Childhood and Society Studies (Top-Up) BA (Hons)

Progress in your career. Develop your skills in analysis, research, and communication. Discover what you’re capable of.

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Overview

The BA (Hons) Childhood and Society Studies (Top-Up) course is designed for people who want to gain a full undergraduate Childhood Studies degree and are working with children and/or young people.

You'll develop a broader understanding of a number of childhood-related topics and use this to analyse your own practice and the practice of others in childhood settings.

If you have existing experience in early years, you can take the optional pathway in Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies and graduate with a highly-desirable degree with the title BA (Hons) Childhood and Society Studies with Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies, enhancing your employability.

Why us?

Our Childhood and Youth Studies courses are 11th in the UK for graduate prospects (Complete University Guide 2025)
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.

The inclusion of Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies is recognised as leading practice in the early years sector nationally
Benefit from evening classes and online learning to fit around work commitments
Focus on work and practical application of learning
Clear routes for progression to further study, including the MA Childhood and Youth Studies and PGCE courses

Course structure

When you apply for the BA (Hons) Childhood and Society Studies (Top-Up) degree, you can choose to enrol on a part-time basis over two years or on a full-time basis over one year. Semester one runs from September to December and semester two runs from January to May. During your first semester of your first year, you'll be required to choose one module from four options that you would potentially like to study. Using a choice ranking system, we run preferred modules that meet the required threshold of student numbers. Optional modules are then complemented by core modules.

If you choose to study the Childhood and Society Studies course part-time, you'll have the unique option to study the Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies pathway, which is beneficial for career progression in many ways. This route incurs additional face-to-face contact time with our specialist Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies lead.

Currently, all students engage with learning and materials via a blend of online learning and face-to-face contact time. Whether you choose part-time or full-time study, the scheduled face-to-face learning for each semester takes place up to two evenings per week between 5-9pm.

Course modules

National level 6:

Core modules:

Work Based Research Project (40 credits)

Develop your understanding of the strengths and limitations of approaches of research methods and methodologies, including those you will choose for your work based topic. Gain a specialist understanding of an issue by carrying out an independent research project with the support and guidance of a research supervisor. Investigate critical literature relating to your chosen area and implement an investigation strategy to gather research data, then reflect on and analyse the project outcomes, pulling everything together in one conclusion that may make recommendations for further study and/or practice.

Equality and Diversity (20 credits)

Unpack and discuss a wide range of issues in relation to equality and diversity in contemporary society, such as race, class, culture, religion, language, gender, sexuality, disability, mental health, income and education. Discuss, debate and critique why forms and possible causes of inequality manifest, by considering a variety of influential factors. Explore personal, practical, political and ethical dimensions of prejudice, discrimination, and equality in a range of contexts. Strengthen your professional practice and your ability to critique societal responses, legislation and other provisions that are aimed at driving equality now and in the future.

Leading Practice for Children and Young People (20 credits)

Explore leadership theory and how it relates to work within children and young people settings, exploring and making connections between theories and styles of leadership, working collaboratively in teams and multi-agency contexts, leading change and dealing with conflict, quality assurance, reflective practice and continued professional development, as well as leading yourself. Place theory into practice and practice into theory by utilising and connecting the lecture material and readings to recorded leadership conversations with professionals across the childhood and youth sector, case studies, and, where appropriate, your own practice within the childhood and youth sector.

Education and Society (20 credits)

Gain an understanding of the relationship between education and society and explore some of the key ideas and concepts of education, learning and teaching to understand how they have been shaped by historical, sociological, anthropological and philosophical perspectives. Examine the processes and structures in different educational contexts to determine the impact these have on learners in social contexts. Explore how globalisation is impacting upon education and teaching and learning.

Optional modules (choose one):

Creative Teaching and Thinking (20 credits)

Develop your innovation in teaching across all stages of learning, covering a range of groups of children, from large groups to the individual child. Explore and consider all areas of the curriculum and make links to both core and foundation subjects. Strengthen your ability to develop creative teaching support strategies and activities. Examine current political ideology, policy and rhetoric in terms of developing a curriculum that engages all pupils of differentiated ability.

