Early Childhood Leadership and Practice MA

This course is in clearing

Overview

Course options

Select year

MA

MA Early Childhood Leadership and Practice, home applicant, full time

  • Home Applicant
  • Full time, 1 year
  • Pound 8520 per year

MA Early Childhood Leadership and Practice, home applicant, part time

  • Home Applicant
  • Part time, 2 years
  • Pound 1420 per 30 credit module

MA Early Childhood Leadership and Practice, international applicant, full time

  • International Applicant
  • Full time, 1 year
  • Pound 16560 per year

What makes this course different?

Rewarding excellence

We're seeking passionate practitioners and (aspiring) leaders from various fields: early childhood education & care, education, health, voluntary organisations, and child & family support services.

Experienced staff

Our Early Childhood staff are experienced practitioners. We bridge the gap between theory and practice, ensuring you learn how to apply these concepts in real-world early childhood settings.

Intensive study

This course offers compressed teaching one day a week for full-time students and half a day a week for part-time students. The teaching will take place each Monday.

Course modules

NOTE: Modules are subject to change. For those studying part time courses the modules may vary.

Download course specification

Your future career

Your future career

We value your undergraduate degree and your experience working with young children. We'll partner with you to help you achieve your career goals in early childhood education.

This course will support your career progression in the leadership of practice in early childhood contexts whether that be a nursery, voluntary organisation or a school. Alternatively, you could consider a career in a charity or work as a lecturer in Further Education.

Our assignments are linked to early childhood leadership and practice. They will enable you to build an evidence base and portfolio of the application of knowledge in practice. Your Master's in Early Childhood Leadership and Practice will significantly enhance your CV for applications for leadership and management positions in early childhood contexts.

Whatever your chosen career progression UEL's Centre for Student Success will provide you with support throughout your studies and beyond.

Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.

Children holding hands in a circle
I have acquired an enormous amount of knowledge relating to current issues in the field of Early Childhood from national and international perspectives. I have developed the ability to demonstrate a good level of critical discussion and critique complex issues. The lecturers are friendly, approachable and supportive. The feedback is great and constructive allowing for progressive learning and development."
Olushola Oluremi Elugbaiye

MA Early Childhood

How we support your career ambitions

We offer dedicated careers support, and further opportunities to thrive, such as volunteering and industry networking. Our courses are created in collaboration with employers and industry to ensure they accurately reflect the real-life practices of your future career and provide you with the essential skills needed. You can focus on building interpersonal skills through group work and benefit from our investment in the latest cutting-edge technologies and facilities.

Career Zone

Our dedicated and award-winning team provide you with careers and employability resources, including:

  • Online jobs board for internships, placements, graduate opportunities, flexible part-time work.
  • Mentoring programmes for insight with industry experts 
  • 1-2-1 career coaching services 
  • Careers workshops and employer events 
  • Learning pathways to gain new skills and industry insight

Mental Wealth programme

Our Professional Fitness and Mental Wealth programme which issues you with a Careers Passport to track the skills you’ve mastered. Some of these are externally validated by corporations like Amazon and Microsoft.

Our Mental Wealth programme

We are careers first

Our teaching methods and geographical location put us right up top

  • Enterprise and entrepreneurship support 
  • We are ranked 6th for graduate start-ups 
  • Networking and visits to leading organisations 
  • Support in starting a new business, freelancing and self-employment 
  • London on our doorstep

What you'll learn

This MA will enable you to apply advanced knowledge and research issues relevant to early childhood in a range of early childhood settings where you work.

All modules are core:

  • Critical Reflection on Leadership of Practice in Early Childhood
  • Early Childhood Policy Development and Implementation
  • Action Research: Leading Change in Early Childhood Leadership and Practice
  • Research Methods in Early Childhood Leadership and Practice
  • Dissertation in Early Childhood Leadership and Practice

Our Early Childhood academics have knowledge and experience in the field. Teaching is informed by the team's research, their past experience within the sector and their knowledge of a broad range of theories (e.g. sociology of education, education, critical realism, post-colonialism, post-structuralism and post-modernism). Our focus is the application of theory in early childhood practice.

How you'll learn

For each module there will be weekly three-hour taught sessions; tutors and students have opportunities for dialogue on areas of knowledge and understanding related to early childhood leadership and practice. Teaching and learning are guided through lectures, seminars, group work, project work and research supervision.

You will develop analytical and evaluative skills in order to develop critical perspectives about early childhood leadership and practice. 

Academic tutors will work with you throughout the module and guide you in the preparation for assignments. Students complete the course with a 14,000-word dissertation focused on a topic of interest in early childhood leadership and practice. For example, one recent student examined early childhood educators' understanding of professionalism in the context of Nigeria. Another MA student explored beliefs and practices in the use of ICT (specifically tablets) within the pedagogy of early childhood settings in the United Kingdom. Dr Jenny Robson, the programme leader said, 'Students have the opportunity to follow their own interests in their research project; many undertake research linked to the context of their employment or volunteering.' Students are enabled to develop and implement ethical research practices.

The learning experience of every student on the MA Early Childhood Leadership and Practice is important to us. Academic tutors work with students to achieve excellence.

How you will be assessed

Assessment will be formative (to enable you to assess your own learning) and summative (which will be graded). You will be assessed on presentations, assignments and a final dissertation.

A portfolio of assignment tasks (e.g. written tasks or presentations) will be required for each module. For the dissertation module, a 14,000 dissertation will be required.

Campus and facilities

USS campus - University Square Stratford, Stratford Campus Water Lane

Who teaches this course

This course is delivered by School of Childhood and Social Care

The teaching team includes qualified academics, practitioners and industry experts as guest speakers. Full details of the academics will be provided in the student handbook and module guides.