BA (Hons) Early Years Education and Practice (with Early Years Practitioner status)

Top in Wales for Career Prospects in Education _{Guardian League Table 2023}

This course is for students who wish to become a key part of the early year’s education workforce. Designed in line with Welsh Government's push to create confident, well-prepared 21st century early year practitioners, you will build an understanding of the development and learning needs of young children from 0-8 years, spanning many contexts such as child development, curriculum and pedagogy, children's mental health, behaviour management, as well as independent projects. The learning is supported by expert teaching, placements, and real-world experience.

One of the major advantages to students studying this course is that it's accredited by Social Care Wales. When you graduate, you’ll leave with Early Years Practitioner status, which is a stamp of approval in the Education Workforce.

Placement sits at the heart of this programme, allowing you to link theory to practice around areas such as activity planning, assessment and recording procedures, and Welsh language development. Through years 1-3, you’ll attend placements which accumulate to 700 hours over three years, giving you quantifiable experience and knowledge of early years education in the work place.

Designed in line with cutting-edge research and current practice, the aim of the course is to give you the knowledge, skill set, and confidence to be employable within the early year’s workforce, thus equipping you with the following:

An academic qualification, combined with Early Years Practitioner Status
The ability to confidently work with young children in areas such as safeguarding, child development, sociological and psychological elements of childhood, and more
The ability to apply theory into practice, through placements and real experience
The ability to evaluate policy, planning, and management
A developed intellectual understanding of critical reasoning, analysis, and creativity
The skills and attributes desired by employers, including leadership, communication, reflective practice, and problem-solving.

On successful completion of this degree, many students go onto study a PGCE in primary studies. Students wishing to study a PGCE at USW are guaranteed an interview with us.

Top in Wales for graduate prospects in Education (Complete University Guide 2023)

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Recognised

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2023
2024

UCAS Code	Study Mode 2023	Duration	Start Date	Campus	Campus Code
DYW3	Full-time	3 Years	September	Newport City	C

UCAS Code	Study Mode 2024	Duration	Start Date	Campus	Campus Code
DYW3	Full-time	3 Years	September	Newport City	C

Each year of study contains key ‘themes’ woven through the modules. These golden threads enable students to make vital connections between modules and replicates the connections required in real-world practice, which are developed through this challenge-based learning approach.

Year 1 - contains the themes of learner voice, safeguarding and pedagogical approaches

During year one, you’ll be given the building blocks to develop academic skills. This is focused on challenge-based learning, collaborative, and interdisciplinary skills, and includes immersive learning projects working in small groups, a focus on sociological and psychological childhood development, and the opportunity to explore experiential learning opportunities for young children.

Early Years Curricula: Play and Pedagogy Core (40 credits)
Professional Learning and Practice 1 - Core (40 credits)
Perspectives of Early Childhood - Specified (20 credits)
Project 1 - Specified (20 credits)

Year 2 - contains the themes of collaboration/ diversity and children’s mental health

During year two, you will continue to progress through your professional practice module working towards the next set of competencies in placement over a seven-week period and evidencing them in a portfolio. Key topics during this year include behaviour management, the development of demonstrating creativity, innovation, and project management capabilities, alongside the opportunity to gain additional qualifications in supporting children with dyslexia.

Professional Learning and Practice 2 - Core (40 credits)
Project 2 - Specified (20 credits)
Behaviour Management - Specified (20 credits)
Inclusive Practice in the Early Years - Specified (20 credits)
Introduction to Research - Specified (20 credits)

Year 3 - contains themes of Leading and managing, sustainability and digital competency

In year three, leadership and management skills will be woven through the modules, building on the experience you have already gained during the previous years of study and your placements. Digital competency will underpin the immersive learning project, and you will work in a team to scope the design, content, and application of a digital vehicle to support children’s learning and development. This will also be the year where research makes up a significant amount of study, improving your ability to work independently whilst engaging with external partners and applying ethical practices through the collection of data. Finally, you will engage in ‘outdoor learning’, which provides the theoretical and practical experience of this important practice.

