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Early Years Initial Teacher Training (EYTS) - Graduate Employment Route PT

2026-27 (also available for 2025-26)

Start date

27 August 2026

Duration

12 months part-time

Places available (subject to change)

10

About the course

Reasons to study

  1. Progress your Career - Upon completion of this course, you'll be awarded Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS).
  2. Work Placement Opportunities - Develop your teaching and leadership skills.
  3. Part-time Course - Fit your studies around your existing job in the sector.

Are you passionate about working with children and their families? Do you aspire to shape high-quality early years provision and champion childhood development? If so, our Early Years Initial Teacher Training (EYITT) course is perfect for you.

This course will equip you with the skills and knowledge to deliver outstanding practice while staying aligned with the latest government reforms in education. With a focus on preparing young children for the best possible start in life, you’ll gain the expertise needed to make a real difference.

Why Choose Early Years Initial Teacher Training?

You’ll earn Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS), a prestigious qualification awarded by the Department for Education and the Teaching Regulation Agency that recognises the significant role you’ll have in working with young children.

Throughout the course, you’ll delve into the foundations of early childhood education, exploring the role of play, different curriculum models, and the influence of key research and theories on government policies.

Exceptional Learning Opportunities

Our course is delivered in partnership with a network of outstanding Early Years settings and schools. As part of your training, you’ll be required to undertake two compulsory placements totalling six weeks providing you with the opportunity to:

  • Broaden your understanding of diverse early years environments.
  • Enhance your teaching and leadership skills in new contexts.
  • Build meaningful connections within the early years education community.

Course detail

In order to achieve EYTS you will experience a range of training, development and assessment activities that vary according to your individual learning and development needs. To ensure national consistency, all trainees, irrespective of their training and pathway, are assessed for competence against the 8 Teachers’ Standards (Early Years) at the end of their course.

The University of Huddersfield aims to support you through personalised provision that supports you to demonstrate your abilities across the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). You will take part in work-based learning, workshops and training events. You will be expected to work with a mentor of your choice that is part of your existing workplace team. Your chosen mentor should have experience of delivering and leading practice in the EYFS.

All the training and assessment we deliver will be based on the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (DfE 2024). You are required to be proactive in reviewing taught sessions with peer groups, tutors and mentors to ensure you deepen your knowledge and understanding of quality practice and how this supports your understanding of the Teachers’ Standards (Early Years).

You will be offered ideas to structure your work-based learning, which you will need to negotiate with colleagues in the work place. Additional reading and desk-based research will be suggested. You are strongly recommended to use timetabled study days to build your underpinning knowledge and understanding of theory and practice in the Foundation Stage.

The course is delivered online every two weeks for a duration of 6 hours per session. There are also tutorials and face-to-face engagement during workplace and additional placement visits. This equates to no more than 20 days, across the academic year in which you will need to be released from you setting to engage with the course.

You’ll be required to undertake a four-week placement in a setting that is different to your own plus an additional two week placement in a Key Stage one class in school.

The course is assessed through course work, including observations of your practice in the workplace. You’ll typically be assessed against the eight professional standards for Early Years Teachers (NCTL, 2013). There are no timed tests or exams. The assessment on the course allows you to demonstrate your practical knowledge and skills alongside developing your critical and theoretical understanding of the subject. The assessment builds on your particular interests and context and is likely to have outcomes that will be of benefit to your professional life and to your employer. You will be provided with guidance to help you develop your assignment work.

Further information

The teaching year for most courses normally starts in September with breaks at Christmas and Easter, finishing with a main examination/assessment period around May/June. Teaching on other courses including professional courses, postgraduate taught, research, distance learning and apprenticeship may have other start dates including January and May. All start dates can be found on each course page and term dates are also available. Timetables are normally available one month before registration.

Our courses are taught at our University campus and you can expect that your lectures and seminars will be held face to face, except in cases of emergency or if specifically stated otherwise in the module description.

Feedback (usually written) is normally provided on all coursework submissions within three term time weeks – unless the submission was made towards the end of the session in which case feedback would be available on request after the formal publication of results. Feedback on exam performance/final coursework is available on request after the publication of results.

You may progress to the next stage of your course or research degree, subject to meeting University assessment criteria and professional, statutory or regulatory body guidelines.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for this course are normally:

  • Ordinary or Honours degree

In addition you must also:

  • Have GCSE or equivalent in English, Maths and Science at grade 4 or above, or grade C if awarded under the previous GCSE grading scheme, prior to application.
  • undergo Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and health clearances
  • currently be working with children up to the age of five in either an early years setting or in a school nursery/reception class, or as a registered child minder
  • be able to communicate in standard spoken and written English
  • complete a satisfactory interview

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements page.

All conditions must be met by 31 August for entry in September in the year of application.

Postgraduate Open Days


Learn more about Postgraduate Study at one of our upcoming Open Days

Come along to an on-campus Postgraduate Open Day and discover all there is to know about our wide range of postgraduate taught courses, research degrees and professional development options at the University of Huddersfield. 

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Placements


During your time on the course, you will be required to undertake two compulsory placements.

  • Placement one: A four-week placement in a classroom setting different from your current role.
  • Placement two: A two-week placement within a Key Stage 1 classroom.

Throughout these placements, your progress will be assessed through classroom observations and the contributions you make to your online portfolio.

Your career


Previous graduates from courses in this subject area have gone on to work in a variety of roles such as Early Years Teacher, Community Education Officer, Learning Mentor, Education Consultant, Family Support Worker and Education Mental Health Practitioner.*

*Source: Prospects
**Percentage of graduates from the School of Business, Education and Law who are in work and/or further study fifteen months after graduating (HESA Graduate Outcomes 21/22, UK domiciled graduates).

91.3%** Graduates employed

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Research excellence

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Through research our staff remain up to date with the latest developments in their field, which means they can help you to develop knowledge and skills that are current and highly relevant.

Find out more about our research staff and centres.

Important information

Although we always try and ensure we deliver our courses as described, sometimes we may have to make changes for the following reasons

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by our terms and conditions, Handbook of Regulations and associated policies. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan.

Although we always try and ensure we deliver our courses as described, sometimes we may have to make changes for the following reasons

Changes to a course you have applied for but are not yet enrolled on

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment. We may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and we will discuss with you other suitable courses we can transfer your application to. If you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

Changes to option modules:

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have an equivalent range of options to that advertised for the course. We will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes:

We will only make major changes to non-optional modules on a course if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change is a change that substantially changes the outcomes, or a significant part of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum. For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators or a commissioning or accrediting body. We may also make changes to improve the course in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback or to ensure you are being taught current best practice. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to damage or interruption to buildings, facilities or equipment, or pandemics.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but may happen sooner in an emergency. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will carry out suitable consultation. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you contact us in writing before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for future tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed in accordance with the student protection plan.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.

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