Adults and pupils in an early years setting.

Year of study

2025

Key details

Start date(s)
September 2025
Location
Main Campus (Horsforth)
School
Children, Young People and Families
Study Mode
Full-time (2 years)

Are you a practitioner, working with babies and young children from 0-8 years and their families? Do you want to develop your career in early education, aligning with the specific and specialised remit of early years sector qualifications?

This work-based learning foundation degree provides you with the opportunity to develop in-depth knowledge of early education, reflective leadership and therapeutic interventions, while applying these within your practice to shape the lives of children and families within your care.

This course is subject to validation. You can still apply for this course while it is being approved.

The Student Contract

About this course

The FdA Early Years Leadership will provide you with the knowledge, behaviours and skills required to work effectively within the early years sector and lead its ongoing professionalism.

You’ll investigate the role of early education and care in the creation of a fair and inclusive society, including how early years practices can impact the life chances of children and their families.

The modules you'll study cover themes and subjects that are at the forefront of research-informed early years practice, challenging the inequalities of childhood and developing sustainable outcomes that make positive change. Specific areas of interest are built throughout each year of the programme.

This is a DfE-recognised ‘full and relevant’ qualification, which means on completion of this Foundation Degree you are qualified to be included within staff:child ratios within early years settings.

This foundation degree will connect your work-based experiences with the skills, behaviours and knowledge needed to gain a full degree (after progression to a Level 6 ‘top-up’ Professional Practice programme), continuing your career progression.

This degree is studied alongside your existing work commitments.  The course is full-time for two years, during which time you'll attend University for one afternoon/evening per week (Tuesdays 1:00- 6:00pm) in addition to a minimum of two days (12 hours) per week in work-based practice.

Accreditation

Logo for a Higher Technical Qualification (HTQ).

This qualification is an IfATE approved Higher Technical Qualification (HTQ) aligned to the Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner standard.

Why study with us 

  • Professional development route for early years practitioners to gain a degree alongside working in practice.
  • Specific focus on supporting the developing needs of babies, young children and their families.
  • Learn and develop practice from critical reflection and developing leadership qualities.
  • Become a socially just practitioner, challenging inequalities and supporting equality.
  • Recognise and address inequity in society and embrace an anti-bias approach.
Student studying at LTSU Trini-tea Central..

Course modules

You will study a variety of modules across your programme of study. The module details given below are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

Year 1

During your first year, you'll study four core modules.

Reflective Practitioner Children's Health, Care and Relational Wellbeing Supporting Children’s Learning and Development Diverse Childhoods

Year 2

During your second year, you'll study four core modules.

Safeguarding and Child Protection Sustainable Leadership Equitable Inclusive Education Reflective Research Informed Practice

Learning and teaching

A variety of assessment methods are used, matched to the learning outcomes for your programme, allowing you to apply and demonstrate the full range of knowledge and skills that you have developed.

This includes negotiated assessment topics between student and academic tutor as well as summative assessments methods such as presentations, live professional discussions, collaborative groupwork, formal essays, practical skills assessments and reflective e-portfolios.

For more details on specific assessment methods for this course contact hello@leedstrinity.ac.uk

 

Programme delivery

Your time on campus, learning through in-person teaching, is at the heart of your academic experience and the way we deliver our programmes. This is supported and further enhanced by additional engagement activities and opportunities provided online and through digital teaching materials. This blended approach seeks to ensure a positive learning and teaching student experience.

Your programme of study has been carefully designed around a three-phase model of delivery:

  1. Preparation: You will be given clear tasks to support you in preparing for live teaching. This could include watching a short-pre-recorded lecture, reading a paper or text chapter or preparing other material for use in class.
  2. Live: All your live teaching will be designed around active learning, providing you with valuable opportunities to build on preparation tasks, interact with staff and peers, and surface any misunderstandings.
  3. Post: Follow-up activities will include opportunities for you to check understanding, for staff to receive feedback from you and your peers to inform subsequent sessions, and for you to apply learning to new situations or context.

Preparation, Live and Post teaching and learning and the digital materials used will vary by course, but will be designed to help you structure your learning, take a full and active part in your course, and apply and test your developing knowledge and skills.

Learning and teaching

At Leeds Trinity we aim to provide an excellent student experience and provide you with the tools and support to help you achieve your academic, personal and professional potential.

Our Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy delivers excellence by providing the framework for:

  • high quality teaching
  • an engaging and inclusive approach to learning, assessment and achievement
  • a clear structure through which you progress in your academic studies, your personal development and towards professional-level employment or further study.

