(BA) Bachelor of Arts
Childhood Studies (Including Foundation Year)
Current
University of Essex
University of Essex
Essex Pathways
Colchester Campus
Honours Degree
Full-time
Early Childhood Studies
BA L523
07/05/2025
Details
Professional accreditation
None
Admission criteria
UK and EU applicants:
All applications for degree courses with a foundation year (Year Zero) will be considered individually, whether you
- think you might not have the grades to enter the first year of a degree course;
- have non-traditional qualifications or experience (e.g. you haven’t studied A-levels or a BTEC);
- are returning to university after some time away from education; or
- are looking for more support during the transition into university study.
Standard offer:
Our standard offer is 72 UCAS tariff points from at least two full A-levels, or equivalent.
Examples of the above tariff may include:
- A-levels: DDD
- BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma: MMP
- T-levels: Pass with E in core
If you are unsure whether you meet the entry criteria, please get in touch for advice.
Mature applicants and non-traditional academic backgrounds:
We welcome applications from mature students (over 21) and students with non-traditional academic backgrounds (might not have gone on from school to take level 3 qualifications). We will consider your educational and employment history, along with your personal statement and reference, to gain a rounded view of your suitability for the course.
Additional requirements:
A satisfactory enhanced DBS check (including child and adult barred list check) will be required prior to starting any placement(s) for this course, which will commence in Year 1. This will be organised by the University.
A satisfactory Overseas Criminal Record/Local Police Certificate is also required, in addition to a DBS Check, where you lived outside of the UK in the last 5 years for 6 months or more.
International applicants:
Essex Pathways Department is unable to accept applications from international students. Foundation pathways for international students are available at the University of Essex International College and are delivered and awarded by Kaplan, in partnership with the University of Essex. Successful completion will enable you to progress to the relevant degree course at the University of Essex.
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) code
English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 5.5 overall, or specified score in another equivalent test that we accept.
Details of English language requirements, including UK Visas and Immigration minimum component scores, and the tests we accept for applicants who require a Student visa (excluding Nationals of Majority English Speaking Countries) can be found here
If we accept the English component of an international qualification then it will be included in the information given about the academic levels listed above for the relevant countries.
Please note that date restrictions may apply to some English language qualifications.
If you are an international student requiring a Student visa to study in the UK please see our immigration webpages for the latest Home Office guidance on English language qualifications.
What if my IELTS does not meet your requirements?
If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.
Do I need to have achieved an acceptable English language qualification before I apply?
You don’t need to achieve the required level before making your application, but it will be one of the conditions of your offer.
What if the English language qualification I hold, or am taking, is not listed?
If you cannot find the qualification that you have achieved or are pending, then please contact Admissions on ugquery@essex.ac.uk for advice.
Additional Notes
Our Year 0 courses are only open to UK and EU applicants. If you’re an international student, but do not meet the English language or academic requirements for direct admission to your chosen degree, you could prepare and gain entry through a pathway course. Find out more about opportunities available to you at the University of Essex International College.
Course qualifiers
A course qualifier is a bracketed addition to your course title to denote a specialisation or pathway that you have achieved via the completion of specific modules during your course. The
specific module requirements for each qualifier title are noted below. Eligibility for any selected qualifier will be determined by the department and confirmed by the final year Board of
Examiners. If the required modules are not successfully completed, your course title will remain as described above without any bracketed addition. Selection of a course qualifier is
optional and student can register preferences or opt-out via Online Module Enrolment (eNROL).
None
Rules of assessment
Rules of assessment are the rules, principles and frameworks which the University uses to calculate your course progression and final results.
Additional notes
None
External examiners
Prof Heather Montgomery
Professor of Anthropology and Childhood
The Open University
External Examiners provide an independent overview of our courses, offering their expertise and help towards our continual improvement of course content, teaching, learning, and assessment.
External Examiners are normally academics from other higher education institutions, but may be from the industry, business or the profession as appropriate for the course.
They comment on how well courses align with national standards, and on how well the teaching, learning and assessment methods allow students to develop and demonstrate the relevant knowledge and skills needed to achieve their awards.
