Young Children's Learning & Development

The Young Children’s Learning & Development FdA is designed for those with experience and those intending to gain experience of working with young children in a setting. If you are a practitioner qualified at Level 3 with post-qualifying experience of working with children this course can offer you the opportunity to develop your practice with young children alongside academic studies and if you are not currently working in the sector you will gain experience through voluntary work.

The course has two themes: the development, care and education of children from 0-7 and the personal and professional development of practitioners, the key aspects being the understanding of child development and children’s learning. The course integrates academic and work-based learning through close collaboration between employers and programme providers enabling you to develop the skills and knowledge relevant to your employment in early years.

You will gain a valuable network of contacts through College study which has provided previous students with valuable links to further study and career prospects. This course is also a sector endorsed qualification with SEFDEY (Sector-Endorsed Foundation Degrees in Early Years Professional Association). As part of the endorsement, students are expected to undertake 300 hours working with young children whilst studying for the Foundation Degree, which can be paid work or a placement working with children.

The full-time course is usually 1.5 days per week for 2 years. You will be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, presentations and tutorials, which will be supported through group discussion, presentations, individual and group tasks and independent reading and writing. You will undertake work-based and independent directed study requiring reflection on workplace practice.

Alongside time in College, you will be expected to undertake 10-12 hours each week independent study such as reading journal articles and books, undertaking research and preparing for assessments. Your independent study is supported by the excellent Learning Hub at the Aireville Campus in addition to the College’s Study Support Centre. The average class size for this course is 8-10.

Your overall grade for the course and your Foundation Degree classification is based on the modules studied in the second year of the course. More information can be found here: Student Information > Regulations (https://www.craven-college.ac.uk/course-search/degrees/student-information/)

A Foundation Degree is a nationally recognised qualification in its own right and is equal to the first two years of a full BA (Hons) course or a Higher National Diploma. Once you have completed your FdA Young Children’s Learning & Development, you may then move on to a further year of study to achieve the BA (Hons).