Early Learning and Teaching

About the programme

Objectives of study programme

To enable students to:
•    Research in the educational practice with the intention of acquiring and developing new knowledge;
•    Learn and understand the developmental characteristics of the child's early development;
•    Research the problems directly linked to the professional interest of individuals or educational institutions;
•    Develop critical attitudes, creativity and innovation in solving theoretical and practical problems and in finding solutions for their professional practice;
•    Understand thoroughly the theoretical and methodological concepts as well as to qualify for solving most demanding problems and for developing new knowledge independently;
•    Discover new solutions;
And train them for:
•    Leading the most demanding scientific research projects in the field of early learning;
•    Developing cooperative professional learning;
•    Abiding by professional ethics.
 
General competences acquired in the programme:

•    The competence of acquiring new knowledge independently as well as of researching educational phenomena and presenting the outcomes to the critical publics;
•    The competence of setting up the conditions, the processes and the responsibilities to lifelong learning through one’s own experience and in the cohesive societies;
•    The competence of cooperating and the competence of leading and guiding team and independent work;
•    The competence of critical understanding of conceptions and scientific points of departure and contemporary achievements that orient the student towards analysing and solving educational challenges and problems;
•    The competence of communicating and adequately using (verbal as well as non-verbal) communication resources and the use of modern technology;
•    The competence of understanding and of fostering tolerance and intercultural respect;
•    The competence of fostering the culture of being and developing awareness of the importance of nature, ecology, and psycho-physical health for humans;
•    The competence of preserving the sensitivity for arts, developing creative potentials of individuals and deepening the positive attitude towards cultural capital.
 
Subject specific competences acquired in the programme:  
•    The competence of preserving the sensitivity towards arts, developing the creative potentials of individuals and deepening the positive attitude towards cultural capital;
•    Developing and using research approach for acquiring new knowledge;
•    Developing the capability of critically considering data and making sense of them;
•    Paying attention to ethics and responsibility in exploring educational practice;
•    Paying attention to everyone participating in the research process;
•    Developing the capability of recognizing individualised approaches to the learning of children with special educational needs;
•    The capability of adapting the processes of learning to the children with various deficits, impediments, or disturbances;
•    The competence of researching in the field of early learning and teaching social sciences and presenting the outcomes to critical publics;
•    The capability of understanding and fostering tolerance, intercultural respect, democracy through learning and teaching social sciences;
•    Acquiring in-depth knowledge in the field of motion analysis, monitoring and evaluating the processes of psycho-motor learning and measuring the adaptation processes in certain subsystems of child’s organism;
•    The competence of using the principles of dynamic monitoring of learning potentials in education;
•    The competence of preserving sensitivity to arts, developing creative potential of the individual and deepening the positive attitude towards cultural capital, especially in the area of visual arts;
•    The competence of innovation and creativity in finding solutions to theoretical and practical problems in the area of early learning of sciences;
•    Allowing the cognizance and the feeling that with the support of a subtle motor formula motion functions as a transmitting network for the entrance of energy; allowing the students to feel the emergence of motion and the chain of muscles that take part in performing it;
•    The competence of communicating and of adequate use of communication sources (verbal and non-verbal) and of guiding team work in the field of early learning and of the use of modern technology;
•    The capability of understanding and critically evaluating the basic concepts of relationship between media and children;
•    The competence of critically considering theories in developmental psychology and early learning concepts;
•    The competence of choosing different approaches to teaching and learning according to the stages of development, individual differences between children, different social contexts;
•    The competence of self-evaluating the impact of informal and formal teaching in the infant and early childhood periods;
•    Understanding the role of technology in shaping the technological cultural identity in pre-school age;
•    Knowledge of mutual relationships between living and non-living nature, the flow of energy and functioning of living systems from the point of view of natural sciences and technological development;
•    Understanding the bases of adaptations in environment we live in, of basic regularities and processes in the environment, including the basic mechanisms of circulation of matter in environment;
•    Understanding the expected level of mathematical literacy in relation to the developmental stage and knowledge of mathematical notions and concepts;
•    The competence of choosing adequate linguistic signs and the adequate mode according to the speaking situation and the intentionality of communication;
•    The competence of using stylistic procedures of argumentation, illustrating, defining, clarifying, discussing;
•    The competence of choosing appropriate verbal and nonverbal science in creating a text;
•    Exploring psychosocial; sociocultural and socioeconomic factors of including modern learning environments into early learning and into professional learning of an educator/teacher.
•    Other subject specific competences are specified in the individual subject syllabi.
 

