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Full Time: 12 months | Part Time: 12 months
Start date: September 2021
Our PGCert Early Years Practice (PGCEYP) offers two routes: Graduate Entry (GE), full-time for 12 months, or Graduate Employment-based (GEB), part-time for 12 months.
On this course, you will train to teach early education and care across the birth-to-five age range, leading to 60 master’s credits and Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS).
For those seeking to build careers specifically within the early years sector, this course gives you the experience, opportunity and knowledge to lead practice in work with babies, toddlers and young children in your chosen sector.
You will enjoy high levels of personal attention and strong support throughout your studies. Your tutors are on hand to offer regular guidance and support, ensuring any potential issues are addressed as early as possible. In addition to academic support, our Student Support Team are able to offer counselling services and wellbeing information.
To help build individual confidence and peer respect, we encourage you to share experiences and expertise with other trainees, enabling open discussion and group support.
During the PGCEYP, you will have the opportunity to gain placement experience in different settings.
The course culminates in assessment against the specialist Teachers’ Standards (Early Years), and qualifies you to work towards a leadership role, supporting young children and their families in private settings, voluntary settings, independent or ‘free’ schools, and some children's centres.
Placements
On the PGCEYP, we ensure that students' placements meet their needs and complement their previous experience. You will gain invaluable experience in a number of different settings, one of which could be a children's centre. This variety of placement strengthens your knowledge and helps to develop your practical skills in real-life situations.
We have strong partnerships with hundreds of child-based settings, and are well renowned for our excellent relationships with these settings. When commenting on early years teacher training/ITT in 2016, Ofsted said: "Setting leaders comment on the positive contribution that (Institute of Education) trainees and former trainees make to raising the quality in their own organisation."
While you are on a placement, you will be fully supported by University-trained subject mentors. Your progress is also closely monitored by your University tutors and you will be visited by a member of the academic staff.
Placements also provide students with the perfect opportunity to connect with potential employers and build a professional network.
Facilities
The Institute of Education is based at our historic London Road campus, which has undergone a £30m refurbishment of the classical Oxford-cloistered quadrangle to create a dedicated world-class education centre.
We have created custom-built spaces for the teaching of specialist subjects such as music, PE, drama, the sciences, ICT, and art, including:
- modern laboratories
- musical studios, including an electronic drum kit room and a recording studio
- well-equipped art studios and facilities for the practise of work in drawing, painting, sculpture and mixed media
- studios for wet photography and printmaking, including silk screen.
Alongside these fantastic facilities, you will also find places to eat and drink, as well as plenty of green space to relax in.
The Learning Hub
We have an incredible collection of teaching resources housed in the Learning Hub. A treasure trove for teachers, the Learning Hub contains an extensive selection of teaching aids for loan or reference, from big books to puppets. A printing and binding facility, and technical equipment library are also available for your use.
Research
The quality of research at the Institute of Education was recognised in the latest Research Excellence Framework (2014), the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions, which placed the Institute of Education in the top quartile of education departments in the UK.
Over 80% of our research publications were rated as world leading or internationally excellent. The impact of our research on educational policy and practice in first and second language education was judged to be world leading.
For more information, please visit the Institute of Education website.
Entry requirements
What will you study?
How much will it cost?
New UK/EU students: £ (Fees to be confirmed for 2021) per year
New international students: £ (Fees to be confirmed for 2021) per year
Please note
There are no fees for 2020 entry on to this course. This degree is fully funded by the DfE for 2020/21.
Additional costs
These course fees cover the cost of your tuition. Some courses will require additional payments for field trips and extra resources. You will also need to budget for your accommodation and living costs. See our information on living costs for more details.
Financial support for your studies
You may be eligible for a bursary to cover living and other costs associated with the course. Please visit https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/become-an-early-years-teacher for further details of the funding available for Early Years Training.
Further information
This degree is fully funded by the DfE.
The DfE may award bursaries to trainees who have a UK degree with a first or 2:1 degree classification.
What career can you have?
Successful completion of an early years teacher training course leads to the award of Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS). This award is different to the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), and is designed for those who wish to specialise in work with babies and young children from birth-to-five years.
Through the PGCEYP, students train to become graduate leaders, responsible for organising and leading high-quality practice in early years settings. The placements students complete, alongside their academic training, ensures that they are highly attractive to employers. In fact, our trainee teachers are so sought after, most have jobs before they finish their course.
Upon graduation, you will be qualified to work in a wide range of settings, including daycare, nurseries and preschools, academies and free schools, out-of-school settings, and children's centres, as well as home-based childcare settings, such as childminding.