About this course
Do you want to make a genuine and lasting difference to children’s lives, families and communities? Our BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies is an opportunity to get experience and knowledge for graduate roles in education, health, and social care.
This course gives you the recognition of becoming an Early Childhood Studies Graduate Practitioner, enabling you to achieve practitioner status as a Level 6 graduate alongside the Level 3 Early Years Educator (EYE) practitioner status if you do not already hold a practical qualification within the Early Childhood field.
You will become research informed and influential in becoming a reflective practitioner, as well as gaining knowledge within policy, practice, holistic child development, early childhood, care, health, and education, encompassing working with young children and their families. You will study a contemporary range of modules which will develop your understanding of theory and practice with real placement experiences. Real life learning lies at the heart of this course.
In addition, you'll benefit from excellent facilities, incorporated on course Continual Professional Development and lecturers who are experts within the Early Childhood sector.
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Be equipped to work with children and their families aged 0-8 years in the Early Childhood field. -
Specialist modules which will develop your transferable and employability skills. -
Gain vital work experience in Early Childhood Settings and put your knowledge into practice through placement days and blocked periods of placement in each year of the course. -
Dedicated award called Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies which assesses your skills to leave University as a Level 6 Early Childhood Graduate.
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What you’ll study
This three-year Early Childhood Studies course will equip you with the necessary expertise to become a successful Early Childhood professional, with a key focus on children and their families aged 0-8 years. You will become research informed and reflective practitioner, as well as your policy and practice as a developing graduate in the Early Childhood sector.
Graduate Practitioner Competencies
You will also develop your graduate skills by completing a portfolio of evidence towards becoming an Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner. The Graduate Practitioner Competencies are a set of outcomes that you will evidence throughout your studies to show that you can practice the skills required at Level 6, as well as having the theoretical knowledge. The Graduate Practitioner Competencies ensures that there is a skilful application of knowledge to practice and practice to knowledge.
An Early Childhood Studies graduate who has achieved the Graduate Practitioner Competencies will have evidence to show their skills at Level 6, in the following:
- Advocating for young children’s rights and participation
- Work directly with children and families to promote wellbeing, safety, health, and nurturing care
- Observe, listen, and plan for young children to support their early learning and transitions
- Safeguarding and child protection
- Inclusive Practice
- Partnership with parents and caregivers.
Early Childhood Pioneers
An introductory module which looks at the history and context of Early Childhood and the practitioners’ working environment which is informed by Pioneers of Early Childhood.
Health and Wellbeing in Early Childhood
This module will explore health and wellbeing for children from conception to 8 years of age. This will respond to current agendas and policy drivers to support the health and wellbeing of children, and their families.
Childhood Development
Child development is essential knowledge for everyone working in early childhood. It makes sense of everything, and it enables better practice in supporting children; you know what is right for the child, you understand them and their individual needs, you know how they will flourish and be happy.
The 0-8 Curriculum
The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage sets the standards required to ensure that all children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. You will also examine the national Curriculum in how it meets the learning needs of all children.
The Foundations of Academic Study
The foundations of academic study helps you to learn how to read, write and think critically to prepare you for the first year of undergraduate study and professional placement. It will prepare you for the challenges posed by different assessment methods and help you to organise your time effectively.
Your professional placement will help you focus on the core qualities you will need as a graduate such as, respect, sensitivity, patience, empathy, reliability, interpersonal skills.
The Role of Observations in Early Childhood
The role of observation is essential in supporting Early Childhood Professionals to identify a child’s next steps. This module will develop the skills required to evaluate the effectiveness of observation methods to support children’s progress and development.
Creativity in Early Childhood
This module will provide you with a range of opportunities to develop further knowledge and understanding of the role and value of creativity in early childhood.
Research Informed Practice
This module will explore research methodologies and the ethical practices which seek to involve the voice of the child through participatory methods, taking account of all children.
Safeguarding Children
This module is focused on a developing awareness of the legislation, policy and professional responsibilities regarding practice, whilst working with children and their families.
Sociology of Childhood
You will begin to develop an understanding of influences that shape current legislation and policy, influencing the concept of early childhood. You will explore children’s rights and the effect on the pedagogy of play and examine local, national, and global perspectives of childhood.
The National and International Perspectives of Early Childhood
This module will explore education and care nationally and internationally. It will consider the changing landscape of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and explore international declarations (e.g., UNCRC, 1989) advocating ECEC to fulfil children’s rights and build human capital.