The Foundation Years (20 credits)

Consider the nature of ‘nurturing care’ and learning practices that support health, nutrition, responsive caregiving, safety and security, and early learning. Think about some of the early intervention strategies used in the UK and abroad that aim to support families whose children are in the foundation years of childhood and that provide optimal environments for learning. Examine care giving/learning practices across the foundation stage years including attachment, interaction, early intervention and the importance of routines. Learn about the theoretical approaches that underpin care of practice and learning with children across the foundation stage of childhood.

Children, Young People and Digital Learning (20 credits)

Directed at educators at all levels of education, from early childhood to higher and adult education, develop a common understanding of the digital competence needs of educators. Explore a wide range of content, strategies, techniques and approaches that personalise learning and facilitates students to achieve and realise their potential in practice. Learn how this allows for an emergent competency framework, enabling the identification, evaluation, and development of competencies within an organisation or profession, as well as collaborative learning and digital citizenship.

The Foundation Years with Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies* (20 credits)

Consider the nature of ‘nurturing care’ and learning practices that support health, nutrition, responsive caregiving, safety and security, and early learning. Think about some of the early intervention strategies used in the UK and abroad that aim to support families whose children are in the foundation years of childhood and that provide optimal environments for learning. Examine care giving/learning practices across the foundation stage years including attachment, interaction, early intervention and the importance of routines. Learn about the theoretical approaches that underpin care of practice and learning with children across the foundation stage of childhood. Reflect upon and gather evidence in practice on nine Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies from birth to eight years.

*To select this optional module, you must be on the part-time route, be employment-based and/or have 25 days placement opportunities depending on currency and timely experiences across the age range 0-8 years.

Please note that options are dependent on a suitable number of students taking them, as well as staff availability, and so some options may not run.

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

More about BA (Hons) Childhood and Society Studies (Top-Up) at Sunderland

Discover more articles

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
University library services will be central to your study experience and are delivered at our two libraries on campus, as well as online. Our libraries offer a variety of study environments to meet your needs, including areas for groupwork, individual and silent study. You’ll also have access to desktop PCs, space to use your own mobile technology and printing facilities.

The library works closely with academic staff within each faculty to offer specialist, industry standard resources in your subject discipline. The Faculty of Social Sciences provides thousands of relevant books and e-books, with many more titles available through the inter-library loan service. You’ll also have access to a comprehensive range of print and electronic journals which are always kept up to date, including Project Muse, Lexis, JSTOR and many more.

To find out more information, visit our University Library website.
Library Services - social sciences
Map and directions

Facilities

Teaching will take place at the Reg Vardy Centre, situated on the award-winning Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's. This stunning riverside 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.

To apply for this course you usually need one of the following:

Foundation Degree in a relevant subject (such as Education and Care)
240 credits (or equivalent) of a recognised UK undergraduate award, in a relevant subject to Level 5.

You must also have all of the following:

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, full-time fee for this course is:

£9,535 if you are from the UK*/Europe
£17,500 if you are an international student

*Undergraduate fees are set according to rules from Government in line with forecast inflation. The fee for your first year of study for 2026/27 will be £9,535. You will pay tuition fees for every year of study. Fees may increase every year based on the Retail Price Index.

Tuition fees for part-time students are £7,145 per 90 credits. Please note that part-time courses are not available to international students who require a Student visa to study in the UK.

Read more about EU fees and funding in our Help and Advice article.

Take a look at the scholarships and bursaries that may be available to you.

This information was correct at the time of publication.

Career ready

Gaining an undergraduate degree in Childhood Studies will boost your career prospects and allow you to progress faster. You'll also be eligible to apply for a range of master's courses (level 7), such as MA Childhood and Youth Studies, Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses, MSc Inequality and Society, and MA Social Work.

Meet the students

My studies definitely contributed to my desire to help vulnerable people transform their lives.

Helen Haygarth
The support that the staff and University have given me has been second to none.

Kris Lawson
It is a remarkable university which is fully engaged in supporting its students.

Naomi McCreight
The course expanded my horizons by allowing me to view different issues from different perspectives.

Yi Wen Chin

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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: 10 November 2025

We aim to provide clear, accurate and timely information to prospective and current students. We continuously review and enhance course content in consultation with our students and the information provided on our website is the latest available. If you have received an offer from us to start a course, we will communicate any important changes to you in writing. We will always seek to ensure that our prospective students are fully aware of the basis on which they are accepting an offer.