Course summary

Have you always been fascinated by how children learn and experience childhood? Are you passionate about their emotional wellbeing, development and rights? If so, our BA (Hons) Childhood studies programme could be for you. You’ll develop into a thoughtful and flexible practitioner, acting as an amazing advocate for young children. You’ll benefit from practical work placements, one-on one professional support and experienced insight. Why study at BNU? Studying with us, you'll develop the deep insight and knowledge you need to become a valued and trusted support for the children and families you work with in your future career. You’ll have the opportunity to meet and work with front-line professionals who can help you feel confident and resilient for whatever path you choose beyond graduation. Our lecturers are experts and have rich experiences to share that will make your learning come to life. They're all former practitioners themselves meaning they can tell you all about the realities of working with children in different settings. It also means that what you learn in the classroom will always be linked to real-life practice. In addition to our strong professional backgrounds, we also pride ourselves on our friendly and approachable teaching staff, who make you feel included and valued as a student. And we feel it’s important to not only teach you the theory but give you examples of how the theory meets the practice. Overall, we are a teaching first university, with a strong student community and a team of professional lecturers who are dedicated to teaching, you will be able to find the support you need at BNU in order to reach your personalized goals or explore your strengths and weaknesses. Opportunity modules are a key part of the BNU curriculum. You’ll choose modules in both your first and second year from a broad selection in areas such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, creativity, digital skills, personal growth, civic engagement, health & wellbeing and employment. Opportunity modules are designed to enable you to develop outside the traditional boundaries of your discipline and help you to further stand out from the crowd to future employers. What will I study? This pathway is ideal if you are considering a career in an primary education related field. We’ll focus on things like teamwork, presentation skills, role play, and communication both with colleagues and, crucially, with the children and families you support. These skills are so important in the primary education sector, as well as this, we will study pedagogy, play development, wellbeing and child development in the primary education sector. Career prospects Once you’ve graduated with your degree in Early Childhood and Primary Education Studies, you’ll be well qualified to think about several different careers. You could consider completing teacher training via School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT), Early Years Initial Teacher Training, or even a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). You can also choose to study one of our postgraduate course like PGCert Practice Education here at BNU. If teaching isn’t your thing, how about progressing into a position in social work, special needs, play therapy, charities and international development work. You could even consider training and assessment in the public or private sector – your options really are endless!