Working with Parents, Carers and Professional Teams
This module will enable you to reflect on working effectively with parents and carers, and liaison with other child and family focused professionals. You will explore good practice when working in collaboration with parents and wider professionals as well as considering ways to develop positive relationships within Early Childhood settings.
Contemporary Debates
This module will help expose and explore dominant discourses that impact upon children’s lives from maternity care though to starting school, including those which affect the workforce. The topics will require critical enquiry and reflective praxis to engage with the literature in order to consider the implications for practice.
Dissertation
This module will enable you to apply the methods and techniques that you have learned to review, consolidate, and extend so that you can initiate and carry out a project of an area of specific interest to you within the early years field developing an in-depth knowledge and understanding. It will enable you to apply your role as a pedagogical leader with a focus on the voice of the child.
Research Agendas
This module will provide an opportunity to examine some of the research agendas within the sector (focusing on the practitioner rather than children) and how these agendas influence changes in practices, over time.
The Power of Leadership
This module will provide opportunities to engage with contemporary leadership debates within the Early Childhood sector, which will also resonate with other health or community-based roles.
It will present concepts such as the differences between leadership and management and the reality of the roles within the sector. A consideration of the interdisciplinary nature of the sector as well as being a pedagogical expert in your role as a developing graduate leader.
You will have opportunities to explore different approaches to leadership and the breadth of the sector.
Further information on what you'll study
Guaranteed interview scheme: teacher training
One of the benefits of the course is the broad knowledge and experience you will gain. This experience may lead you to consider teaching, even if you have not considered this as a career before. If you complete your degree, you are guaranteed an interview for a PGCE Primary teacher-training course at NTU during your third undergraduate year (subject to places being available).
Terms and conditions apply:
- Applications will be withdrawn and not be progressed to interview stage once all places are filled on relevant courses
- Interviews are subject to you meeting the essential entry criteria for the PGCE course at the time of application, such as GCSE requirements, degree grade
- An interview does not guarantee an offer to study on the course.
We regularly review and update our course content based on student and employer feedback, ensuring that all of our courses remain current and relevant. This may result in changes to module content or module availability in future years.
Don’t just take our word for it, hear from our students themselves
How you're taught
We've introduced flexible and innovative ways of learning, teaching and assessment to develop your study skills and understanding of the integration of theory and policy to practice. You'll take part in lectures, seminar discussions, tutorials and placements in ways that promote interaction.
How you're assessed
- Year 1 coursework
- Year 2 coursework
- Year 3 coursework
Contact hours
Throughout your studies, your teaching will be a mixture of in-person teaching and independent study.
- Year 1 lectures/seminars/workshops, independent study, placement
- Year 2 lectures/seminars/workshops, independent study, placement
- Year 3 lectures/seminars/workshops, independent study, placement
Careers and employability
This course will equip you to work with children in a broad range of specialist areas including, community practice, charitable and local authority family support teams, maintained and private nurseries. The course will also prepare you to become a critical and reflective practitioner which will support you to progress into graduate policy roles, charity work or supporting the learning and development with children aged 0-8 years.
Graduate Practitioner Status
The course has the Graduate Practitioner Competencies embedded throughout the modules and placement opportunities. Leading Pedagogy will become a key focus whilst demonstrating a range of the competencies. The graduate competencies will, provide students opportunities to gain graduate skills and strengthen their practice, which will help to improve outcomes for children.
We involve industry experts in our courses in a number of ways.
- We consult with employers when we design and update our courses
- We ensure you are prepared to meet the demands of the workplace by continually checking the currency and validity of our courses with employers
- You will have the opportunity to have a work placement (if not already in paid or voluntary employment)
- Employers may input directly into your course through guest lectures, projects, and other work-related activities.
Possible careers on graduation:
- Graduate practitioner role in an early childhood setting
- Graduate Management programmes
- Setting up your own early childhood business
- Higher level teaching assistant
- Housing officer
- Family support worker
- Mental health support worker
- Civil servant
- Charity sector worker
- Digital consultancy
- Social Work via Front Line
- Teaching via an in-school programme e.g. SCITT, Teacher Apprentice
- A range of roles in children’s services and law
Possible careers with postgraduate study:
- Teaching (QTS)
- Social work
- Child nursing
- Play therapy
- Family law
- Lecturing
- Early years teacher status
- Educational Psychology
- Researcher (Follow a masters route)
If you’d like to know more about NTU’s groundbreaking Employability Promise, and the support you’ll receive both during and after your course, visit our Careers and Employability page.
