Childhood Studies with Integrated Foundation Year BA (Hons)

This is a four-year version of our popular BA (Hons) Childhood Studies, with an integrated foundation year. Help give children the best start in life. Qualify for a lifelong career in a fulfilling field. Discover new abilities and capacities you didn't know you had.

Learning and teaching in 2021

Overview

This course will provide you with skills, knowledge and understanding in a range of subject areas that combine to form childhood studies. You will learn about child development, children's needs, and the historical, social and cultural issues that impacts their lives. You will also develop your knowledge and understanding of the child as an individual and the position of the child in society.

You will have the opportunity to register on a new pathway, Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies in your first semester. This will allow you to become a practitioner and assures employers that you have completed relevant practice experience. If you choose to take this pathway, you will graduate with the degree title BA (Hons) Childhood Studies with Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies.

Why us?

We are one of eight Higher Education institutions in the UK providing the optional Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner pathway, an optional pathway for students who meet the requirements
Teaching staff are research-active in a variety of childhood related subjects including; children's development, early years practice, inclusive education, Special Educational Needs and Disability, education for sustainable development, childhood identity and social mediaThe Childhood Studies team have a wealth of experience in working with children who have experienced loss and trauma and have hosted many national conferences on the subject
In September 2020, the Early Childhood Studies Degree Network announced Early Education and Childcare practitioners are now classified as Associate Professionals (Major Group 3 – Professional) instead of ‘Teaching and Childcare Support Occupations’ (Major Group 6 – Non-professional). Being Associate Professionals enhances graduates’ chances of gaining appropriate graduate/professional employment in the early childhood field

This course has over 90% Overall Satisfaction according to the National Student Survey 2018
Our Social Work courses were ranked 1st overall in the UK in the 2018 UK Engagement Survey
Our Social Work courses were ranked 2nd in the UK for Assessment and Feedback, and 2nd in the UK for Retention and Progression in the 2018 UK Engagement Survey
The University of Sunderland was ranked 12th in the Courses and Lecturers category of the Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2019
We are a University that is nationally recognised for supporting learners particularly from non-traditional backgrounds and many students come to us with no formal qualifications but with valuable work experience

Learning and teaching in 2021

Many of your class materials will be online but will be enhanced with on-campus sessions; tutors will be able to work more closely with you to aid understanding of your subject.

There will be a mix of materials online, including some lectures and directed exercises, with a series of tasks to do each week. You are going to be taught some really interesting topics this year, including social theories, gender, race, global rights and wrongs, as well as Essential Study Skills and Practical Maths, to help you succeed in your chosen undergraduate degree.

There will be lots of opportunities for both face-to-face and online contact, and you will be assigned a personal tutor, as well as having your pathway leader and module leaders for support and guidance. Regular contact between tutors and students will be encouraged via the use of technologies including Canvas, email, Skype and Microsoft Teams.

Course structure

A typical week for you will include lectures, seminars, workshops, group work, and computer-based learning.

Your progress will be assessed with written coursework and essays, source reports, blogs, factsheets, research projects, presentations and exams.

Throughout the course, you'll have one-to-one support from academic staff to help you get the best out of your assignments.

Foundation year

The Social Sciences and Law Integrated Foundation Year includes five modules:

Essential Study Skills (20 credits)
Maths (20 credits)
Foundation module (40 credits)
Project (20 credits)
Subject Specialism (20 credits)

Some modules have prerequisites. Read more about what this means in our Help and Advice article.

