Program Overview

BA (Hons) Childhood

Overview

The BA (Hons) Childhood programme explores the multi-disciplinary nature of the study of childhood, embracing diverse academic disciplines such as sociology, education, psychology, philosophy, social policy, health, and disability studies. This approach has a proven record in supporting students to develop and follow particular interests in this diverse field.

Pathways

• Pathway 1: Disability, Health and Wellbeing: offers a grounding in human development from an ecological perspective; health, wellbeing; and disability, from both a bio-psycho-social perspective and the disability-studies, rights-based approach.
• Pathway 2: Education: examines early and primary education and the underpinning values of professional practice. Practice modules are available within this pathway. Students can work towards an optional Early Childhood Graduate Competencies certification, developed by the Early Childhood Degree Network (ECSDN) and supported by the Department for Education (DfE).
• Pathway 3: Children, Rights and Social Justice: is underpinned by empowerment, rights, and agency in childhood(s) and families across differing contexts and will enhance students’ ability to elevate voices of children and families. Students will gain practical experience of working with children and families, such as placements with charities and the public sector, as part of preparation for employment with children.

Course Modules

Year 1

• Understanding University (Requisite): introduces students to academic study at university level, enabling them to reflect on and develop their skills.
• Health and Wellbeing (Requisite): introduces students to a range of subject areas and key debates surrounding the health/illness and wellbeing of children in the contemporary UK.
• Child Development in Context (Requisite): investigates the developing child and the changes that occur over time within the context of the family and wider social systems that children inhabit.
• Childhood, Care and Education (Requisite): introduces students to education and the underpinning values of professional practice with a particular focus on the historical, international, and contemporary conceptualisations, policies, and practices of care and education.
• Children in Society (Requisite): challenges students to ask critical questions about their social world and explore their own individual and cultural experiences within a wider context.
• Diversity, Rights and Inclusion (Requisite): addresses diversity, rights, and inclusion in the broadest sense, addressing two core areas: childhood and barriers to participation/inclusion.

Pathway 1: Disability, Health and Wellbeing

• Theoretical Perspectives in Childhood and Education (requisite): introduces students to theories and approaches to systems around childhood and the development of children.
• Safeguarding (mandatory): provides students with an historical policy context in which to understand the origins of safeguarding children and the social construction of abuse.
• Understanding Research (mandatory): grounds students in the principles of social science research and methods employed to develop our understanding of the social world.
• SEND and Inclusion (requisite): provides an exploration of Special Educational Needs and disabilities, and inclusion, and introduces students to a range of issues and perspectives in relation to SEN, disability, and inclusion in general.
• Children’s Mental Health (requisite): provides opportunities to gain an understanding of children’s mental health from a holistic bio-psycho-social perspective.
• Principles of Intervention and Participation (optional): encourages students to explore and engage with current debates around child/family intervention and the possibilities of participation and inclusion.
• Communities and Social Practice (optional): provides students with the opportunity to gain practical learning and experience within a diverse range and contexts of settings from fostering services, education, outreach, third sector to governmental services.

Pathway 2: Education

• Theoretical Perspectives in Childhood and Education (requisite): introduces students to theories and approaches to systems around childhood and the development of children.
• Safeguarding (mandatory): provides students with an historical policy context in which to understand the origins of safeguarding children and the social construction of abuse.
• Understanding Research (mandatory): grounds students in the principles of social science research and methods employed to develop our understanding of the social world.
• Language and Literacy (optional): examines the complex relationship between cognition and communication, alongside the stages of children’s language and literacy development.
• SEND and Inclusion (optional): provides an exploration of Special Educational Needs and disabilities, and inclusion, and introduces students to a range of issues and perspectives in relation to SEN, disability, and inclusion in general.
• Creative Learning (optional): focuses on understanding the value and role of creativity and play in childhood exploring the extent to which the two further children’s development through a variety of theoretical views.
• Developing Practice GP1 (optional): explores with students the underlying professional practices and principles of the early years and primary education.

