BSc (Hons) Childhood Studies (Top Up)

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Start Date

September
Location

Pontypridd
Campus Code

A

Fees

Home students

£9,535*
International students

£16,200*
Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

Start Date

September
Location

Pontypridd
Campus Code

A

Fees

Home students

£785*
Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

Overview
Module Overview
Course Highlights
Entry Requirements
Fees and Funding
How to Apply

The emphasis of our Childhood Studies degree is on exploring childhood from a global perspective to develop or strengthen your understanding of factors that affect a child’s holistic development, health and wellbeing.

Career Paths

Nurse
Health Visitors
Early Years Educator
Nursery Worker
Social Worker

We make a difference in practice, not just on paper. Our courses are designed by people who offer jobs - and taught by people who have real work experience.

A woman is performing a puppet show for a young girl holding a teddy.

play therapist sat at a table with a small child

Group shot of students sat in the library area of Newport campus

play therapy student working with puppets in the play room

Module Overview

The BSc Top up Degree provides students with the knowledge and skills to work with children and young people between 0-18 years. This course equips graduates to deliver the roles required in Wales and UK, which cover childhood as a whole, particularly since much attention has been given to the changing lives of young people in the last decade.

Year 3 students (top up) will study 2 x 20 credit modules and 2 x 40 credit modules. Plans for delivery will be to timetable 60 credits in term 1 and 60 credits in term 2. The two core 40 credit modules interlink the literature review being a review of literature surrounding a contemporary issue of your choice that affects children and young people’s health and wellbeing, followed by a project-based assessment to address the concerns identified in the research in term 1.

Influences on Children and Young Peoples Development

Managing the Learning Environment

Supporting and Evaluating Children and Young People’s Holistic Health and Well being

Children and Contemporary Society

Careers and Employability

Possible career paths

As well as consolidating your existing knowledge, the Childhood Studies course can be used as a springboard for a career change, such as working in the voluntary sector or moving into management, or as a gateway to further studies, such as such as some of the courses available at USW below:

MSc in Play Therapy,
MA Working with Children and Young People,
BA (Hons) Primary Studies with QTS
BA (Hons) Nursing (Child Health)
MA CAMH
Pg Cert (CAMH)
Pg Cert SEN/ALN
Pg Cert SEN/ALN (Autism)

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

This is a top-up degree. You must be working in a relevant area of childcare and possess a total of 240 credits - 120 at Level 4 and 120 at Level 5. Equivalent work-related qualifications are also acceptable. Those who are unable to demonstrate the relevant academic credits may be eligible for Accreditation of Prior and Experiential Learning (APEL) considerations.

How to apply

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.

Contextual Admissions Policy

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£9,535

per year*

International Full-time Fee

£16,200

per year*

UK Part-time Fee

£785

per 20 credits*

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.

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.

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.

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.