FdA Early Childhood Studies

Your profile

You are creative, enthusiastic, and passionate about making a positive difference in the lives of young children. You want to empower and advocate for every child, helping them develop the skills, confidence, and curiosity they need to thrive. You enjoy exploring ideas, theories, and debates around early childhood studies, and you value the importance of reflection in your own practice. You’re thoughtful, motivated, and eager to keep learning and growing as a professional – with a clear commitment to helping children reach their full potential.

You may already be working in an early years setting or primary school – for example, as a teaching assistant, preschool practitioner, or nursery assistant – and want to gain a degree while continuing to work. Alternatively, you may be looking to enter the sector, ready to take up a volunteer placement to gain valuable experience alongside your studies. You might also see this degree as a stepping stone towards becoming a qualified teacher, using it as the foundation for future primary teacher training or postgraduate study.

Your subject

You will explore how children learn, grow, and make sense of the world from birth to eleven years old. It is an interdisciplinary subject that draws on education, psychology, sociology, health, and social policy to understand how best to support every child’s development and wellbeing.

You’ll study how children play, communicate, and form relationships, and how families, communities, and wider society influence their experiences. A strong focus on inclusion runs throughout the course, encouraging you to consider how to create learning environments that recognise and celebrate diversity, promote equality, and ensure that every child feels valued and supported.

Rooted in a child-centred ethos, the degree places children’s rights and voices at the heart of your learning. You’ll connect theory to practice through reflective study and professional experience, developing the knowledge, empathy, and leadership skills to make a meaningful impact in early education and care.

Your course

Teaching is delivered by experienced lecturers and early years practitioners who bring current professional expertise directly into the classroom. Learning is highly interactive and reflective, designed to help you connect theory with practice at every stage.

Through work-based learning, you’ll apply new ideas and approaches within your placement or employment setting, linking academic study to real-life experiences that strengthen your professional confidence and competence. Observational visits and peer collaboration further develop your understanding of what high-quality teaching and learning looks like in early years and primary environments.

Your future

You’ll finish as a confident, reflective professional ready to make a meaningful difference across a range of careers working with children and families. The qualification includes recorded placement hours and mentored professional experience, giving you three years of valuable practice to strengthen future applications and career progression.

FdA Early Childhood Studies

64 UCAS points*, Level 3 DfE recognised Early Years qualification and GCSE English and maths (grades A*-C or 9-4). Students wishing to progress into teaching will also need GCSE science grade C (4+).

All applicants will be interviewed and required to demonstrate that they have relevant experience in working with children and have good communication skills. They will also need to undertake a written piece as part of the interview.

Satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)** enhanced check. **Please note there is a charge of £44 for a DBS check

Mature applicants with significant work-based experience, or employed within the industry may not have the UCAS points but will still be considered.

An FdA in Early Childhood Studies can lead to a wide range of roles across early years, schools, and wider children’s services. Many students progress within nurseries and early years settings into positions such as Early Years Practitioner, Room Leader, Senior Practitioner, or, with experience, Deputy or Nursery Manager. Others move into specialist roles such as SEND/Inclusion support, or work in schools as Teaching Assistants, Learning Support Assistants, or Higher Level Teaching Assistants in primary schools. There are also opportunities in out-of-school provision, as playworkers or club leaders, as well as in community, charity, and family support roles, including home-based childcare or childminding.

The FdA is also a strong stepping stone for further study and long-term career progression. Many graduates choose to “top up” to a full BA (Hons) in Early Childhood Studies, which can then support routes into primary teaching, Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS), or specialist postgraduate study in areas such as leadership, inclusion, or family support.

Timetables: Timetables are normally available one month before registration. Please note that while we make every effort to ensure that timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week. Where possible we will look to schedule timetabled sessions for full-time courses over one day per week.

Teaching and Learning: You are taught through a combination of lectures, seminars and practicals. Seminars enable smaller group discussions to develop understanding of topics covered in lectures.

When not attending lectures, seminars and practicals or other timetabled sessions you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-directed study. Typically, this will involve reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library, learning zone or technical learning resources, preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for examinations

Assessment: The course provides you with opportunities to test your understanding of the subject informally before you complete the formal assessments that count towards your final mark. Each module normally contains at least one piece of practice or ‘formative’ assessment for which you receive feedback from your tutor. Practice assessments are developmental and any grades you receive for them do not count towards your module mark.

There is a formal or ‘summative’ assessment at the end of each module. Assessment methods include written examinations and a range of coursework assessments such as essays, reports, portfolios, performance, presentations and your final year major project. The grades from formal assessments count towards your module mark.

Feedback: You will receive feedback on all practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback is intended to help you learn and you are encouraged to discuss it with your module tutor.