Online MA Early Childhood Education

Keele’s 100% online MA Early Childhood Education is designed to prepare educators for professional practice in early years settings. Whether you’re a child psychologist, school counsellor, child therapist or support worker, gain the skills to enhance your career and help take it to the next level.

This programme is ideal if you are seeking to progress as an educator working with young children. Our education graduates have secured roles in a broad range of sectors and settings, including education, politics, local authorities, policy think tanks, business, national and international NGOs, the Civil Service, and the creative industries.

This modular, part-time Master’s degree is ideal for professionals with busy lives and demanding schedules. We aim to remove barriers to learning, such as time, location and cost, so your studies will fit in with your existing commitments from the very beginning.

Access course content at times that suit you and establish your own study schedule around existing family or work commitments. Our flexible online approach allows you to further your career without taking a career break, making space for professional development but not at the expense of other responsibilities.

Choose from six start dates per year, so you can start your studies at a point that suits you for maximum freedom and flexibility.

There are no geographical barriers to studying our 100% online MA Early Childhood Education programme – and students join us from across the UK and the rest of the world.

This means you can meaningfully engage in your online Master’s wherever you’re based, and whatever your commitments. While you’ll never need to attend an on-campus session or face-to-face meeting, our remote learning model means you will still experience high quality teaching and learning. Your studies will be enriched by regular interaction and collaboration with tutors and peers via our online learning environment, where you will engage in group activities and discussions, meet learners from different backgrounds and experiences, and make valuable connections.

What you will learn

Develop the specialist skills and knowledge to support one of the most important stages of a child’s development. Alongside the fundamental building blocks of early learning – including child development and child psychology – you will gain a deep understanding of key issues in early education, from early years policy to developing and delivering a well-rounded curricula.

This programme particularly focuses on professional development, enabling you to reflect on your own practice and grow as an education professional.

Knowledge and skills taught through core modules include:

How children learn, play and develop

Early years education, policy and practice

An interconnected view of education, employment and professional identity

Issues in global education

Reflective practice

Research design

Qualitative and quantitative research methodologies

Preparing and developing a dissertation

Good first degree in a relevant subject