Course summary

Our Foundation Degree is fully compliant with the Early Years Educator Qualification standards. This means that students who enrol in our Foundation Degree but are not yet qualified to be counted in ratio, will become eligible. This is achieved through a non-credit module comprising of a Documentation and Video Log ePortfolio. This approach recognises that students on the course are work-based learners, efficiently tracking progress and facilitates the practical application of learning required for the Full and Relevant criteria. This pathway also acknowledges students as competent practitioners already employed in early years settings, without causing unnecessary work overload. Students will be guided and fully supported throughout this process by their tutors, E-Learning Facilitator, and Learning Resources Centre. This course is designed for people currently working in Early Years and Key Stage 1 who work in an appropriate setting with children aged between 0 – 8 years (either paid or voluntary) for at least 16 hours per week. This exciting course has been created by highly experienced lecturers in response to early years educators and primary school teachers who recognise the need to bring a more playful and fresher developmentally appropriate approaches to the teaching and learning of young children. It is for people who wish to bring graduate leadership to settings to support the development of playful pedagogy for transformational learning with young children. You could be working in the private or voluntary sector, or in a school. The course is suitable for a range of roles within day care, play groups, before and after school clubs, primary schools, children’s centres, family support services, special education needs education, as a nanny or childminder or in early years advisory services. This is a two-year higher education degree course that is run in collaboration with the Open University. The course enables you to combine academic study with work-based learning and develops sound theoretical and practice-based knowledge. It combines rigorous academic standards with the opportunity to experiment and develop ideas and practices that will excite children and stimulate their natural curiosity and motivation to engage through playful learning.