Professional Learning and Practice 3 - Core (40 credits)
Research in the Early Years - Specified (40 credits)
Project 3 - Specified (20 credits)
Children Learning through Landscapes - Specified (20 credits)

Teaching

Students at level four will have a mixture of lectures, seminars, workshops, and tutorials. Seminars and workshops will include group and individual contributions and formative feedback will be provided at relevant check points within modules.

Professional Learning and Practice Modules progress through years 1 -3. These modules centre around students attending placement which accumulate to 700 hours over three years. Employability is the focus, and these modules embrace opportunities for problem based and real-world learning.

Students will also have opportunities to engage in additional qualifications like the Agored Cymru Outdoor learning Practitioner award, Hidden Sentence training, Accredited Learning Support Assistant (accredited by the British Dyslexia assoc.), and First Aid and Safeguarding certificates.

Finally, it is intended that opportunities to disseminate student research to a wider audience, including their mentors that have supported their practice, will be organised, thus sharing their findings to inform future practice.

Assessment

The course has no exams, and this is often perceived as a benefit by many students. Different methods of assessment are employed across the modules, and these include:

Essays
Presentations
Creation of a resource
Lesson planning
Reflective reports
Poster presentations
Report writing
Research analysis

Placements

Students are supported by our placement officer and suitable placements in early years settings are arranged for students to attend. Mentors receive training and guidance, and all students receive a visit whilst on placement from their university tutor.

The modules studied, centre around students attending placement which accumulate to 700 hours over three years

Placements are located across the region of South Wales and travel time can vary but will take into account the student's home base.

Facilities

There is a dedicated area with specialist resources which support you in your development. The university is equipped with the latest digital equipment to help you create resources for practice. We also have plenty of support materials available for you to develop your skills for practice in the library.

Lecturers

Our teaching team are all research active lecturers and are experts in a range of areas. Team members have published works on Schema development, children’s use of social media & digital identity, outdoor learning pedagogies, storytelling approaches, transitions in education amongst other topics. The course at USW is predicated on cutting edge research and current practice that informs the learning opportunities provided to our students.

Pavla Boulton, course leader
Dr. Claire Pescott
Philippa Watkins
Dr. Amanda Thomas
Alys Parkins
Ceri Brown, placement officer

We regularly revalidate courses for quality assurance and enhancement

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

The entry criteria below reflect our standard entry requirements for the course for September 2023. However, all applications received by the University are reviewed holistically and individually. Entry criteria for September 2024 is changing and will be published on ucas.com from 8th May 2023. Entry criteria for September 2024 will be updated on our website from the end of October 2023.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions. USW prides itself on it’s a student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university. Here is a link to our Contextual Admissions Policy.

Other qualifications and experience

We can also consider combinations of qualifications and other qualifications not listed here may also be acceptable. We can sometimes consider credits achieved at other universities and your work/life experience through an assessment of prior learning. This may be for year one entry, or advanced entry to year two or three of a course where this is possible.

To find out which qualifications have tariff points, please refer to the UCAS tariff calculator.

If you need more help or information or would like to speak to our friendly admissions team, please contact us here

Additional Requirements:

An Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check on the Child Workforce and Child Barring List and subscription to the DBS Update Service. (Overseas equivalent required for non-uk applicants)

Typical A-Level Offer

BCC - CDD to exclude General Studies (this is equivalent to 104-80 UCAS tariff points).

Typical Welsh BACC Offer

Pass the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Diploma with Grade C/D in the Skills Challenge Certificate and BC - CD at A Level to exclude General Studies (this is equivalent to 104-80 UCAS tariff points).

Typical BTEC Offer

BTEC Extended Diploma Distinction Merit Merit - Merit Merit Pass (this is equivalent to 112-80 UCAS tariff points).

