PGCert Early Years Practice (EYTS)

Our PGCert Early Years Practice (PGCEYP) offers two routes: Graduate Entry (GE), full-time for 12 months, or Graduate Employment-based (GEB), part-time for 12 months.

On this course, you will train to teach early education and care across the birth-to-five age range, leading to 60 master’s credits and Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS).

For those seeking to build careers specifically within the early years sector, this course gives you the experience, opportunity and knowledge to lead practice in work with babies, toddlers and young children in your chosen sector.

You will enjoy high levels of personal attention and strong support throughout your studies. Your tutors are on hand to offer regular guidance and support, ensuring any potential issues are addressed as early as possible. In addition to academic support, our Student Support Team are able to offer counselling services and wellbeing information.

To help build individual confidence and peer respect, we encourage you to share experiences and expertise with other trainees, enabling open discussion and group support.

During the PGCEYP, you will have the opportunity to gain placement experience in different settings.

The course culminates in assessment against the specialist Teachers’ Standards (Early Years), and qualifies you to work towards a leadership role, supporting young children and their families in private settings, voluntary settings, independent or ‘free’ schools, and some children's centres.

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On the PGCEYP, we ensure that students' placements meet their needs and complement their previous experience. You will gain invaluable experience in a number of different settings, one of which could be a children's centre. This variety of placement strengthens your knowledge and helps to develop your practical skills in real-life situations.

We have strong partnerships with hundreds of child-based settings and are well renowned for our excellent relationships with these settings. When commenting on early years teacher training/ITT in 2016, Ofsted said: "Setting leaders comment on the positive contribution that (Institute of Education) trainees and former trainees make to raising the quality in their own organisation."

While you are on a placement, you will be fully supported by University-trained subject mentors. Your progress is also closely monitored by your University tutors and you will be visited by a member of the academic staff.

Placements also provide students with the perfect opportunity to connect with potential employers and build a professional network.

The Institute of Education is based at our historic London Road campus, which has undergone a £30m refurbishment of the classical Oxford-cloistered quadrangle to create a dedicated world-class education centre.

We have created custom-built spaces for the teaching of specialist subjects such as music, PE, drama, the sciences, ICT, and art, including:

Alongside these fantastic facilities, you will also find places to eat and drink, as well as plenty of green space to relax in.

We have an incredible collection of teaching resources housed in the Learning Hub. A treasure trove for teachers, the Learning Hub contains an extensive selection of teaching aids for loan or reference, from big books to puppets. A printing and binding facility and technical equipment library are also available for your use.

The quality of research at the Institute of Education was recognised in the latest Research Excellence Framework (2021), the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. 98% of our research is of international standing (REF 2021, combining 4*, 3* and 2* submissions – Education).

For more information, please visit the Institute of Education website.