Work-based learning and volunteering with BA (Hons) Early Childhood Studies

Employers are looking for graduates ready for the demands of the workplace. We’ll make sure you’re one of them.
Early Childhood Studies work based learning

Students regularly comment how much work-based learning helped them develop as reflective and confident practitioners.

As an early years practitioner you’ll need to demonstrate an ability to empathise, to think deeply about the work you do and develop skills of creating and maintaining meaningful relationships with colleagues, children and families. 
Employers are looking for graduates with different kinds of knowledge and skill, enabling them to cope more readily with the demands of the workplace today.
With our work-based learning (WBL) modules we’ll ensure that you’re:
  • reflective,
  • able to challenge,
  • confident,
  • equipped with transferable skills,
  • an advocate for children, families and early years services,
  • able to think outside the box,
  • able to communicate with children,
  • someone that’s analytical and flexible.
Take advantage of an opportunity to reaffirm or reconsider your future career options in Year 2.
You can choose between two different work-based learning modules.
  • x

    EEC566 WBL: Giving you the opportunity to work in settings such as children centres, charities, health, education, creative and community projects etc.

  • x

    EEC566 WBL+: Giving you the opportunity to gain professional recognition of your practice in an early years setting.

How does it work?
There is a requirement that students complete 50 hours (EEC566 WBL) or 100 hours (EEC566 WBL+) of work experience.
This is the start of the assessment task, but instead of writing an assignment, students are expected to engage in the process of reflection with the construction of a portfolio and through the use of reflective models of reflection.
You choose the pathway:
  • Choose EEC566 WBL for the opportunity to work in a variety of different settings.
  • Choose EEC566 WBL+ for the opportunity to gain professional recognition of your early years practice.
EEC566 WBL+ enables you to complete additional placement hours and meet Early Years Educator standards through relevant assessed practice experience in an early years setting. This will qualify you to count towards the EYFS staff/child ratios in an early years setting. Please note that you must also have suitable level 2 literacy and numeracy qualifications.
Previous EEC566 students have accessed placements in settings such as:
  • Women's refuges
  • Hospital activity centres
  • Prison Service (Family Support)
  • Arts and music projects
  • Home-Start
  • Children's centres
  • Montessori schools
  • Special Educational Needs schools
  • Primary schools
  • Nurseries or Pre-Schools
  • Research Interns on child centred projects

Volunteering

During your course we regularly invite you to engage in various volunteering opportunities to develop confidence, interpersonal skills and engage with the community. These opportunities include:

  • ?Charity fun days

  • ?Special needs conferences

  • ?Charity work

  • ?Student mentoring

  • ?Intern schemes

  • ?Summer camps

  • ?Student ambassador

Our students share their experiences of work-based learning

Georgia Hinman

"If you ever get the chance to do something out of your comfort zone then do it."

Georgia recounts how her work based learning experience led to her future career in the police force.
Lisa Bickford - Early Childhood Studies graduate

Lisa Bickford

"My degree has given me the confidence to occupy a space professionally where I can have conversations and understand children in a way I had not before and for that I will forever grateful. I was one of the first to undertake the Foundation year for the ECS programme and I will always be a huge advocate for everything the degree and that year specifically has given me.
I feel positive about my future and the future I can provide for my family, and I would not have been able to make brave changes and move forward if it was not for the Early Childhood Studies degree and the Foundation year."
Olivia Brady

My WBL experience allowed me to spend time in a school environment which I hadn’t done before. By doing this I was able to dive into life in a school with the children and the teachers and experience what school life is like. I found the connections I made with the children really rewarding. As I was only there once a week, I wasn’t expecting to make such strong connections with both the children and the staff. I found this really encouraging to come back each week. It also really encouraged me to invest in the children and their progress. It really solidified my future options and what I want to do post graduation.

Nina Wyatt

This experience not only helped me to boost my self-confidence but also made me realise how I was more capable of facing challenges. Being able to choose my own placement related to the career path I wanted has allowed me to not only gain confidence in how I can achieve my goals but also expand my knowledge. It allowed me to explore my options not only finding different places I could work and jobs I did not know existed, it also allowed me to test out how comfortable I would be in a role. It has made me more confident in the route I want to go down by having experience in that field.

Discover more about work-based learning at Plymouth