We have a strong reputation for developing student employability, supporting your development towards graduate employment, with relevant skills embedded throughout your programme of study.

We endeavour to develop curiosity, confidence, courage, ambition and aspiration in all students through the key themes in our Learning and Teaching Strategy:

  • Student Involvement and Engagement
  • Inclusion
  • Integrated Programme and Assessment Experience
  • Digital Literacy and Skills
  • Employability and Enterprise

To help you achieve your potential we emphasise learning as a collaborative process, with a range of student-led and real-world activities. This approach ensures that you fully engage in shaping your own learning, developing your critical thinking and reflective skills so that you can identify your own strengths and weaknesses, and use the extensive learning support system we offer to shape your own development.

We believe the secret to great learning and teaching is simple: it is about creating an inclusive learning experience that allows all students to thrive through:

  • Personalised support
  • Expert lecturers
  • Strong connections with employers
  • An international outlook
  • Understanding how to use tools and technology to support learning and development

Entry requirements

Leeds Trinity University is committed to recruiting students with talent and potential and who we feel will benefit greatly from their academic and non-academic experiences here. We treat every application on its own merits; we value highly the experience you illustrate in your personal statement.

Information about the large range of qualifications we accept, including A-Levels, BTECs and T Levels, can be found on our entry requirements page. If you need additional advice or are taking qualifications that are not covered in the information supplied, please contact our Admissions Office.

For our foundation degree, you must have:

  • at least one year of relevant work experience or volunteering
  • a Level 3 qualification, such as BTEC, CACHE qualifications, A-Level, or if you do not hold one of these, you could be asked to complete a Level 3 entry essay if you have significant previous relevant work experience
  • GCSE English Language or English Literature at Grade C or 4 or above (or accepted equivalent such as level 2 Functional Skills in English)
  • Support from your workplace to join the programme and a written reference from your employer which will also confirm whether you already have a DBS check

This course is not available to students on a Student Route Visa.

Fees and finance

Funding

UK Home Students:

Tuition fees cost £5,000 a year for this course in 2025/26.

Depending on government policy, tuition fees may change in future years.

Leeds Trinity offers a range of bursaries and scholarships to help support you while you study.

Additional costs

We advise students that there may be additional course costs in addition to annual tuition fees. These include:

  • Books - recommended and required reading lists will be provided at the start of your course. All the books and e-books are available from our Library to borrow but you may choose to purchase your own.
  • Print costs - the University provides students with a £6 printing credit each academic year which can be topped up either on campus or online.

How to apply

Get in touch

Complete and submit the online application form via the link below.

The admissions team will acknowledge receipt of your application, and aim to make a decision within two weeks of receiving your application.

If you've been made an offer, you'll need to accept or decline by emailing admissions@leedstrinity.ac.uk.

There is no official closing date for applications, but the course will be closed when it is full. We therefore encourage you to make your application as early as possible.

Please ensure you complete the application form in full and supply all the required supporting documentation when you make your initial application. Incomplete applications may be rejected.

If you need advice on your application, please contact our admissions team on 0113 283 7123 (Monday to Thursday, 9.00am to 5.00pm, or Friday 9.00am to 4.00pm) or admissions@leedstrinity.ac.uk

Apply now

Before making you an offer for this course, we require your employer to send us a completed Employer Approval to Study Form.

You are therefore advised to ask your employer to complete the Employer Approval to Study Form before you submit your online application form. We will email you the Employer Approval to Study Form when we receive your application, however, to speed up the process, we encourage you to send this to your employer before you submit your application form.

Your employer should email the completed form to admissions@leedstrinity.ac.uk as soon as possible.



Download Employer Approval to Study form

Graduate opportunities

Providing you with the opportunity to develop the professional skills and experience you need to launch your career is at the heart of everything we do at Leeds Trinity University.

On successful completion of the FdA Early Years Leadership, you’ll be able to progress on to our top-up degree in Professional Practice. This will lead to a full BA Honours degree in your chosen pathway after an additional year of study.

Once a full degree has been achieved, many of our graduates continue into postgraduate study. Our Children, Young People and Families postgraduate provision covers a wide range of topics. 

After you graduate, Careers and Placements will help you as you pursue your chosen career through our mentoring scheme, support with CV and interview preparation and access to graduate employability events.

To find out how we can help you make your career ambitions a reality, visit:

Careers

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