Early Childhood Studies

University of Greater Manchester
Postgraduate MA (PG) Full-time 12 Months Social work, childhood, and youth studies

About this course

Are you an ambitious graduate seeking to take your professional understanding of the early years sector to a higher level? Our Masters in Early Childhood Studies offers you the opportunity to develop greater professional insight and expertise, along with essential career-enhancing knowledge of leadership, management and research.

The University of Bolton’s MA in Early Childhood Studies is designed to prepare future leaders for the early years sector. The social, cultural and political climate has an enormous impact on the lives of young children, influencing their development and affecting their life chances. This postgraduate course is designed to develop your awareness and understanding of these factors while cultivating your leadership, critical analysis and communication skills. We focus on supporting you to integrate these ideas with your knowledge of childhood development, helping you to achieve career success and champion the uniqueness of every child.

The aim of this course is to extend your already considerable professional skills and knowledge with specialist modules that deepen your understanding of areas such as equality and diversity, early years curriculum development and childhood in a global context. Our expert team will help you gain critical reflection, analysis and evaluation skills that support your ability to determine the impact of professional interventions on the development of children and across the early years sector.

Combining this knowledge with the principles and techniques of academic research and investigation will help develop your evidence-based practice, and grow your skills in evaluating options and formulating creative solutions to complex problems. Studying leadership and management styles, theories and frameworks will support you to become more actively involved in the planning, delivery and transformation of early years and children’s services.

Overall, our aim is to help you gain the professional and transferable skills to move forward in your career, improving the services you provide to the children in your care and their families.

Study Options

This course is available in 2 study options:

Full-time Shown above

Duration: 12 Months

Qualification: MA (PG)

Location: Bolton

Part-time

Duration: 24 Months

Qualification: MA (PG)

Location: Bolton

Career Prospects

Graduates from this course typically go into the following occupations:

2317 Teachers of English as a foreign language
2315 Nursery education teaching professionals
2314 Primary education teaching professionals
1172 Social services managers and directors
2319 Teaching professionals
2461 Social workers

Course Details

Qualification
Master of Arts - MA (PG)
Study Mode
Full-time
Duration
12 Months
Start Date
2025
Academic Year
2025
Campus / Location
Bolton
Scheme
Postgraduate
Subjects
Social work, childhood, and youth studies