 
Enrolment conditions and selection criteria in case of limitated enrolment

Year one of the third cycle study programme Early Learning can be enrolled by those who have
•    Concluded a second cycle study programme;
•    Concluded an undergraduate academic study programme (a study programme adopted before 11 June 2004);
•    Concluded a study programme referred to in paragraph four  of Article 36 of the Higher Education Act, provided it corresponds to 300 credit points.
 
Criteria in case of limited enrolment
In case the number of registered candidates exceeds the number of available spaces, the following criteria apply for the selection of candidates:
•    Average assessment grade in preceding study (60 %);
•    Assessment grade of the final thesis in the preceding study cycle (40 %).
 
Enrolment into year two of doctoral study according to criteria for transfer
Directly into year two of the doctoral study the candidates can enrol who
a)       Have completed an (academic) scientific master study programme (programme for attaining the Master of Science title) adopted before 11 June 2004 in the fields of social sciences and humanities, whereby 60 credit points (ECTS) get recognized as the study requirements satisfied within the doctoral study programme.
b)       Have completed the (academic) scientific master study programme (programme for attaining the Master of Science title) adopted before 11 June 2004 in another field, whereby up to 60 credit points (ECTS) get recognized as the study requirements satisfied within the doctoral study programme, yet in the framework of the doctoral study programme the candidate must pass the first year compulsory subject  Modern concepts of leaning and teaching .
The competent commission of the Senate of the UP PEF decides on the exact amount of study requirements satisfied expressed in the number of credit points under b)  based on the documentation the candidate has submitted at registering for enrolment.
Conditions for progressing in the programme and concluding the studies
To progress into year two of the third cycle study programme Early Learning the candidate must have accumulated at least 48 CP (80 %) of the 60 CP in the first year of the study programme. In exceptional cases, based on a substantiated request by the candidate, addressed to the Commission for Study Affairs of the UP PEF, progressing to year two can also be granted with 36 CP accumulated. The remaining requirements must be satisfied before enrolling into year three. 
The conditions for enrolment into year three are all the study requirements of year one satisfied, at least 48 CP (80 %) of the 60 CP in the second year of the study programme accumulated, and the theme of doctoral dissertation approved.  In exceptional cases, based on a substantiated request by the candidate, addressed to the Commission for Study Affairs of the UP PEF, progressing to year three can also be granted with 36 CP accumulated. All the remaining requirements must be satisfied before defending the doctoral dissertation.
The student can enrol the same year again if she or he has accumulated at least 24 CP of this year.
Continuing studies according to criteria for transfer
General conditions for transfers are specified by the Criteria for Transfers between Study Programmes determined by the Slovenian Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. Treated as transfer between study programmes is giving up education in a study programme enrolled into by a student and continuing education in a new programme, when part of the study requirements or all the requirements the student has satisfied in the first programme are recognized as satisfied in the second programme.
The following criteria apply in case of transfer between programmes:
•    meeting the requirements for enrolment into the new study programme;
•    the number of study spaces available;
•    the year or semester in the previous study programme in which the student has satisfied all study requirements that can be recognized partly or as a whole.
Transfer between study programmes is possible if the transfer takes place between study programmes of the same degree of education, i.e. between third cycle study programmes.
Individual requests for transfer are dealt with by the authorized commission - the Commission for Study Affairs of the UP PEF, which in determining any additional requirements takes the candidate's previously concluded study programme into account.
 
Employability
The doctoral study programme Early Learning allows for in-depth understanding of theoretical and methodological conceptions and qualifies for independent development of new knowledge in the field of early childhood, for solving demanding problems in educational practice and in other situations related to children, and for introducing novelties to educational practice as well as for evaluating and improving them.
As a consequence of the multidimensionality and the complexity of the educational field, the graduates’ profile is broad and interdisciplinary. This is why the doctors who have successfully concluded the study programme acquire a broad and interdisciplinary scope of knowledges in social sciences and in humanities dealing with early childhood, and are qualified for scientific research work.
The doctoral study programme is designed to provide the graduates thorough training for the use of their expert knowledge in practice and especially for the analysis of complex situations and problems, to the solving of which they will be able to approach in a comprehensive, in-depth and creative way.