This guide is for anyone joining BA (Hons) Education Studies, BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies with Graduate Practitioner Competencies, or BA (Hons) Working with Children, Young People and Families. Nothing here is compulsory. It's a head start, so you arrive in September already thinking like a student on your course.
Reading and research
Start with our Education and Teacher Training blog. It's where our staff and students write about their research, their placements and what the courses are actually like day to day. Then build your general knowledge of the sector.
You will want the language and the debates to feel more familiar to you when they come up in your first classes.
Early years and child development
Development Matters is the non-statutory guidance that sits alongside the Early Years Foundation Stage. Read it for how it describes children's development in stages rather than ages, and how practitioners are expected to observe and respond.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards that all early years providers in England must meet. It gets updated, so check you have the current one.
Policy, research and the wider sector
These are the organisations whose work will keep turning up in your reading lists.
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation for research on poverty and its effect on children's lives
- The Sutton Trust for social mobility and the attainment gap
- Ofsted for inspection reports and thematic reviews
- Department for Education for policy and statistics
- Children and Young People Now for sector news
- NatCen for large-scale social research
Education Courses
Find out more about our courses
Legislation
Get an early feel for the laws that shape practice in this sector.
The Equality Act 2010 is a good starting point, particularly the protected characteristics and what a reasonable adjustment looks like in a setting.
Watch
Our YouTube channel has videos on university life, our facilities and what studying here is like. It's also worth following the news. BBC family and education covers most of the stories that will end up being discussed in your first term.
Listen
A few podcasts to try:
- The Early Years Edit for early years practice and policy
- The Children's Society podcast for children's rights, wellbeing and social policy
- The TED Talks Education Podcast for wider thinking about learning
Social media and who to follow
Setting up a professional LinkedIn account now is a good move. You'll be building a network of peers, tutors and people already working in the sector, and it saves you doing it in a rush during your final year. Think about your professional identity from the start. In this field, what you post says something about your judgement.
Start by following us on Facebook and Instagram for news and events across the University.
