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Early Years Education and Practice (Top-up)

University Centre Farnborough

UCAS Code: XL15 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)

Entry requirements


UCAS Tariff

48

About this course


Course option

1year

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Early years education

Build upon your early years knowledge with this one-year top-up degree, linking what you learn in lessons to your existing role in the sector. This course starts each September and is awarded by the University of Surrey.
Course Highlights:

• This is a one-year top-up degree which can convert your existing qualifications, such as an HND or Foundation degree in a relevant subject, and/or experiences into a full degree
• The course is taught one afternoon/evening per week and has full-time status
• Can help you to update your knowledge and work towards more senior roles or teaching
• Taught by dedicated and supportive lecturers with experience in a range of early years and teaching settings
• Has previously involved educational trips, including exploring the Reggio Emilia approach to education in Italy and visiting early years centres, schools and local authorities in Finland

Early years education plays a big part in preparing children for entry into our society, encouraging them to exhibit positive behavioural and societal norms. This one-year top-up degree will develop your existing knowledge of the early years sector, exploring the evolving policies and practices used in the industry.

At Farnborough, your lecturers will have experience working in a range of early years and education settings. This will give you a full insight into your subject in the classroom and beyond. Staff attendance at conferences and additional training also ensures that teaching reflects up-to-date practices in the industry.
As someone currently employed in the sector, this course provides a unique opportunity to enhance your knowledge and gain skills relevant to your role, with timetables designed to suit employers. You will link lesson content and assignments to your own work-based practice, allowing you to tailor the course to your goals.

**WHO IS THE PROGRAMME FOR?**
This degree is suitable for those currently employed within the early years sector, who want to top-up their existing qualifications or experience into a full honours degree and work towards more senior roles or teaching. Example roles you may currently be working as include Early Years Practitioner or Teaching Assistant.

You might currently be studying a foundation degree or HND in a relevant subject, or wish to transfer from another higher education institution. It may also be possible for you to join this course following relevant professional qualifications and/or experience in the workplace.

**WHAT WILL I STUDY?**
You will discover the main roles and functions of early years settings, and the leadership tactics that can lead to their successful operation. You will also explore the broad range of factors that influence how children develop, analysing relevant research findings and topics in health and wellbeing. As part of the course you will complete a dissertation where you will have the opportunity to research a topic of special interest.

Modules

• Research and Young Children - As practitioners increasingly need to understand the role of research in forming policy and practice in relation to Early Years Education and Practice, and to take on the role of researcher, it becomes more important that they should have a detailed understanding of issues involved. The importance of the child’s voice in research and key ethical consideration will be explored.

• Leadership and Management - This module integrates with other modules on the programme, to provide an understanding of the main roles and functions of management in early years settings. Change management is studied to enable the student to implement future changes within workplace settings.

• Promoting Health and Wellbeing - This module presents the key health priorities for children aged 0-8 to support the development of positive health behaviours leading to optimal wellbeing. The roles of Government, voluntary and private agencies are explored along with ethical considerations of health promotion strategies.

• Comparing Early Childhood Education and Care - This module introduces students to the field of comparative and international educational data. The module pays particular attention to early educational and childcare systems in modern industrial societies that are comparable to England. Relevant systems, policy and curriculums will be reviewed and evaluated to see how they have responded to the challenge of improving outcomes and attainment for children.

• Early Years Education and Policy the Social Context - This module will explore the role of education in preparing young children for entry into society, including the school readiness debate. It will also address the impact on wider issues of social forces such as economics, politics and culture have on care and education and how they can result in variation in outcomes for children.

• Reflective Practice Portfolio - This module promotes the use of reflective practice within early years provision. Students are encouraged to become reflective thinkers in order to make informed and logical decisions and to assess the consequences of those decisions in a workplace setting.

• Dissertation - The dissertation will involve the completion of a research project of student’s choice.

Assessment methods

You will normally be assessed throughout your course to test your understanding within each module. This will be done through coursework, written assignments, formal examinations, professional discussion, project plans and dissertation.

HOW WILL I BE TAUGHT?
A range of teaching techniques are used in this degree to deliver content in useful and varied ways. This includes lecture-based presentations, practical sessions including role play and observation, individual and group project work, and individual presentations.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£6,000
per year
England
£6,000
per year
EU
£6,000
per year
International
£9,250
per year
Northern Ireland
£6,000
per year
Scotland
£6,000
per year
Wales
£6,000
per year

The Uni


Course location:

University Centre Farnborough

Department:

Education and Humanities

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What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

100%
Early years education

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Education

Teaching and learning

100%
Staff make the subject interesting
100%
Staff are good at explaining things
100%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
100%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

68%
Library resources
89%
IT resources
89%
Course specific equipment and facilities
100%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

After graduation


We don't have more detailed stats to show you in relation to this subject area at this university but read about typical employment outcomes and prospects for graduates of this subject below.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Education

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£20k

£20k

£18k

£18k

£22k

£22k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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