Early Childhood and Special Educational Needs BA (Hons)

EARLY CHILDHOOD

The early childhood degree builds advanced knowledge about young children. This early childhood course covers child development, interactions, and the effects of local and global inequalities. It prepares you to advocate for young children's needs and rights.

This early childhood degree provides a supportive learning environment. You'll get expert guidance, access to university resources, and teaching from a diverse team with experience in research, practice, and policy. Your learning includes guest speakers and field visits in Liverpool, a city rich in community and culture.

The early childhood course is taught by academics from sociology, education, philosophy, and psychology. They are active researchers who publish widely and attend national and international conferences. Their expertise creates a challenging, research-informed setting.

For Single Honours students, the early childhood degree has a required placement to apply theory in a professional setting. For Combined Honours students, the placement is optional.

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

The Special Educational Needs course will equip you to become a passionate advocate for disability rights and equality in your chosen profession. There are more than 16 million disabled people in the UK, and graduates with expertise in special educational needs and disability are in demand in a wide range of areas including education, health, social work and social care, local government, and business. In recognising the contributions of disabled people, we encourage you to replace needs with knowledge.

A supportive team of disabled and non-disabled academics will enable you to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence you need to become a future leader in this area. You will learn about the historical, social and cultural factors that shape our understanding of special educational needs and disability. Your understanding of academic theories and models will be deepened by activities which challenge you to explore how this knowledge can be applied in professional settings. As well as tutors’ extensive professional experience, course content is informed by input from a range of guest speakers, and from our partner organisations, which include disabled-led and self-advocacy groups, education and care providers, charities, and disability arts organisations.

The Special Educational Needs course at Liverpool Hope is unique in that it is informed and enriched by the work of the Centre for Culture and Disability Studies, an internationally recognised centre of excellence in disability studies research, and the only UK research centre to focus on disability and culture. 

You can also study Special Educational Needs via a Single Honours degree with the course.