Year 1 (national level 4):

Reflect on a range of psychological, sociological, health, historical and philosophical perspectives and consider how these underpin different understandings of children and childhood. Demonstrate knowledge and awareness of the skills needed for building relationships with individual children, children in groups, families, colleagues, other professionals and communities:

The Nature and Culture of Childhood (20 credits)
An Introduction to Child Development (20 credits)
Inclusion, Integration and Exclusion (20 credits)
Building Graduate Skills for the Professional and Reflective Childhood Practitioner (20 credits)
Teaching and Learning Across the Curriculum (20 credits)
Child Development: Theory into Practice (20 credits) or Child Development: Practice Competencies for Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner (20 credits)

Year 2 (national level 5):

Critically explore, examine and evaluate the significance of the cultural, historical and contemporary features of various policies, institutions and agencies regarding childhood. Plan for and implement: play, the curriculum, assessment, evaluation, and improvement of creative learning opportunities, taking into account children's health and emotional wellbeing. Reflect upon the ethics of studying children and their families and communities through field work. Become more independent, resilient, responsible and pragmatic and develop as an autonomous learner:

Core modules:

The Child and the Social and Economic Environment (20 credits)
Health and Childhood (20 credits)
Researching Childhood (20 credits)
Creative Approaches (20 credits)
Children and Young People in Global Contexts (20 credits)
Observing, Assessing and Reporting Young Children’s Learning and Development (20 credits) or Assessing Young Children’s Development: Practice Competencies for Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner (20 credits)

Final year (national level 6):

Apply multiple perspectives to childhood issues, recognising that childhood studies involves a range of research methods, theories, evidence and applications. Begin to lead, support and work collaboratively with others and demonstrate an understanding of working effectively in teams with parents, carers and other professionals. Produce critical arguments for improvements to multi-agency and multi-professional practices for children, families and communities:

Core modules:

Childhood Studies Research Project (40 credits)
Equality and Diversity in Contemporary Society (20 credits)
Education and Society (20 credits)
Leading Practice for Children and Young People (20 credits)
The First Three Years of Childhood (20 credits) or The First Three Years of Childhood: Practice Competencies for Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner (20 credits)

You can access free Wi-Fi throughout the University campus, so you can work from anywhere. If you don't want to carry a laptop around, just use one of the University’s PCs or Macs. We have hundreds of computers for you to use in the Murray Library, St Peter's Library, and the David Goldman Informatics Centre. If you ever have any technical problems, just ask the friendly helpdesk team.
IT provision
We’ve got thousands social science books and e-books, with many more titles available through the inter-library loan service. We also subscribe to a comprehensive range of print and electronic journals so you can access the most reliable and up-to-date academic and industry articles.

Library resources which you might find particularly useful for Childhood Studies include:
- Project Muse, which provides over 180 full-text humanities and social sciences journals
- JSTOR (short for ‘Journal Storage’), which provides access to important journals across the humanities, social sciences and sciences
- Lexis, which provides access to legal information as well as full-text newspaper articles
- Professional Development Collection, which features hundreds of education journals and reports
- Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Database, which includes full-text journal articles on topics spanning emotional and behavioural sciences, psychiatry and psychology
- Community Care Inform, which helps professionals who work with children and young people to make, and evidence, their decisions
- EBSCO Professional Development Collection, which is a specialised collection of over 500 education journals
Library Services - childhood studies
Map and directions

Facilities

You'll be based at The Reg Vardy Centre, situated on the award-winning St Peter's riverside campus. The location benefits from dedicated library services and has superb transport links with the city centre and City Campus.

Entry requirements

We don’t currently display entry requirements for United States. Please contact the Student Admin team on studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk or 0191 515 3154.

The Integrated Foundation Year is specially designed to support you where you have just missed the grades required for direct entry onto a three-year degree, or if you have relevant work experience and are now looking to broaden your subject knowledge but want more time to develop study skills before starting your degree.

Entry requirements are provided for guidance only and we may offer you an entrance interview which will help us determine your eligibility for your chosen degree. This enables us to consider making you an offer if you are perhaps a mature student who has been out of education for a period of time, or you have gained significant knowledge and skills through employment rather than traditional education.

