What makes Early Years at Worcester special?

The Early Years (0-8 years) Foundation Degree (HTQ) is a new and innovative course for people who are working, or who aspire to work, in the Early Years sector. This Foundation Degree is suitable for individuals who want to develop their professional practice to take on leadership and management roles within Early Years Education.

Recognised by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education as employer driven, the new Early Years (0-8 years) Foundation Degree has been accredited with the Higher Technical Qualification kitemark and is sector-endorsed by employer developed standards, ensuring learners gain the skills that employers want. Employers can be confident that learners have the knowledge, skills and behaviours to be successful Early Years Practitioners.

Throughout the degree, you will be offered the opportunity to develop the appropriate professional attributes, knowledge and understanding required for the care and education of children within national and international contexts. This interconnected approach is reflected in a range of assignments designed to encourage you to consider a variety of perspectives and the development of critical skills in relation to theory applied to practice.

This Degree is delivered by SCIL, but is a University of Worcester approved course. 

The University of Worcester course page can be found here: https://www.worcester.ac.uk/courses/early-years-0-8-foundation-degree 

Pathway Options

This foundation degree is designed to be flexible, dependent on your career aspirations and you are given a choice of pathways:

• Early Years (0-8) (Professional Practice) pathway. This pathway has ‘Full and Relevant’ status with the DfE and allows you to meet the Early Years Educator (EYE) standards and achieve ‘Full and Relevant’ status by the end of your course. This is important to employers as it lets them count you in EYFS staff:child ratios at level 3.
• Early Years (0-8) pathway. This is the best pathway for those who already have a ‘Full and Relevant’ level 3 qualification. It enables you to further develop your professional practice within early years or to progress to a teaching career.

Entry Requirements

Entry requirements

32 UCAS Tariff points

• Minimum of four GCSEs at Grade C/4 or above
• All entrants have achieved a standard equivalent to a grade 4 (formerly grade C) in the GCSE examinations in English Language or English Literature. Alternatively, we offer an equivalency test if you don’t have the required GCSE grade or Level 2 equivalent to apply for the FdA Early Years (UCAS Code X312).
• Where a student does not already hold a GCSE or level 2 qualification equivalent in English , they must present evidence of this before the end of Level 4 to remain on the FdA EY (0-8) (Professional Practice) pathway (UCAS code X313) to achieve the DfE ‘full and relevant’ status. The DfE have a published list of acceptable Level 2 qualifications.
• Acceptable qualifications include a minimum of 1 A Level or an equivalent Level 3 qualification, for example the CACHE Diploma or EdExcel BTEC National Diploma in Children’s Care, Learning and Development
• Through our non-standard entry route we welcome applications from experienced and mature practitioners who do not have the above qualifications
• Further information can be obtained by contacting the Admissions Office on 01905 855111

Other information

A current Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (DBS) is required.

You will also be subject to the usual prohibition list and criminal record checks.

If you have lived, studied or worked overseas for three months or more in the last five years a Certificate of Good Conduct from the country of residence will be required. Further information and guidance associated with additional costs are available from the Home Office.

T Levels may be used to meet the entry tariff requirements for this course. Find out more about T levels as UCAS tariff points here.

This Early Years (0-8) FdA has been accredited as a Higher Technical Qualification by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. This means you’ll be learning the sought-after skills that employers are looking for.

Course Content

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative.

What you will study:

Year 1:

• The Developing Child
• Health and Wellbeing
• Playful Pedagogy
• Introduction to Work-Based Learning or Theory for Early Years Educator Foundation Graduate

Year 2:

• Childhood, a Global Perspective
• Policy into Practice
• Safeguarding Children’s Welfare in the Early years and Integrating Our Work with Other Agencies
• Small Scale Practice-Based Enquiry and Future Progression or Early Educator Small Scale Practice-Based Enquiry

Teaching and Assessment

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support through the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.

Teaching

This is a route where you will be taught face to face through a mixture of lectures, seminars, group discussions, problem-based learning and directed individual study. An important aspect of this course is learning from others, so there is significant emphasis on working in groups with other students who have different backgrounds and experiences.

In addition, contact with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course.

Contact Time

The indicative total study time for each module is 301 hours. Typically, each module is delivered over two semesters.

In each semester typically there will be 12 taught hours per week. These hours will include face-to-face teaching at the chosen college and including typically 3 hours delivered live online.

Taught sessions may include different forms of delivery such as tutorials, seminars, fieldwork, conferences or online learning.

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 28 hours (Full-time), and 21 hours (Part-time) of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing for assignments and presentations.

A range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources, supports independent learning.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments. Each module has one or more formative assessments for which feedback is received, but these do not count towards to the overall module grade.

Each module also has one, or two, ‘summative’ assessments. These are graded and count towards the overall module grade.

Each type of assessment, both formative and summative, are supported by Assignment Briefs which clearly identify the task and the assessment criteria that are to be met on completion of the assignment. A comprehensive assessment criteria grid which has been developed by the team, based on the University’s generic descriptors, is included in the feedback process for both formative and summative assessments. Assessment methods include a range of coursework assessments such as essays, reports, portfolios, presentations and a final year practice-based research project.

Students will be assessed using a variety of methods including essays, workshops and presentations.

Formative feedback is provided through responses to academic and practice-based learning activities, including reflective journal entries. Interactive face-to-face and online learning and teaching approaches, including student evaluation of learning, provide further opportunity for timely formative activity. It is designed to encourage students to reflect and develop their responses and writing prior to summative assessment.

The form of summative assessment (for each module) is determined by its appropriateness in allowing the student to demonstrate they have understood and can meet the learning outcomes with potential for achievement across the full range of grades.

Feedback

You will receive tutor feedback on assessments, from practice mentors on placement learning and peers through ongoing class discussion (including online forums) and debate. Feedback supports learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.