Residential
The residential at the beginning of the second term in the first year provides the opportunity for you get to know other students and staff, while participating in student-programmed activities. The module takes place at a residential centre and there is no extra cost.
Year 1 (credit level 4)
In your first year you will study the following compulsory modules:
| Module title |
Credits |
Introduction to Community Development & Youth Work I
Introduction to Community Development & Youth Work I
15 credits
This module aims to provide a critical introduction to community development and youth work by exploring underlying values, defining ideas and contested purposes.
|
15 credits |
Introduction to Applied Research Methods I
Introduction to Applied Research Methods I
15 credits
This module will introduce students to the principles, traditions and approaches.
Assessment task:
Presentation (30 minutes, including 10 minutes for discussion).
Students will present in small groups a Community Profile, drawing on 56 hours of fieldwork practice.
|
15 credits |
Fieldwork Practice I
Fieldwork Practice I
30 credits
This module focuses on developing practice competence in a supported setting. Participants will relate their academic studies to the practice context where they will undertake professional tasks in a controlled and developmental way.
|
30 credits |
Race, Racism and Professional Practice.
Race, Racism and Professional Practice.
15 credits
This module aims to clarify definitions and understandings of racism and explore its manifestations.
|
15 credits |
Introduction to Group Work
Introduction to Group Work
15 credits
This module will provide an introduction to the value of group work in effecting change in attitudes, beliefs and practice. It will enable students to articulate social and political understandings of the impact of group work. It will introduce experiential group work alongside other significant models and theories. Students will be encouraged to develop their ability to synthesise theoretical understandings, enhance their group work skills and abilities, and assess how these might be applied within the participant group and in wider professional and social contexts. This is a highly interactive module in which participants will be expected to develop personal and professional insight through engagement in group work practice and group work facilitation.
|
15 credits |
Introduction to Applied Social Science
Introduction to Applied Social Science
30 credits
This module provides a broad critical introduction to social science understandings that are relevant to work with young people and communities. It will introduce key analytical frameworks for understanding social problems in the UK in particular. It will be concerned to explore the dynamic relationship between individual agency and social structure as it is reflected in a range of contemporary policy issues. The distinctions and connections between democratic and political structures and processes will be a focus of the module.
|
30 credits |
Year 2 (credit level 5)
In the second year, you take the following compulsory modules.
| Module title |
Credits |
Group Work in Theory
Group Work in Theory
15 credits
This module aims to examine a range of theoretical contributions to group work including group analysis, critical reflection models and group work for social justice, action and change.
|
15 credits |
Group Work in Practice
Group Work in Practice
15 credits
This module is designed to develop students’ understanding and ability to work effectively in groups, with each other and in practice situations.
|
15 credits |
Fieldwork Practice 2
Fieldwork Practice 2
30 credits
This module is focused primarily on students developing their own sense of professional identity. This fieldwork placement gives students the opportunity to consolidate existing knowledge and skills, and to develop new areas of interest.
|
30 credits |
Theory, Policy and Politics
Theory, Policy and Politics
15 credits
This module is intended to develop students’ ideological awareness, analytical skills and critical capacity to make cogent political arguments in their work.
|
15 credits |
Applied Research Methods 2
Applied Research Methods 2
15 credits
This module will build on the principles, traditions and approaches of social research and their application to community development and youth work practice introduced in year 1.
|
15 credits |
Community Development and Youth Work in Context
Community Development and Youth Work in Context
15 credits
The key aim of this module is to enable students to analyse the relationship between theoretical frameworks, contemporary policy imperatives and developments in community development and youth work practice. Students will be encouraged to critically explore key influences on the lives and lifestyles of adults and young people within their communities and wider society. The module will focus specifically on a range of perspectives and models of practice in the field of community development and youth work. Each session will seek to identify and analyse the innovations, contradictions and conflicts that characterise contemporary community development and youth work practice. The module will also engage with the challenges and dilemmas faced by the professional practitioner.
|
15 credits |
There are 6 compulsory modules – plus one option from the other 4.
| Module title |
Credits |
Arts in the Community
Arts in the Community
15 credits
This module aims to provide a theoretical and practical introduction to using the arts in community settings to explore and address issues of interest, need and concern.
|
15 credits |
Global Youth Work and International Development
Global Youth Work and International Development
15 credits
This module will introduce students to youth work policies and practice Pan Europe, as well in the Global South.