Eligible entry qualifications:

1. Normally a minimum of three Level 2 qualifications (NVQ, GCSE or equivalent), including Maths and English at grade C or above** and a minimum of 40 UCAS tariff points from Level 3 qualifications (e.g. A or AS Levels, BTEC certificates/diplomas, access courses or equivalent)
OR
2. Demonstrable evidence of appropriate knowledge and skills acquired from at least three years of post-school work experience.

If you are unsure of whether you think you might be suitable for the course, please contact us!

** If you have studied for a GCSE which has a numerical grade then you will need to achieve a grade 4 or above. Equivalent alternative qualifications are also accepted, such as Level 2 Key Skills in Communication and Application of Number. If you have not achieved a grade C in Maths and English we may be able to work with you to ensure that you are able to gain these in the first year of the course, depending on your experience.

If English is not your first language, please see our English language requirements.

For more information about our Integrated Foundation Year courses please see our Help and Advice articles.

Is your qualification not displaying here? For international qualifications, search our full list of international entry requirements for this course.

Fees and finance

The annual fee for this course is £9,250.

If you are a full-time UK student you may be eligible to receive financial support to cover your fee and maintenance loan for the full four years.

Please note, this course is not available to international students.

If you are not sure whether you qualify as a UK, EU or international student, find out more in our Help and Advice article.

Take a look at the Your Finances section to find out about the scholarships and bursaries that may be available to you.

Use our scholarships calculator to see what you may be entitled to.

Scholarships calculator

This information was correct at the time of publication.

The Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's by night

Career ready

BA (Hons) Childhood Studies leads to a range of careers in children's services. Many of our graduates go on to work in health, social care, education, childcare, charities, and voluntary organisations, while many go on to study postgraduate courses such as PGCE Primary Education and MSc Inequality and Society.

Our graduates also qualify as teachers by undertaking the Teach First and School Direct courses.

Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner

As an Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner, you will be an advocate for young children’s rights and participation and recognise that young children are active co-constructors of their own learning. By becoming a Practitioner, you will critically apply academic knowledge of pedagogy and research evidence, to the holistic development of infants and young children, in a practice context that is respectful of the child, their family and community.

You will need to undertake the competencies modules across all levels which are observed and assessed during placement. This new option will be registered and linked to the Department for Education website and assures employers that graduates on this pathway have completed relevant practice experience. This enables the wider workforce to be clear about individual early career graduates’ expected level of knowledge, skills and actual experiences in practice.

Centre for Applied Social Sciences

The University of Sunderland’s Centre for Applied Social Studies (CASS) regularly hosts visiting speakers, and it can be an excellent way to learn from the experiences of people who already have a strong track record in social policy.

CASS is the centre for applied social science research at the University, and you may find opportunities to collaborate with the academic team – particularly on areas relating to children, young people and families.

Research-active staff

The Childhood Studies team come from a diverse range of professional and academic backgrounds. They are research-active in a variety of childhood related subjects including: children's development, early years practice, inclusive education, special educational needs and disability, education for sustainable development, childhood identity and social media, children's literature and childhood transitions. Their expertise in these areas is used to inform modules on the course. Members of the team are also involved with external activities such as working with children's charities, local schools and early years settings. Actively engaging with our employer networks in this way supports our emphasis on developing your employability.

Meet the students

Everyone is so friendly here and my experience so far has been amazing

Chloe Bourne

Meet the team

Related courses

Contact

Contact the Student Helpline for further information about studying at the University of Sunderland:

0191 515 3000

student.helpline@sunderland.ac.uk

View Programme Specifications for the Faculty of Education and Society.

Page last updated: 16 December 2020

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Overview

Why us?

Course structure

Foundation year

Year 1 (national level 4):

Year 2 (national level 5):

Core modules:

Final year (national level 6):

Core modules:

Facilities

Entry requirements

Fees and finance

Career ready

Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner

Centre for Applied Social Sciences

Research-active staff

Meet the students

Chloe Bourne

Meet the team

Related courses

Contact

Sign up to receive more information