School of Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport

Children leaving school

We enhance the lives of millions of people throughout the world as we advance The Open University’s mission of social justice and social mobility for the 21st Century.

All our work is underpinned by our commitment to openness, achieved through:

use of open media, resources and practices
a ground-breaking curriculum and inspiring, direct and engaging pedagogy
innovative approaches to student support
research that contributes to nationally and globally important practices, policies and debates in education, childhood, youth and sport.
We support individuals, communities, employers and policy makers to realise their ambitions, and to change their own and others’ lives for the better. In doing so we assert a commitment to social justice and personal and professional development.

The school currently has 8 qualification areas covering childhood and youth, youth work, sport and fitness, primary and early years – offered in the UK and beyond. Programmes range from Access modules (pre undergraduate Level 1) to Postgraduate Research. The school is composed of just over 500 Associate lecturers, over 14,000 students and 75 members of staff. In addition we have a long history of running international projects in, for example, Africa, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

Many of our academics are active members of the Education Futures research cluster within the Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology (CREET), which is one of the leading education research units in the UK. The School of Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport is also home to the pioneering Children's Research Centre.