thrive.

You’ll get familiar with the big issues and contemporary debates in education studies as well as the role and expectations of a teacher.

You’ll develops fundamental knowledge and skills that teachers require, as well as your capability to structure and critique a lesson plan.

Deep dive into critical matters like bullying, inclusion and resilience. You'll get insight into Transition Theory and how social factors form perspectives, and have the chance to direct your own learning, with a choice of essay topics and the opportunity to engage in dialogues with special guests.

This combo of theory and personal focus builds essential knowledge of the forces forming children's social development

You'll also apply the ideas and concepts you learn directly to working with young people, and reflect on your own experiences and approaches to learning.

With a minimum 80-hour commitment, you’ll apply what you’ve learned so far on your degree to real-world professional settings within our community of local businesses, social enterprises, and third-sector organisations.

You’ll have support from interactive workshops, tutorials, and guest speaker events, encouraging you to set achievable professional goals and evolve your professional identity.

In this module, you’ll explore European colonisation of Africa, asking questions like - how did they justify colonial rule, and how did African peoples respond to these colonisers?

You’ll learn how, after World War II, colonial rule was increasingly challenged from both within the empire, by growing African demands for political rights, and in the international arena, with the global trend towards trusteeship, development and self-determination.

You’ll also explore European relations with Africa in the post-colonial era, looking at themes which may include ideas about civilisation, universalism and race, modern attempts to 'rehabilitate' empire in the media, and the legacies of colonialism in Britain, Europe and Africa.

You’ll collaborate with students on other courses to explore and address societal and environmental challenges faced by local and global communities. You’ll choose projects from a range of topic areas aligned with the university's Civic Strategy.

With input from local organisations, you’ll think about your topic from multiple perspectives, developing your interdisciplinary thinking and ability to work with others.

You’ll analyse the essence of security, exploring how security needs are addressed around the world and on a national level, down to a community and even an individual basis.

You’ll explore different forms of societal risk and insecurity, and approaches to dealing with security threats, taking into account the nature and impact of economic and political developments.

You'll learn how to think critically about the key concepts that link language, culture and communication, considering the benefits and limitations of these ideas.

You'll explore the different ways in which communication intersects with culture across themes such as identity, education, gender, and the media.

Alongside what you learn, you'll improve your skills in analysis, research and intercultural awareness.

You'll learn about consumer behaviour and brand strategy, and spend time examining real-world marketing campaigns. You'll also think about how social, political and technological forces can affect the way businesses approach marketing their products and services.

Skills you'll develop include carrying out market research and learning how to use what you learn, crafting targeted messaging across different marketing channels, and presenting your ideas verbally and in writing.

You'll learn about major economic, political and cultural changes in Western Europe over the nineteenth century, and how these affected the rest of the world as time went on.

You'll explore the big ideas that have shaped the modern world, and weigh up the benefits and perils of globalisation. Skills you'll develop on this module include independent research, critical thinking and effective communication.

You'll also learn to understand the opportunities and challenges of today's world from an informed, global perspective.

You’ll look critically ideas of nationalism historically and today with a focus on the everyday, intimate and embodied boundaries of nation-states and how these shape our lives, including those of us living in the most privileged parts of the world.

You’ll explore real-world cases to understand the individual and societal impacts on human lives, developing your analytical skills and imagining more compassionate alternatives.

You’ll unpack the language of tabloids, broadsheets and online news, analysing how journalists shape public understanding of current events.

Develop your critical thinking by confronting moral panics and polarised politics in reporting.

Create your own news stories and gain real insight into mass communication in a rapidly changing landscape.

You'll analyse major cases of economic crime and weigh up their wider societal implications.

You'll also learn how to recognise disciplinary perspectives, become familiar with the key investigating organisations, identify investigative techniques, and gather and analyse real case information.

You’ll analyse American texts against the backdrop of intellectual, social and political change, evaluating how writers grappled with emerging ideas around national identity, race, gender and more.