|
15 credits |
Youth Justice
Youth Justice
15 credits
This module will explore theories, policies and practices of Youth Justice in the UK.
|
15 credits |
Religion, Belief and Spirituality in Professional Practice
Religion, Belief and Spirituality in Professional Practice
15 credits
This is an interdisciplinary module which explores the links between religion, belief, and spirituality and professional practice. Western societies are increasingly religiously diverse, and law and guidance require engagement with the religion and belief identities of service users. Yet public discourse and professional training has been dominated by post-religious assumptions which impede a good quality of conversation and debate. Instead discourse has revolved around risks, controversies and crises poses by religion and belief, usually associated with sex, gender, money and violence. This module explores these discourses as starting points for practice with religiously diverse publics.
|
15 credits |
Year 3 (credit level 6)
In the third year you take the following compulsory modules:
| Module title |
Credits |
Fieldwork Practice 3
Fieldwork Practice 3
30 credits
The third year practice placement will offer students the opportunity to take more of a leadership or management role. They will be expected to take an active role in organising and managing sessions or projects, and to gain understanding of how funding is secured and evaluation is carried out.
|
30 credits |
Social Justice in Community Development and Youth Work
Social Justice in Community Development and Youth Work
15 credits
This module will explore the histories of community development and youth work in addressing issues of social justice as well as how issues of social justice are addressed in contemporary practice.
|
15 credits |
Management and Leadership
Management and Leadership
15 credits
This module focuses on the organisational context of community development and youth work practice in a variety of statutory and voluntary sector settings.
|
15 credits |
Critical Engagement with Social Policy
Critical Engagement with Social Policy
15 credits
This module aims to provide a creative and critical engagement with the social, economic, cultural and political forces influencing contemporary social policy.
|
15 credits |
Dissertation
Dissertation
30 credits
The dissertation itself is characterised by independent study and should demonstrate in-depth critical analysis, professional relevance and knowledge of appropriate research and enquiry approaches.
|
30 credits |
You then choose one option from the following list:
| Module title |
Credits |
Faith-based youth work
Faith-based youth work
15 credits
This module will explore historical and contemporary faith-based youth work practice.
|
15 credits |
Conflict Transformation
Conflict Transformation
15 credits
This module is designed to offer greater insight into and understanding of the dilemmas and possibilities implied in conflict transformation and reconciliation.
|
15 credits |
Enterprise in Communities
Enterprise in Communities
15 credits
This module will introduce students interested in working in the private, public or third sector and/or developing and leading their own youth and community provision using a more entrepreneurial approach.
|
15 credits |
Teaching style
This programme is taught through a mixture of lectures, seminars and workshops. You’ll also be expected to undertake a significant amount of independent study. This includes carrying out required and additional reading, preparing topics for discussion, and producing essays or project work.
The following information gives an indication of the typical proportions of learning and teaching for each year of this programme*:
Year 1 - 10% scheduled learning, 76% independent learning, 14% placement hours
Year 2 - 10% scheduled learning, 82% independent learning, 8% placement hours
Year 3 - 10% scheduled learning, 79% independent learning, 10% placement hours
How you’ll be assessed
You’ll be assessed through a combination of coursework, assignment, presentation, dissertation, self-reflection reports and portfolio.
The following information gives an indication of how you can typically expect to be assessed on each year of this programme*:
- Year 1 - 81% coursework, 19% practical
- Year 2 - 100% coursework
- Year 3 - 94% coursework, 6% practical
*Please note that these are averages are based on enrolments for 2020/21. Each student’s time in teaching, learning and assessment activities will differ based on individual module choices. Find out more about how this information is calculated.
Credits and levels of learning
An undergraduate honours degree is made up of 360 credits – 120 at Level 4, 120 at Level 5 and 120 at Level 6. If you are a full-time student, you will usually take Level 4 modules in the first year, Level 5 in the second, and Level 6 modules in your final year. A standard module is worth 30 credits. Some programmes also contain 15-credit half modules or can be made up of higher-value parts, such as a dissertation or a Major Project.
Download the programme specification. If you would like an earlier version of the programme specification, please contact the Quality Office.
Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.
For 2021-22 and 2020–21, we have made some changes to how the teaching and assessment of certain programmes are delivered. To check what changes affect this programme, please visit the programme changes page.
