Early Childhood Education and Care BA(Hons)

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Top reasons to choose this course

• 2nd in the UK for education courses – Guardian University Guide 2025.
• 100% of graduates in work or further study 15 months after their degree – Graduate Outcomes survey.
• Two placement opportunities to gain hands-on professional experience.
• Observational study visits to support your understanding of the sector.
• Learn from a team of early years experts and visiting guest lecturers.
• Specialist curriculum centre with 30,000 specialist resources to enhance your learning. 
• Successful completion of the degree will lead to you being counted as a level 3 early years practitioner. 
• Guaranteed interview to our postgraduate teaching courses if you wish to pursue a career in teaching. 

Course structure 

We have a balanced approach to teaching and learning, employing a combination of theory and practical skills, which you will experience through seminars, workshops, placements, research, and independent study.

Learning and teaching approaches

The course will provide you with a challenging, inclusive and creative environment including:

• personal and group tutorial support
• group work, discussion and debate
• independent and enquiry based learning
• seminars, workshops and lectures
• Observational study visits.

During the first and second year of study you will engage in a number of observational study visits. These are closely linked to modules and include the observation of children in appropriate settings.

Although education has a significant focus within the course, you will also explore multi-agency working and other early childhood contexts, according to your individual interests and career goals.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through Student View.

Year 1 

You will learn how babies and toddlers start to make sense of the world around them, along with key theories surrounding children’s physical, emotional and social health. You will consider the role of wider systems on a child’s development including family and community, and policy and legislation.

Modules

• Knowing and Learning in Higher Education

  This module will help you to make the most of your studies in higher education. You'll improve your self-confidence as a learner and develop your capacity to meet the academic requirements and expectations of the programme.

• How Children and Young People Learn

  This module explores major theoretical traditions and more contemporary ideas relating to learning and development, including the degree to which children and young people’s diverse cultural and social contexts have been considered. To understand the theory-practice relationship students will critically evaluate learning theories by demonstrating awareness of relevant academic debates, and apply chosen perspectives to examples of educational practice across diverse educational settings (early childhood, primary, secondary, and youth and community). 

• Educational Thinkers and Activists

  This module explores education policy formation and implementation focusing on how it is experienced by different social and cultural groups. You'll develop an understanding of how education systems develop and change. You'll explore how education policy is driven by ideological and pragmatic matters, how it shapes the structure of schooling and how that enables and restricts the practice of early years specialists, teachers and educators. 

• Child Development: Physical, Social and Emotional Development

  This module is the first of three modules designed to support your understanding of child development within an ecological context. The focus of this module is physical, social and emotional development. The module will explore the role of early attachment relationships and the effect of this on learning, development, health and wellbeing. Perspectives from health, social care and education will be included.

• Families and Communities in Early Childhood Contexts

  In this module you will develop your understanding of ecological contexts and the ways in which working with families enhances children’s learning and development. The module will support your understanding of theory and research related to effective parent partnerships. You will also explore the factors affecting children’s outcomes, including poverty and issues of inequality.

• Policy, Legislation and Change in Education

  On this module you will explore policy and legislation as it applies to education and childcare. You will develop an understanding of the role that policy and legislation has on learning, curriculum development and safeguarding practices. 

Child Development, Physical, Social and Emotional Development module, and Families and Communities in Early Childhood Contexts include 12 hours of observational study visits to early years settings.

Year 2 

You will focus on child development to consider the role of play and children’s developing communication, language and literacy. You will delve further into wider societal influences on children’s lives when you consider equalities and inclusion in early childhood and how policy and legislation influence and reflect children and families’ experiences.

Modules

• Child Development: Play for Learning and Development in Early Childhood*
• Research Methods
• Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice
• Child Development: Communication, Language and Literacy in Early Childhood*
• Placement: Understanding Young Children and Young Children's Services**

*Each module includes six hours of observational study visits to early years settings.

**Module includes your five-week placement in an early years setting.

Final year 

You will draw on placement experiences to explore the complexities of multi-agency and interdisciplinary working as well as how childhood is interpreted across the globe. You will also consider the ways that different agencies approach the assessment of children’s learning and development needs.

You will also have the opportunity to research in depth the areas of early childhood that most interest you.

Modules

• Teamwork, Collaboration and Leadership
• International Perspectives on Early Childhood
• Assessing Learning and Development in Early Childhood
• Reflection on Learning
• Dissertation: Researching Early Childhood

Meet the team

Dr Lesleann Whiteman - course leader

"My goals for the early childhood degree course focuses on student engagement, customer service, and academic rigour, supported by diverse flexible and multidisciplinary teaching and learning experiences for students.

"I have worked for 31 years in early childhood development teacher education with diverse organisations in the United Kingdom, Asia, North America, and the Caribbean to ensure that Early Childhood Teacher Education Programmes use a holistic curriculum approach in training early childhood educators.

"My work speaks to that of designing professional development programmes for early childhood educators and developing parent education programmes with a strengths-based approach, in addition to advocating for relevant early childhood policies for the development of early childhood care and education."

Read Lesleann's full profile.

Other members of the team

• Dr Jools Page
• Dr Jodi Roffey-Barentsen
• Declan Dowkes

Dr Lesleann Whiteman

Placements

In your second year you will spend 126 hours in practice over a five to ten week period in a setting of interest as part of the placement module.

Our teaching staff will ensure that you are well prepared for your placement and that you have all the support and guidance you need to make the most of the opportunity. You will also have a pre-placement briefing and attend a pre-placement preparation day

You will also keep a reflective journal for the duration of the placement as a focus for your reflections and engage in group forum discussions to enhance your work-based learning.

Facilities 

Curriculum Centre
Our specialist Curriculum Centre on the Falmer campus houses more than 30,000 specialist resources, spanning all the subjects in the national curriculum. The collection includes games, DVDs, CD-ROMs, pictures, charts, education packs and an extensive collection of children’s books.

Falmer library
The Falmer library houses an extensive array of literature and resources related to early childhood education and care.

Course fees

Fee information for this course for 2025 entry will be updated here no later than December 2024.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2024–25.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Brighton Boost – cost of living help for our new undergrad students. Find out about how we can help with your study, accommodation or travel costs and more...
• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• Read our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf) for more on University of Brighton tuition fees.

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