By honing skills for contextual analysis and independent thought, you’ll form your own interpretations of iconic works that reflect the American experience.

You’ll analyse diverse transitional justice approaches balancing community healing and judicial accountability after mass atrocities.

Comparing mechanisms like war crimes tribunals, truth commissions and reparations programmes, you’ll evaluate effectiveness in restoring dignity and preventing recurrence.

With case studies from Europe to Africa, from Latin America to Asia, you'll examine tensions between western models and local cultural perspectives, assessing what ‘justice’ means to vulnerable peoples.

Throughout, you'll trace incremental human rights legislation advances, assessing global institutions’ roles protecting civilians from authoritarian regimes and wartime abuses.

Through interactive lectures with academics, speakers and professionals, you'll discuss, debate and complete practical exercises exploring wildlife crime alongside your classmates.

You'll spend time examining wildlife crimes and the factors behind them, as well as environmental justice and sustainability.

You’ll focus on the role of the environment and adults, assessing how these factors support young learners to become confident and capable.

You’ll reflect on the impact of your previous experiences and how they have shaped personal values and beliefs, recognising how these can shape your practice.

You’ll evaluate how personal experiences shape your values and biases within professional educational roles.

You’ll reflect on your emerging role as a leader and manager and think about the forms these may take in your future career, making sure you’re ready for leadership and management when working in people centred environments.

It's up to you what your dissertation or project is about – this will be your chance to showcase your passion for childhood studies by choosing a subject area or topic that most interests you.

You'll draw on everything you’ve learned so far to investigate, analyse, craft and refine your dissertation or project, using existing texts, sources and artefacts to support your arguments and give them context. You'll have the support of a dedicated dissertation tutor to guide you throughout this module.

This real-world, project-based module lets you address an identified need or gap by designing an innovative product, service or resource.

With support from university staff and external partners, you'll demonstrate critical thinking, ethical awareness and project management abilities.

Your final project and presentation will showcase your employability and capacity for high-impact solutions.

You'll examine the key theories and ideas behind helping children who develop challenging behaviours, and learn how to weigh up and deal with complex situations effectively and compassionately.

You'll also think about the possible causes behind children's challenging behaviour, and how understanding these causes can help us better support children and help them thrive.

You’ll get familiar with the big issues and contemporary debates in education studies as well as the role and expectations of a teacher.

You’ll develops fundamental knowledge and skills that teachers require, as well as your capability to structure and critique a lesson plan.

Focusing on childhood and child development, you'l cover ethics in practice with children and young people. You'll also apply psychological theory to the lived experiences children, families and young people. This module will help you bring together core concepts within health and education-based approaches which encompass psychological theory.

You’ll reflect on your experiences in the outdoors and how these experiences shape our approaches to education.

You’ll learn how to carry out effective risk benefit analyses and how to frame your approach to risk as enabling children, young people and adults.

You’ll also take part in debate about the ecological challenges facing us and how we might shape educational practice and policy as a step to action.

With a minimum 80-hour commitment, you'll apply what you've learned so far on your degree to real-world professional settings within our community of local businesses, social enterprises, and third-sector organisations.

You'll have support from interactive workshops, tutorials, and guest speaker events, encouraging you to set achievable professional goals and evolve your professional identity.

They may appear isolated, anxious and fearful, or they may seem unhappy or disturbed. As part of this module, you’ll look at the characteristics of these problems, as well as some of the explanations that have been offered about how these problems arise.

We will also be discussing ways in which we can support children and young people facing mental health difficulties across a variety of settings.

You’ll analyse the role of the adult in understanding a child's experiences through a therapeutic perspective of play.

You’ll connect theory and observations to practice to understand your role in recognising when a child might need further support from a qualified play therapist.

As part of this, we’ll look at a range of focused interventions which benefit children.

You'll gain insight into current care policies and trauma theories while evaluating approaches that are most successful for meeting the needs of children in care.

With compassion and understanding, you can help create the nurturing environments these children need to heal and thrive.