What Makes This Course So Special?
The range of settings that students can undertake their placement gives unique opportunities to develop professional skills. These settings include police community liaison offices, children’s wards, social services’ nurseries, special needs schools and others. Representatives from local initiatives, such as the Language and Play team visit regularly to give students training and information on how they can get involved and we encourage students to take up opportunities to study abroad.
Course Intro
Early years focus is on working with children from birth to seven years and includes examining issues around their development, education and socialisation, as well as identifying the vital role played by parents, carers, professionals and others.
On the course you will be provided with both the practical and theoretical skills required to work with young children and their families, an area where the range and diversity of opportunities for skilled workers are increasing rapidly. You will examine recent and relevant policy developments in England and Wales as well as international perspectives. You will also undertake a placement each year which allows you to gain first hand experience of the issues that face those working in the field.
In addition, the new approaches and initiatives that have been recently introduced, such as the Foundation Phase in Wales, make this an exciting time to be involved in early years and this course provides a sound basis for a career in this field.
What you study
Year 1
These modules aim to give you a basic understanding of the key theories and issues underpinning the early years and the placement module gives opportunities to link this theoretical knowledge to real situations.
• Child Development
• Recording, Assessing and Observing
Children
• Achieving Inclusion and Effective
Engagement
• ICT and Academic Skills
• Literacy and Numeracy: Policy to Practice
• Placement in the full-time route
Year 2
This year focuses more directly upon specific themes that impact upon the early years, highlighting the inter-connected nature of the education workforce and exploring current policy direction in Wales and beyond.
• Curriculum 0-7
• Working Collaboratively for Children
• Promoting Bilingualism/English as an
Additional Language
• Child Protection, Context and Recognition
• Behaviour Management and Purposeful
Learning
• Placement in the full-time route
Year 3
Year 3 continues to examine contemporary educational issues, you will also undertake a small scale independent research project which will focus on an issue of your choice.
• Independent Study
• Learning in the Outdoor Environment
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health
• Education in a Global Context
• Placement in the full-time route
A programme specification is available for this course.
Where Next?
Career paths typically include those in education, health and social care, with graduates working in schools, nurseries, children’s charities and integrated children’s centres. Increasingly graduates are finding employment in the newly created initiatives, such as Flying Start as well as in private sector projects. The course also provides a foundation for further study at postgraduate or Masters level.
Interview Required
Yes, with a written task forming part of the interview process.
Assessment
All modules are assessed through a written assignment, sometimes accompanied by a presentation or the creation of a learning resource. There are no examinations.
Student Soundbite
“Going out on placement is the best bit for me as you learn how children learn and develop and I can apply this first hand experience to my university based work.”