BA (Honours) in Early Childhood Education and Care National College of Ireland

Programme Structure

During the course you will cover a range of subjects to gain a deep understanding of the holistic learning and development of babies and children from birth to six years of age. As such, this course will give you professional, practice-based knowledge, values and skills to work with children and their families during their crucial early childhood years. A specialised ‘Education play-lab’ at NCI will provide opportunities for ‘hands on’ student learning. The programme also has a strong component of supervised workbased professional practice during the four years of study.

The course incorporates key topics including Holistic Child Learning/Development; Early Learning in a Digital world, Child Health, Nutrition and Wellbeing; Essential Legislation and Regulatory Practices; Music, Movement, Art and Drama; Creativity and Play; Core Pedagogies and curricula in ECEC; Working in Multi-Professional Environments; Parent/Family Participation; as well as aspects of leadership, management and governance in the sector. Students are encouraged to critically engage, reflect, inquire and investigate a range of theoretical and practical pedagogical approaches to learning, development and care in early childhood.