Pathway 3: Children, Rights and Social Justice

• Theoretical Perspectives in Childhood and Education (requisite): introduces students to theories and approaches to systems around childhood and the development of children.
• Safeguarding (mandatory): provides students with an historical policy context in which to understand the origins of safeguarding children and the social construction of abuse.
• Understanding Research (mandatory): grounds students in the principles of social science research and methods employed to develop our understanding of the social world.
• Communities and Social Practice (requisite): provides students with the opportunity to gain practical learning and experience within a diverse range and contexts of settings from fostering services, education, outreach, third sector to governmental services.
• Imagining Childhoods (requisite): builds on students’ foundational knowledge of childhoods and extends dialogue on Year 1 modules such as Childhood, Care and Education and Children in Society.
• Children, Families and the Law (requisite): examines the multitudinous facets of family life and children’s voices within a socio-legal framework combined with an interdisciplinary perspective to consider how the state and society regulates and responds to children and families in matters affecting them.

Year 3

• Independent Project (mandatory): allows students to produce a final year project that enables them to exercise their independent judgement and skills in the development and execution of a project or dissertation relevant to their field of study.
• Decolonisation and Difference (requisite): explores the Southern “turn” to domains of knowledge - hierarchies, ‘production’, erasures and circulation - resulting in the deligitimisation of knowledges from the ‘rich peripheral countries’ to build an understanding of the impact of knowledge as capital.
• Globalisation, Social Justice, and Children’s Rights (requisite): explores the theories, issues, and debates associated with social justice, children’s rights, and globalisation.
• Children, Violence, and Voice (requisite): examines the social, cultural, and structural challenges that remain, and the inequalities that continue to disproportionately affect the life experiences of children globally.
• Children’s Material Worlds (requisite): provides a new focus of study on the materiality of children’s everyday life, the spaces they occupy, and the physical objects they have access to, using a global lens.

Fees and Funding

• 2025/26:
  • UK Full-time Tuition Fee: £9,535 per year
  • UK Part-time Tuition Fees: £1,589 per 20 credit module
  • International Full-time Tuition Fee: £15,090 per year
• 2026/27:
  • UK Full-time Tuition Fee: £9,535 per year
  • UK Part-time Tuition Fees: £1,589 per 20 credit module
  • International Full-time Tuition Fee: £15,090 per year

Entry Requirements

• UK Academic Requirements:
  • 112 UCAS Points (or above)
  • BBC (A-Level)
  • DMM (BTEC)
  • Merit (T Level)
  • Pass in Access to HE Diploma
• International Requirements:
  • IELTS 6.0 overall (minimum 5.5 in all components) where English is not the student's first language.
• Transferring Credit:
  • If you have previously studied at higher education level before you may be able to transfer credits to a related course at the University of Suffolk and reduce the period of study time necessary to achieve your degree.
• Mature Applicants:
  • Students aged 21 or over at the start of their course are regarded as mature students. The University of Suffolk offers a flexible admissions policy for mature students, which takes into account life and work experience.

Career Opportunities

• The Childhood programme and its pathways provide the opportunity to develop a critical understanding of childhood for students who aspire to work directly with children, their families, and/or with the services that support them.
• Employability has always been central to the Childhood programme here at the University of Suffolk.
• Graduate destinations have previously been situated within the areas of education, early years provision, family support work, social care, therapeutic settings, and charitable organisations.

Course Team

• Dr Marianna Stella: Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Education
• Dr Wendy Lecluyse: Associate Dean for Learning, Teaching and Student Experience
• Dr Ivana Lessner Listiakova: Associate Professor in Childhood and Education
• Dr Cristian Dogaru: Course leader for MRes Social Sciences and Humanities
• Maureen Haaker: Researcher
• Dr Pallawi Sinha: Senior Lecturer in Childhood Studies
• Carolyn Leader: Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies
• Dr Xiaorong Gu: Lecturer in Childhood Studies