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BA (Hons)

Early Years Education (Top Up)

This Early Years Education (Top Up) course is the perfect option for those who have a keen interest in current pedagogical research into Early Years education.

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Key Course Details

  • UCAS Code

    X301

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Newport

  • Campus Code

    C

Fees

  • Home students

    £9,535*

  • International students

    £16,200*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

The BA (Hons) Early Years (Top Up) course explores best practice in early childhood education from around the globe, with a focus on developing critical thinking skills, theoretical knowledge and gaining real-world experience in local education settings.

DESIGNED FOR

The study is aimed at a multi-national student cohort that welcomes students from outside of the UK alongside those within it, who are interested in studying and learning best practice in global childhood education.

Career Paths

  • Project Officer
  • Children’s Charities
  • Teacher
  • Nursery Leader 

Skills Taught

  • Independent Working
  • Collaboration 
  • Problem Solving
  • Critical Thinking
  • Creativity 

Course Highlights

Placement Opportunities

Undertake a two-week placement in a local educational setting.

Outstanding Facilities

Make use of a dedicated teaching room with focused resources to support teaching children from 0-7 years old.

Interactive Learning

Benefit from use of our hydra suite, which supports virtual reality learning.

Life-changing Research

Academic research is a core element of the degree, with students being supported in this area as they increase their knowledge of critical enquiry.

Top in the UK

Education at USW is top in the UK for Teaching Quality (The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025)

Module Overview

The modules you will study throughout the duration of the course are as follows:

Exploring Early Years Pedagogy

This module provides you with the opportunity to explore one key area of Early Years pedagogy within the context of early childhood development and care. The module will explore the creative and critical approaches available in secondary research, which will be reflected in the teaching methods.  At the end of the module, you will be required to write a report on your chosen area, which will also evidence your understanding of what makes research valid, reliable and ethical.  There will be support given for the report, including 2.5 hours individual supervision. 

Academic English

This bespoke module will be delivered by the Centre of International English based at USW and will run for the full year. Students will be taught key aspects of academic vocabulary used throughout the degree, with specific focus on subject specific terminology and theory. As well as support for written work, there will be a focus on the development of spoken academic language and delivery of presentations. The module is delivered by experienced professionals who have extensive experience of working with students for whom English is an additional language.

Literacy and Numeracy Development in the Early Years

In this module students will explore how children acquire language and number skills from birth to 7. It will explore current research in the field of neuroscience and use this, established theory and critical research to develop understanding of best practice in learning and teaching.

Global Childhoods

This module focuses on best practice in early childhood education from around the globe. It considers international views on education, the challenges faced in a number of different countries and the different approaches taken to early years education. Different experiences of childhood around the world will be examined.

Perspectives on Effective Learning

This module will develop your critical understanding of definitions of effective learning and learning behaviour. Students will develop a theoretical understanding of the pedagogy that supports effective learning, while at the same time exploring and examining potential social, emotional and economic barriers to learning. Understanding will be supported through the evaluation of theoretical models on behaviour.

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

Alongside taught provision and online support, students are expected to engage with 200 hours of independent research for the Research in the Early Years module. For the remaining modules, as well as taught provision, students are expected to engage in 100 hours of independent study and 60 hours of directed study.

Where appropriate, guest lecturers and specialists will be invited to share their experiences in education. 

The course uses different methods of assessment which are mostly coursework based.

Teaching staff

  • Philippa Watkins, Course Leader
  • Ceri Brown, Placement Officer
  • Dr. Emily Powell
  • Rachel Stamp

Placements

In the second semester, students will be given the opportunity to undertake a placement in a local educational setting. This will be for two weeks. This will be arranged by the placement officer and will be within easy travelling distance of the student’s accommodation.

Facilities

The Early Years degree has a dedicated teaching room with focused resources to support teaching children from 0-7 years old. Students can also benefit from use of our hydra suite, which supports virtual reality learning.

Careers and Employability

Possible career paths

An Early Years Education degree can lead to a range of interesting careers in education, but in other aspects of early years provision too.

Graduate careers

Graduates of Early Years courses at USW have taken career paths in teaching, nurseries, children’s charities and integrated children’s centres, amongst many other areas.

The knowledge provided also enables students to take on project officer roles within local communities.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Students must be able to show recognised prior learning up to level 5 to be offered a place on the course.

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 is required. (Overseas equivalent required for non-uk applicants)

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

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 its 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.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£9,535

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,200

per year*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. 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).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Bursaries Cost of Living Support

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.

 Students will be expected to pay for a DBS or certificate of good behaviour from their home country. The DBS fee includes £49.50 for the enhanced DBS certificate, the Post Office Administration fee and the online administration fee

Cost: £64.74

Students will need a small budget for personal stationery and academic resources

University Quality Assurance

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.

Life at USW

Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.

A student sat smiling and talking to friends off camera in Treforest Student's Union
Student Life
University of South Wales Newport Campus.
Newport Campus
A double room at our Pontypridd accommodation featuring a large window.
Accommodation

How to apply

All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS. You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time.)

Advanced entry

If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.

International admissions

International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.