External Examiners who are responsible for awards are key members of Boards of Examiners. These boards make decisions about student progression within their course and about whether students can receive their final award.
Programme aims
This programme aims to provide students with an understanding of childhood in both familial and social contexts. From conception to the early years of infancy (0 – 5yrs), through latency (6 – 10 yrs), and into the early and middle years of adolescence (11 – 18yrs), childhood will be seen in an ecological context. Childhood is understood to encompass both geographical space, where childhood differs according to societal and cultural contexts, practices and customs, and the contexts of family and community, including services which support these. Focusing on the development of the child and the implications for practice, we will situate children as active participants in their own lives and in the practices of families, societies and cultures. This programme aims to provide students with an understanding of childhood in both familial and social contexts. From conception to the early years of infancy (0 – 5yrs), through latency (6 – 10 yrs), and into the early and middle years of adolescence (11 – 18yrs), childhood will be seen in an ecological context. Childhood is understood to encompass both geographical space, where childhood differs according to societal and cultural contexts, practices and customs, and the contexts of family and community, including services which support these. Focusing on the development of the child and the implications for practice, we will situate children as active participants in their own lives and in the practices of families, societies and cultures.
After an introduction to the multiple perspectives and subject areas – such as history, psychology, education, health, sociology, welfare and social policy, cultural studies, law, political and economic perspectives – we will critically examine the contested and changing nature of the concept of childhood through number of key topics. We will examine the social history of childhood, children as seen in literature, the criminological approaches and debates which involve children, and the impact of economic and other stress and risk factors within their environment. In addition, we will evaluate and develop appropriate pedagogical approaches to work with children, their families and communities. How can we understand issues such as trauma, ADHD and autism, and how do we work therapeutically with children in groups, for example in day nursery or school? To address these issues the programme offers a distinctive psychodynamic approach. We equip students with a conceptual framework to understand the complex factors that affect mental and emotional health, and consider the underlying meaning of behaviour and social conduct. Students will develop the key skills of psychodynamic observation, assessment and reflective practice, including how to make the right therapeutic interventions when most needed. By developing these skills whilst on placement, and regularly linking theory to practice in seminars, students will become ready to take up positions in a range of childcare and children’s services.
More particularly, this programme aims:
- To provide a range of conceptual frameworks and perspectives associated with the study of childhood
- To develop the analytic study skills needed to critically evaluate perspectives and issues concerning childhood
- To provide knowledge and understanding of child development from 0 – 18 years
- To develop skills in relation to observation of babies and children in a naturalistic context
- To develop a deep understanding of communication and building relationships with children
- To understand the processes involved in teaching and learning, including the role of emotion, play and social development
- To understand and critically examine issues around trauma, ADHD and Autism
- To understand and critically examine issues of childhood wellbeing, health and resilience
- To provide an understanding of the legislative frameworks surrounding children
- To provide a solid psychoanalytic vocabulary and understanding including the unconscious dimensions of human experience, relationships, communication and culture
- To provide a space and process by which students can explore and reflect upon the intersection of their academic, personal and professional selves
- To provide students with opportunities to undertake periods of supported work with children in placement
Learning outcomes and learning, teaching and assessment methods
On successful completion of the programme a graduate should demonstrate knowledge and skills as follows:
A: Knowledge and understanding
A1: Systematic knowledge of how babies, infants and children are understood nationally and globally
A2: Knowledge and understanding of infant and child development from a range of perspectives
A3: Recognise the distinct ways children have been understood in history and through literature
A4: To recognise the contributing factors to health, welling and resilience
A5: Knowledge of developmental trauma, autism, ADHD and appropriate interventions
A6: Psychodynamic understanding of the factors and processes involved in teaching and learning, including the role of emotion, play and social development
A7: Knowledge of psychoanalytic concepts, vocabulary and the key theoretical positions in the psychoanalysis of children
Learning methods
The programme makes use of theoretical processes involved and discussion seminars (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 and A7), the experience placement-based learning, observation seminars and reflective groups (A2, A6) and field trips (A3). A1 can be further acquired through a placement year at a host organisation and through the year abroad. The experience of psychodynamic observation (A7) reflective groups and (A2, A4, A6).
