With a variety of potential careers in childhood and youth and an increasingly competitive employment market, graduates need to combine a strong academic grounding with a clear professional focus that prepares them for the workplace. The BA in Childhood and Youth: Theory and Practice does this by incorporating practice placements in the first two years of the degree, along with a further opportunity to experience work in children's services during the final-year research project. A variety of practice placements are available to our students and including schools, early years, youth work and family services.
Placements in Year 1 are linked to a module on social pedagogy, a theoretical discipline which informs work with children and young people in many European countries.
In Year 2, observational placements are based around a module, Working with Children and Young People, studied jointly students on the BA in Social Work.
In each of these modules, students spend the equivalent of one day a week for five weeks on placement. During placements, students keep diaries reflecting their observations. Seminars and tutorials also provide opportunities for the discussion of links between theory and practice experiences.