My Best course - Empowered by an MA

Charlotte Arculus is the resident music specialist at the Priory Children's Centre in Great Yarmouth, with a strong focus on working with families and babies from birth to three. She has worked widely at other Sure Start children's centres and is also the creative director of the Theatre of Adventure, which stages street theatre and installations for children and young people.

Ms Arculus explains that her work embeds music as an essential part of pedagogy and is all about encouraging children to vocalise, communicate and form relationships. This particularly applies to young children who are able to express themselves through musicality before they can speak.

Three years ago, she had got to a point in her working life where she had a track record and a lot of experience but didn't have any qualifications on paper. She was alerted to the Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) MA through the Music Leaders Network.

She was accepted on the basis of her impressive CV and opted for the Early Years Music module. She completed the MA in three years and says that the achievement has been empowering.

The MA in Education (Early Years) offered by CREC is run by Professors Chris Pascal and Tony Bertram at Birmingham City University. A total 180 postgraduate credits need to be achieved by undertaking a combination of the 60 credit modules offered.

Study is a combination of taught and research-based learning, with each module involving five face-to-face teaching days. Modules include Learning Outdoors in Early Childhood, Early Years Music, System Leadership and Mentoring and Coaching.

'I loved it and really enjoyed the academic side of it,' says Ms Arculus. 'Working in a creative field and being self-employed means I am very motivated, so applying myself was not a problem.

'It was great to be with other students who had hands-on jobs in relevant fields. It really was learning at its best.'

www.crec.co.uk/ma-in-education.