Campus and facilities
You’ll mainly be studying in the Ada Byron King building, with access to facilities including our mock classrooms.
Our self-contained, community-focused Clifton Campus has been designed to keep our students busy between lectures. Catch-up with your coursemates in the Pavilion’s barista café and Refectory; brainstorm group presentations in chic and stylish study spaces; enjoy some proper R&R in The Point, home of our Students’ Union. The campus also hosts the multimillion-pound Clifton Sports Hub, offering great options for everyone — whatever your interests, and however competitive you’d like to get!
You’re also right next to the bright lights of Nottingham — one of Britain’s top 10 student cities, and one of Europe’s top 25. All through termtime, a dedicated on-campus bus service will get you to the heart of the action (and back) in under 25 minutes. You’ll find a city stuffed with history, culture, and well-kept secrets to discover at your leisure: enjoy lush green spaces, galleries, hidden cinemas and vintage shopping by day, and an acclaimed food, drink and social scene by night.
Take our virtual tour to get a real feel for the campus.
Entry requirements
UK students
Standard offer: 112 UCAS Tariff points from up to four qualifications.
Contextual offer: 104 UCAS Tariff points from up to four qualifications.
Other requirements: GCSE English C / 4 or equivalent qualification such as Functional Skills level 2. Applicants will also need GCSE Maths C / 4 or equivalent qualification if they wish to graduate with Graduate Practitioner Competencies.
To find out what qualifications have tariff points, please use our tariff calculator.
Additional requirements for UK students
You will also need to complete an Enhanced with Barred List(s) DBS check; and a satisfactory placement suitability check.
Contextual offers
If you don’t quite meet our entry requirements, we might be able to make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (such as where you live and the school or college you attended), your experiences and your individual circumstances (you may have been in care, for example). This is called a contextual offer, and we get data from UCAS to help make these decisions. We do this because we believe everyone with the potential to succeed at NTU should have the opportunity to do so, no matter what barriers you may face.
Meeting our entry requirements
Hundreds of qualifications in the UK have UCAS Tariff points attached to specific grades, including A-levels, BTECs, T Levels and many more. You can use your grades and points from up to four different qualifications to meet our criteria. Enter your predicted or achieved grades into our Tariff calculator to find out how many points your qualifications are worth.
Other qualifications and experience
NTU welcomes applications from students with non-standard qualifications and learning backgrounds, either for year one entry or for advanced standing beyond the start of a course into year 2 or beyond.
We consider study and/or credit achieved from a similar course at another institution (otherwise known as credit transfer), vocational and professional qualifications, and broader work or life experience.
Our Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer Policy outlines the process and options available for this route. If you wish to apply via Recognition of Prior Learning, please contact the central Admissions and Enquiries Team who will be able to support you through the process.
Getting in touch
If you need more help or information, get in touch through our enquiry form.
International students
Academic entry requirements: 112 UCAS Tariff points from up to four A levels. We accept equivalent qualifications from all over the world. Please check your international entry requirements by country.
Other requirements: GCSE English C / 4 or equivalent qualification such as Functional Skills level 2. Applicants will also need GCSE Maths C / 4 or equivalent qualification if they wish to graduate with Graduate Practitioner Competencies.
English language requirements: See our English language requirements page for requirements for your subject and information on alternative tests and Pre-sessional English.
Additional requirements for international students
You will also need to complete an Enhanced with Barred List(s) DBS check; and a satisfactory placement suitability check.
If you need help achieving the academic entry requirements, we offer a Foundation preparation course for this degree. The course is offered through our partner Nottingham Trent International College (NTIC) based on our City Campus.
English language requirements
View our English language requirements for all courses, including alternative English language tests and country qualifications accepted by the University.
If you need help achieving the language requirements, we offer a Pre-Sessional English for Academic Purposes course on our City campus which is an intensive preparation course for academic study at NTU.
Other qualifications and experience
If you have the right level of qualifications, you may be able to start your Bachelors degree at NTU in year 2 or year 3. This is called ‘advanced standing’ entry and is decided on a case-by case basis after our assessment of your qualifications and experience.
You can view our Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer Policy which outlines the process and options available, such as recognising experiential learning and credit transfer.
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Getting in touch
If you need advice about studying at NTU as an international student or how to apply, our international webpages are a great place to start. If you have any questions about your study options, your international qualifications, experience, grades or other results, please get in touch through our enquiry form. Our international teams are highly experienced in answering queries from students all over the world.
Policies
We strive to make our admissions procedures as fair and clear as possible. To find out more about how we make offers, visit our admissions policies page.
