MA Education (Early Childhood Studies)

This MA will provide you with opportunities to develop and enhance your professional skills and knowledge so you can progress within or embark on a career within the early childhood studies sector. This course is likely to appeal to students with an undergraduate degree in early childhood studies.

This diverse course covers a range of disciplines, drawing from areas such as curriculum theory, psychology of learning and human potential, identity and self in the early years, sociology of gender, social class, race, philosophy and the critical discourses in early childhood studies.

This degree aims to introduce you to key academic and professional debates within the field of education and an opportunity to focus on early childhood and the early years, helping you to develop a professional perspective and standpoint. Upon successful completion of this course, we hope that you will feel enthused about continuing in the sector and feel intellectually empowered to initiate change.

A key theme embedded in this master’s degree is social justice. This course is aligned with our Education for Social Justice (ESJ) framework to ensure equity in our curriculum practice.

The modules have been developed to broaden the knowledge and meaning of the term ‘education’, as well as its purpose from being a ‘product’ to understanding how the curriculum is managed and led. Education is a creative and powerful endeavour in which curriculum and pedagogy come together to support children's learning whilst widening their future life chances.

This degree can be completed as a postgraduate diploma by taking four core modules and two optional modules. You could also choose to study for a Postgraduate Certificate in Education by choosing to study the following three core modules: Critical Theory and Education; Curriculum Leadership; Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment.

We welcome applications from practising teachers and if you already hold a relevant PGCE qualification, you may be able to apply for credit and study fewer modules to complete this MA.