Assessment methods
Essays, exams, presentation, reflective report, observation record and observation reports.
Assessment of the placement experience is through a number of elements including an assessment of the students' performance in securing the placement, undertaking the placement and reflecting on the placement.
B: Intellectual and cognitive skills
B1: Develop the fundamental analytic study skills needed to critically evaluate perspectives and issues concerning childhood
B2: To define and use specific psychoanalytic concepts describing relationships and communication, including transference, counter-transference, projection, introjection, etc
B3: Capacity for intellectual enquiry, to access, retrieve and integrate information from multiple sources, to describe, evaluate and utilise different kinds of evidence
B4: Capacity to assess and integrate both human and intellectual material in making a formulation
B5: Capacity to evaluate live situations, to use one's own initiative, decision making
B6: Ability to reflective upon one's own experience, perceptions and socio-economic position in evaluating working practice
Learning methods
The programme makes use of theoretical lectures and discussion seminars (B1, B2, B3, B6), the experience placement-based learning and observation seminars (B2, B4, B5, B6), B1 and B5 can be further acquired through a placement year at a host organisation and through the year abroad. The experience of psychodynamic observation (B4) reflective groups and (B5, B6).
Assessment methods
Essays, exams, presentation, case study, reflective report, observation record and observation reports. Assessment of the placement experience is through a number of elements including an assessment of the students' performance in securing the placement, undertaking the placement and reflecting on the placement.
C: Practical skills
C1: Capacity for psychodynamic observation to analyse children's difficulties in communication and behaviour including relational and institutional factors
C2: Capacity to communicate effectively with children and to develop a potentially therapeutic relationship, capacity to work collaboratively with colleagues
C3: Sensitivity and attunement to the diverse modes of communication and behaviour of children, including their underlying meaning
C4: Capacity to learn from experience in different contexts - in placement, on field trips, in observation seminars, and reflective groups
C5: To carry out a piece of sustained work focussed on one child with their ecological context
C6: Capacity for use of self in reflective approach to practice.
C7: Capacity follow and operationalise guidance, regulation and legislative frameworks for children
C8: To produce, plan, carry out learning activities suitable for work with children in groups
Learning methods
The programme makes use of theoretical lectures and discussion seminars (C1, C2, C3, C4), observation seminars (C2, C3, C4, C5), and reflective groups (C4, C6). C4, C6 and C7 are developed during placement, and on placement years and year abroad. C8 utilises lectures and experiential groups activities.
Assessment methods
Essays, exams, presentation, case study, reflective report, quiz, field trip report, observation record and observation reports. Assessment of the placement experience is through a number of elements including an assessment of the students' performance in securing the placement, undertaking the placement and reflecting on the placement
D: Key skills
D1: To listen and communicate effectively with colleagues and with children, to communicate ideas effectively in written, oral and visual form, to debate, persuade, challenge or support.
D2: To produce formatted and well edited essays in word, use e-mail, Moodle and electronic submission of assessed work.
D3: To develop a capacity to make a formulation based on psychodynamic understanding of a child, and consider a range of therapeutic interventions, to assess available learning material and decide on specific topics for assignments, including a dissertation.
D4: To work collaboratively in seminars, observation seminars and reflective groups, and to incorporate the ideas and views of peers in developing perspectives, to engage professionally with colleagues and sensitively with children on placement.
D5: To work independently, including through library and e-based learning, to engage in independent research towards a dissertation.
D6: To learn through self-reflection on one's own responses to situations in seminars and on placement in practice, and to change one's behaviour as a result
Learning methods
The programme makes use of theoretical lectures and discussion seminars (D1, D3, D5, D6), the experience of observation seminars and reflective groups (D2, D4). Students also make presentations linked to an individual research project (D1, D2, D4, D6). Finally, students utilise information technology by using email, electronic submission of assessed work, library e-resources including use of moodle as a learning repository (D1, D5, D6). These skills are taught specifically in Yr 1 and 3.
Assessment methods
Essays, exams, presentation, case study, reflective report, quiz, field trip report, observation record and observation reports. Assessment of the placement experience is through a number of elements including an assessment of the students' performance in securing the placement, undertaking the placement and reflecting on the placement