Bradford College

Enrolment Dates

Course Overview

There will be a substantial component of Personal Development Planning and Work Based Learning in all three years of the course. You will study Modules such as Human Development and Learning, Meeting Individual Needs, and Leadership and Professional Development. In the final year, two modules will be chosen from a bank of options, and one module will be addressed via independent study leading to the construction of a Dissertation. Your progress on your Dissertation module will be facilitated by a tutor with research and/ or professional interests in the relevant area. This will help you to begin to focus upon a specific Early Years career path. 

Candidates with a FdA/HND in a relevant subject could top-up on Level 6 of this degree.


 

Course Structure

You will attend College for three days a week and a work placement for two days a week throughout your three years on the course.

Placements may encompass the following Early Years arenas:
Children’s Centres; Private daycare; Voluntary/Independent Sessional care; Nursery schools and Reception classes; Hospitals; Childminders; Homes (e.g. attached to visiting carried out by health visitors/community-based Early Years Professionals).

Please note that over the three years students will be offered varied placements, and every effort will be made to allow students self-determination with respect to the type of setting; however a placement within a specific type of setting cannot be guaranteed- this will depend on availability, which cannot be predicted over a three year period.

Modules Covered

Level 4 modules:

• Human Development and Learning
• Challenge, Risk and Safeguarding
• Play, Learning and the Environment
• Introduction to Research Methods
• Academic Skills
• Practical Skills for the Early Years Workforce (Placement)
   

Level 5 modules:

• Social Policy for Practitioners
• Practitioner Research
• Development and Learning
• Meeting Individual Needs
• Working Together for Children and Young People
• Developing Practice in Early Years Settings (Placement)
   

Level 6 modules:

• Social Policy for Practice Leaders
• Leadership and Professional Development (Placement)
• Development, Learning and Society
• Dissertation

PLUS ONE OPTION MODULE DRAWN FROM:

• Inclusive Practice
• Childhood and Youth in a Global Society
• International Approaches to Learning and Education

Learning Methods

The course aims to provide you with the theoretical knowledge and development of independent study skills to succeed at Honours Degree level. You will develop a deeper understanding of the application of theory to practice and will acquire evaluation skills through the progressive building of research skills over all three years of the course, undertaking increasingly independent practitioner research activities in a range of modules. Study skills support is available to you both in the Communication Workshop and through Information Communication Technology support. 

You will interact with the curriculum through involvement in student led seminars, presentations and discussions. The development of independent learning and leadership skills, including self-evaluation and conscious awareness of effective learning techniques is promoted through interactive teaching approaches such as personal tutorials, e-mail and Moodle. You are also required to practice independent research. 

Teaching Methods

Teaching and learning are conducted through a variety of methods, which include lectures, group work, seminars, presentations and independent focused research for the dissertation module. Blended learning through the medium of the Moodle (the college virtual learning environment) will be available for some of the Year Three Option Modules.

Assessment

You will be assessed by undertaking a range of formative and summative assignments including:

• Personal Development Planning portfolios
• Work Based learning activities and written reflections upon these
• A range of practical tasks and evaluation of these
• Individual and group presentations
• Essays and reports
• A 'seen paper' examination for one module per year.

Work Placement/Fieldwork

You will spend approximately two fifths of your time on the programme in a range of work placements, which will involve shadowing/ assisting professionals inhabiting a range of professional roles providing care and education for children aged 0-6. There will be at least one block placement period in each year of the degree.
 

What`s Next?

BA (Hons) Early Years Practice will form the basis for graduate training in the following professional fields:
 

• Early Years Professional Status, which gives those who achieve the status the basis for practice as a leader of Early Years care and education in a range of settings.
• Qualified Teacher Status (Early Years)
• Play work
• New roles in community work with children and families (e.g. Community Early Years Professional, a new role recently proposed by CWDC.
• All roles involving the provision of education and care for children aged 0-6 that may be developed by CWDC over the foreseeable future.

Did You Know?

Your future career will be built on a solid foundation of the highest academic standards of teaching and learning – as many of our teaching staff are experts in their fields.

Our Early Years team have collaborated to publish two recent books:

The Early Years Professional's Complete Companion by Pam Jarvis, Jane George and Wendy Holland (2010)

Research in the Early Years Setting by Pam Jarvis, Stephen Newman, Wendy Holland, Jane George, Clive Opie and Ronan O'Beirne (2012)

You will be treated as an individual, with degrees often tailored to suit your individual experience, knowledge and interests – helping to support your personal growth and development.
 

Entry Requirements

You MUST obtain a Satisfactory Enhanced CRB Disclosure prior to formal enrolment on the course. This will be administered by our HE Registry Office.

You would also normally be expected to have attained GCSE English and Maths at grade C or above, plus a Level 3 Vocational Qualification in an Early Childhood/ Social Care Discipline or A levels with Grades equating to 180 UCAS points.
  

You will be invited for an interview and skills assessment prior to the offer of a place on the course.

Some credit points may be accrued through the Accreditation of Prior Experience and Learning (APEL). Applicants without formal Level 3 qualifications but with previous experience which might form the basis for the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning will be considered for non-standard entry.

Did you know?

We were delighted that the QAA's Integrated Quality and Enhancement Review (IQER), carried out in January 2010 concluded that they had 'Confidence' (the highest judgement possible) in the quality of our Higher Education provision.

For further details read the summary report