Psychology of Child Development and Education

MSc

  • Entry year 2026
  • Duration Full time 1 - 2 years, Part time 1 - 2 years

Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • Approved as postgraduate research training by the Economic and Social Research Council

  • Home to a large Infant and Child Development Lab

  • Work experience opportunities available through our Psychology Employability Programme

Understanding how humans learn, grow, and adapt as they age is crucial across a wide range of disciplines, including education and child support. Many critical developmental milestones occur before a child enters school (e.g., before birth, during infancy or the preschool period). Other skills and abilities continue to develop across the primary school years.

The MSc Psychology of Child Development and Education explores the cognitive foundations that underpin learning across this period, as well as the variety of developmental experiences, both typical and atypical. This provides a strong base for working with children.

Who is this programme for?

If you are looking to progress your career in the field of child development and education, this Master’s programme provides training in child development with a focus on its relevance to education. You may have an undergraduate degree in psychology or a related field or have experience working with children in educational or health settings.

Looking ahead to employability

Gain valuable knowledge and practical skills that demonstrate how psychological concepts operate in educational settings. Taught by expert researchers in this field, you will:

  • Develop in-depth knowledge of the very latest issues in developmental psychology and the research techniques used to address them
  • Develop powerful practical research skills, in analysis and in critical evaluation, that you can then use to work with evidence about children and development to resolve real-world challenges
  • Build highly employable skills in critical thinking, impactful communication, project management and teamwork

What to expect

You will explore how research directly impacts children’s lives, how to apply research methods to address your own questions, as well as ethical methods for conducting studies with children.

Through a series of core modules, you will examine development from the earliest stages of life through to primary school, learn how abilities and processes that support learning first emerge and develop, and understand ways in which development can be atypical, with a spotlight on a range of neurodevelopmental conditions, their detection, diagnosis and intervention.

You may work with neuroimaging, EEG, eye-tracking, ultrasound, fetal physiological measurement and computational modelling in our state-of-the-art developmental psychology labs.

In the final part of the degree, you’ll apply everything you’ve learned through a dissertation project. Working closely with an expert in the Department of Psychology, this will normally involve conducting a research project on an aspect of child development, with relevance to education. You will contribute evidence to answering real research questions, either as an independent researcher or working as part of a research team. This hands-on research experience is crucial for your professional development and will make you a standout candidate for future employment or for further study opportunities.

Three things we would like you to know

  • You will be taught by experts in cognitive development, prenatal development, curiosity, language and literacy, atypical development, and auditory neuroscience
  • Our Infant and Child Development Lab has excellent links with local schools and nurseries, providing the perfect setting for learning and research training
  • We offer the Psychology Employability Programme, where you can gain relevant work experience alongside your studies

Careers

With an understanding of human development, you are well-positioned to take advantage of a career path within the educational and child support sectors. Roles may include:

  • Early years, preschool and/or primary school teacher
  • Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator (SENDCO)
  • Childcare and childcare setting management
  • Social, family support and/or youth worker
  • Child protection officer
  • Education welfare officer

Other career routes could include teaching, research and educational or clinical psychology through further study. Your skills also transfer to fields such as human resources, marketing, data analytics and the civil service.

This is a new master’s programme - graduates of our previous programmes with a focus on developmental psychology include:

  • Clinical psychologist
  • Psychological wellbeing practitioner
  • Family welfare protection officer research fellow
  • Lecturer

Entry requirements

Academic requirements

2:2 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in Psychology, Education, Social Sciences, or a related discipline.

We will also consider applications on an individual basis where you have a degree in an unrelated subject. In these cases, you should clearly demonstrate how your experience and skills have prepared you for postgraduate study, in particular providing you with a background in child development, or working with children in educational settings.

English language requirements

We require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum of 6.0 in each element of the test.

We also consider other English language qualifications and if your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.

Help from our Admissions team

If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, complete our enquiry form and one of the team will get back to you.

We also have more details on our website about:

Pre-master's programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored pre-master's pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University master's degrees. Visit INTO Lancaster University for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Course structure

We continually review and enhance our curriculum to ensure we are delivering the best possible learning experience, and to make sure that the subject knowledge and transferable skills you develop will prepare you for your future. The University will make every reasonable effort to offer programmes and modules as advertised. In some cases, changes may be necessary and may result in new modules or some modules and combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.

Core

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Fees and funding

We set our fees on an annual basis and the 2026/27 entry fees have not yet been set.

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Scholarships and bursaries

Details of our scholarships and bursaries for 2026-entry study are not yet available, but you can use our opportunities for 2025-entry applicants as guidance.

Check our current list of scholarships and bursaries.

Important information

The information on this site relates primarily to the stated entry year and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

Our Students’ Charter

We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. Find out more about our  Charter and student policies.