Typical Access to HE Offer

Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 80 UCAS tariff points

Additional Requirements

GCSEs: The University requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent. If you are completing an Access to Higher Education Diploma we will accept 12 Level 2 credits from English Units and 12 Level 2 credits from Mathematics Units in lieu of the GCSE C/4 grade requirements.

International Entry Requirements

We also welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications. Please visit the country specific pages on our international website for exact details.

English Requirements

In general, international applicants will need to have achieved an overall IELTS grade of 6.0 with a minimum score of 5.5 in each component.

However, if you have previously studied through the medium of English IELTS might not be required, but please visit the country specific page on our international website for exact details. If your country is not featured please contact us.

Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee will remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course

August 2023 - July 2024 Fees

Full-time UK: £9000
Full-time International: £14400

August 2024 - July 2025 Fees

Full-time UK: TBC
Full-time International: TBC

Student Perks

At the University of South Wales, you’re investing in so much more than a degree. We strive to provide our students with the best possible experience, no matter what you chose to study. Whether it’s access to top of the range mac books and PCs, state-of-the-art facilities packed with industry-leading equipment and software, masterclasses and events led by industry experts, or a wide range of clubs and societies to meet likeminded people, better tomorrows start with extra perks.

Each course also has their own unique student benefits to prepare you for the real word, and details of these can be found on our course pages. From global field trips, integrated work experience and free course-related resources, to funded initiatives, projects working with real employers, and opportunities for extra qualifications and accreditations - at USW your future, is future-proofed.

Click here to learn more about student perks at USW.

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

* Obligatory

Item	Cost
Extra curricular qualifications and development activities	£90	Year 2 : to include the ALSA Award, Outdoor Practitioner Award.
Field Trips	£20	Year 1,2 & 3 depending on location of study event .
DBS *	£55.42	This fee includes £40 for the enhanced DBS certificate, the Post Office Administration fee and the online administration fee.
DBS Updating Service *	£13	Subscription required for each year of the course for a yearly fee of £13. Please note the service has to be joined within 30 days of receipt of your enhanced DBS certificate.
Other: Resources required to support study	£100	Years 1, 2 & 3. A range of books are available in the university library , but students often purchase key texts.
Other: resources required to support placement	£100	Years 1, 2 & 3 .
Other: Travel to Placement *	£0 - £300	Years 1, 2 & 3 - Cost is dependent on placement location.

Funding

Funding to help pay for (or cover) course tuition fees and living costs

Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

To learn about course fees, funding options, and to see if you are eligible for financial support, visit our Fees and Funding pages.

UK students

Apply via UCAS if you are a UK residing applicant, applying for year one of a full-time undergraduate degree and you have not applied through UCAS before. If you are applying to study part-time, or to transfer to USW from another institution, please apply directly.

International and EU students

Apply directly to the University if you live outside the UK.

Admissions statement

A Early Years Education degree can lead to a range of interesting careers when you graduate. Career paths typically include those in education, with graduates working in schools, nurseries, children’s charities and integrated children’s centres. A number of graduates also go on to gain their PGCE qualification and become qualified teachers.

Recent graduates have gained employment in a variety of roles in early years settings as well as project officer roles within local community projects and in charities. Plus, many students gain employment as a result of their practice in placement, supporting children one to one and in higher level teaching assistant roles and within flying start settings (salaries from approx. £19 - 21,000 p.a.).

Our Careers and Employability Service

As a USW early years student, you will have access to advice from the Careers and Employability Service throughout your studies and after you graduate.

This includes: one-to-one appointments from faculty based Career Advisers, in person, over the phone or even on Skype and through email via the "Ask a Question" service. We also have extensive online resources for help with considering your career options and presenting yourself well to employers. Resources include psychometric tests, career assessments, a CV builder, interview simulator and application help. Our employer database has over 2,000 registered employers targeting USW students, you can receive weekly email alerts for jobs.

Our Careers service has dedicated teams: A central work experience team to help you find relevant placements; an employability development team which includes an employability programme called Grad Edge; and an Enterprise team focused on new business ideas and entrepreneurship.

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