Entrepreneurship and Early Childhood Studies

Study early childhood years whilst building a solid basis in entrepreneurship to give you the skills to launch your own business or bring innovation to an existing one.

Through your Early Childhood Studies modules, you will develop your academic, critical and practical skills in a range of professional services related to early childhood in the disciplines of health, education and social care. You will gain a broad knowledge base of theory and practice within the field of early childhood education and care, focussing on conception to the age of eight.  

Alongside this you will study a range of business and entrepreneurship modules, giving you valuable skills to start your own business, act in a freelance capacity or be enterprising within an SME or large company environment. 

Real-world experience 

You’ll have plenty of opportunities to build on your CV before you graduate with a range of industry experience and placement opportunities. You’ll have the chance to work on industry briefs solving problems for real businesses, and you can choose to take an entrepreneurship-based placement year between the second and third year of your degree. Our Early Childhood Studies modules have the option of completing assessed placement experiences within a diverse range of provisions.

Make a difference to society

Our Early Childhood Studies modules seek to meet the demand for the provision of integrated services for young children and their families. We aim to empower our graduates to act as agents for change, advocating for equality, diversity, and social justice through their professional roles across a range of sectors.

What is a Joint Honours degree?

A Joint Honours degree offers students the opportunity to study two subjects.

A Joint Honours degree is a great option if:

• You want to study two subjects you’re passionate about
• You’ve got a specific career in mind and want to create a tailored degree to prepare you for the future
• You want to study a new subject alongside one you’re already familiar with

The modules below indicate the range of modules you may study as part of this combination, however prescribed and optional modules will vary depending on whether you choose to study both subjects equally, or choose to major or minor in a subject. To find out exactly which modules you would study as part of your chosen combination please contact jhs@derby.ac.uk.

Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.

For your Early Childhood Studies modules you’ll be taught through: 

• lectures 
• seminar activities 
• tutorials to support you through your assessments and group work. 

Our Entrepreneurship programme incorporates a number of learning and teaching methods, such as:  

• formal lectures which will at times include expert speakers
• seminars: these can be tutor-led or student-led and can include discussions, critical analysis of reading, presentations, group work, debates and general problem solving, interaction with real businesses, case study analysis, computer lab work, practical analysis and formative assessment 
• tutorials: one-to-one sessions with a tutor to discuss the development of assignments 
• work experience projects 
• self-directed study. 

How you are assessed 

For your Early Childhood Studies modules, you’ll be assessed using:

• case studies
• essays
• independent research
• online tests
• posters, presentations and reports.

There are no exams. 

Our Entrepreneurship assessment takes place through a variety of methods which could include: 

• business reports  
• research and consultancy projects  
• presentations  
• design of digital materials such as videos, blogs or augmented reality posters  
• computer-based assessments. 

Our Early Childhood Studies graduates enter a diverse range of roles within the early childhood sector. Well-qualified and dedicated early childhood professionals are in demand across health, education and social care settings. Our graduates are now enjoying successful careers as early years practitioners and managers.

Your Entrepreneurship modules are designed to prepare you for an employed or self-employed career. This could be in fields such as:  

• Business   
• Human Resource Management   
• Finance  
• Marketing  
• PR  
• Sales  
• Project Management 

2025 entry

These are the typical qualification requirements for September 2025 entry.

Contextual offers may apply to students who meet certain criteria.

2025/26

Further information about our fees and support you may be entitled to.

Additional information about your studies

You will typically study your two subjects equally at stage one, before choosing whether you want to major in one subject at stages two and three.

Teaching hours

Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.

Course updates

The information provided on this page is correct at the time of publication but course content, costs and other individual course details do change from time to time and are updated as often as possible, so please do check these pages again when making your final decision to apply for a course. Any updated course details will also be confirmed to you at application, enrolment and in your offer letter.

If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.

Other courses you might like

• Early Childhood Studies BA (Hons)
• Business Management and Entrepreneurship BA (Hons)
• Education Studies with Foundation Year BA (Hons)
• Economics and Education Studies BA (Hons)
• Business Management BA (Hons)

Contact us

If you need any more information from us, eg on courses, accommodation, applying, car parking, fees or funding, please contact us and we will do everything we can to help you.