Early Childhood and Health & Wellbeing

Early childhood and health and wellbeing is a combination that addresses two of the most foundational concerns of human development and public life. Early childhood studies provides an in-depth understanding of the period from birth to around eight years of age, examining how children develop physically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially, and how the environments and relationships they experience shape those processes. Health and wellbeing broadens the scope, exploring how physical and mental health are maintained and supported across the life course, and what role policy, services, and community play in enabling people to flourish.

At Liverpool Hope, this four-year full-time programme develops both strands within a curriculum that takes the rights and needs of young children seriously, and that also engages with the wider health and social context in which childhood is lived. You will study child development, pedagogical approaches, safeguarding, and the effects of local and global inequalities on children's lives, alongside the science and policy of health and wellbeing. A foundation year is available for students who need additional preparation.

A sandwich year in industry, a year abroad, and a work placement are all built in, giving you substantial professional experience in relevant settings and an international perspective on how children's health and early learning are supported in different cultural contexts.

Graduates are prepared for careers in early years settings, children's services, health promotion, community support, family support work, and related fields. The combination of early childhood knowledge and health and wellbeing understanding is particularly valuable in integrated children's services, where practitioners need to work across traditional professional boundaries. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study, professional qualifications in early years education or social work, or further training in health-related fields.