Early Childhood and Primary Education (including a Foundation Year)
University of Chester
UCAS Code: X326 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
University of Chester
UCAS Code: X326 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
Pass Access to HE Diploma
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Higher
T Level
T Level with a Pass grade and D or E on the core
UCAS Tariff
About this course
The education landscape plays a critical role in children’s cognitive and emotional development, and how they progress through later life. This course specialises in the transformative power within both the Primary Education and Early Childhood sectors, and is perfect if you wish to discuss, discover, and analyse in-depth why learning experiences are vital.
You will explore contemporary thinking relating to play, social and emotional development, and the philosophy of childhood and education. Early education creates intense discussion across political and societal landscapes, exposing tensions between care and education. This course supports you to analyse and assess a range of political and societal ideas about family life and teaching and caring for children that have far-reaching impacts on their schooling and wider society.
This course offers you a great deal of flexibility and supports you to follow your professional interests. In your second year, you will be well-poised to choose a pathway to specialise in either Early Childhood or in Primary Education, and we tailor modules so that they deepen and widen your knowledge in these areas.
We’re particularly proud of our third-year offering; in this year you will author a personal (and often inspirational) research project. Examples of dissertations include how gender influences toy choices, perceptions of sign language between parents and practitioners, healthy eating in a school environment, and the ‘Justifiable Lie’: the magic of Santa!
BA Early Childhood and Primary Education Pathways
This course allows you to study a specialist pathway. Our pathways provide you with specific modules and opportunities to enable you to tailor your studies towards areas you are passionate about, whether through Early Childhood Studies or Primary Education Studies specialisms.
Our Early Childhood Studies pathway will provide a critical understanding of social, political, and cultural perspectives on early childhood learning. It will encourage independent thinking as you analyse theory and practice in early years settings. This pathway is ideal if you’re passionate about the foundational stages of children's development and will prepare you with a Level 3 Early Years Educator licence to practice alongside your degree.
Our pathway in Primary Education Studies is designed for students interested in specialising in the development, learning, and education of children aged 5-11. The pathway emphasises inclusive teaching strategies, equipping you with the skills to support diverse learners and create engaging, responsive learning environments. With a blend of academic study and placement experience, this pathway will prepare you to pursue a career in primary education, with options to further your qualifications through postgraduate study. This pathway is ideal if you are passionate about making a difference in children’s early educational experiences and contributing positively to the primary school setting.
Modules
For the latest example of curriculum availability on this course, please refer to the University of Chester's Website.
Assessment methods
There will be a broad range of assessment methods so you are exposed to the different types of tasks that you might encounter in the workplace. These will include coursework in the form of portfolios, written pieces (both long and short form), podcasts and presentations. In some modules, you will encounter class tests and practical assessments. We continuously review the assessment methods used in order that they adequately prepare you for graduate level employment.
Tuition fees
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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.
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
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Childhood and youth studies
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This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section 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
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
When you look at employment stats, bear in mind that a lot of students are already working in education when they take this type of course and are studying to help their career development. This means they already have jobs when they start their course, and a lot of graduates continue to study, whilst working, when they complete their courses. If your course is focused on nursery or early years education, a lot of these graduates go into nursery work or classroom or education assistant jobs; these jobs are not currently classed as 'graduate level' in the stats (although they may well be in the future as classifications catch up with changes in the way we work), and many graduates who enter these roles say that a degree was necessary.
Childhood and youth studies
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
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
£24k
£27k
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.
Childhood and youth studies
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£25k
£20k
£31k
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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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:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
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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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