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BA (Hons) Childhood Studies with 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.

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A primary school teacher looking at a young pupil's work with them
UCAS codeX300
Duration4 years
Fee (UK)£5,760
LocationOn campus

Course summary

Are you interested in working with families, children, and their communities? This course helps you understand child development and children’s needs. You’ll explore the social, cultural, and historical factors that shape their lives. Also, you’ll learn about the individual child and their place within the family and society.

Our teaching team has a range of diverse experience and are involved in active research. This includes areas such as:

  • Inclusive education
  • Early years practice
  • Children’s literature
  • Sustainability
  • Childhood in the digital age.

This knowledge is built into the course, giving you a broad learning experience.

You can also choose to follow the Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies pathway. This includes placements and a portfolio to show your skills and improve your CV. If you complete this pathway, you'll graduate with the title ‘BA (Hons) Childhood Studies with Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies’. This shows you are qualified as an Early Years practitioner at Level 6.

A qualification in childhood studies can open doors to a range of careers in children’s services, including:

  • Health
  • Social care
  • Education
  • Childcare
  • Charities and voluntary organisations.

Many of our graduates also choose to pursue further study at postgraduate level.

Why Sunderland for Social Sciences

Integrated Foundation Year

This course is available with an Integrated Foundation Year, an extra year of your degree. This route offers a supportive way of transitioning into university study. It may be suitable for you if you:

  • Have valuable work or life experience but no formal qualifications
  • Are returning to education after a break
  • Want to change direction or explore a new career path
  • Have just missed the entry requirements for the three-year course.

We’re enhancing our Integrated Foundation Year to give you an even stronger start to your degree. The updated modules will align more with your chosen subject area. This will help you build the knowledge, confidence, and skills you need for your studies. We'll share full details soon and can't wait to tell you more.

Please note, this route isn’t available to international students.

Rebecca Wolstenholme

I graduated with First Class Honours, and I’ve just started a new job, helping prisoners with addictions to set up their next steps for when they’re released. The enjoyment for learning and the confidence I gained during my degree really helps me with my daily role, and I hope to continue progressing in this field.

Rebecca Wolstenholme

Read Rebecca Wolstenholme 's story

What you'll study

Many of our courses include a range of modules you can choose from. Some options may only be available if you’ve already studied specific modules. If you’re not sure what you need before picking a module, your course leader can help.

Undergraduate module credits should total 120 credits per academic year. If optional modules are available, choose an amount that totals 120 credits.

How you'll learn

A typical week on the BA (Hons) Childhood Studies course includes:

  • Lectures
  • Seminars
  • Workshops
  • Group work
  • Computer-based learning.

You'll be assessed through essays, reports, group work, presentations, and self-evaluation. Throughout the course, you’ll receive one-to-one support from academic staff to help you.

Entry requirements

Fees and finance support

UK£5,760

Undergraduate fees are set according to rules from Government in line with forecast inflation. If you're a Home fee-paying student, the fee for your first year of study for 2026/27 will be £9,790. You'll pay tuition fees for every year of study. Fees may increase every year based on the Retail Price Index.

Check your fee status(opens in new tab).

If you currently serve (or have recently served) within the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence's ELCAS scheme may be able to help cover your funding for this course. Read more about funding for Armed Forces personnel.

See all course tuition fees.

Full-time UK/Irish/EU settled/EU pre-settled students may be eligible for financial support. This would cover your fees for the full four years. UK and EU settled students may also be eligible to receive a maintenance loan.

Apply now

UK students

Disclaimer

We want to make sure you have clear and accurate information about our courses. Our website always shows the latest updates. If you’ve applied and you're offered a place, we’ll contact you in writing if anything important changes.

For more information, view our programme specifications. These include course content, learning outcomes, and the skills you'll gain.