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Youth Work and Social Education (ETS Endorsed) (Part-time) (BA Hons)

Carmarthen
6 Years Part-time
80 UCAS Points

Youth Work and Social Education (BA) (ETS Endorsed) offers a professional qualification for students, and through a social science lens it explores current and contemporary challenges that are faced by young people, including:

  • Trauma
  • Adverse Childhood Experiences
  • Substance misuse
  • County Lines
  • Children’s Rights
  • Health and Well-being
  • The impact of relationships

The degree triangulates theory, policy and practice in an applied manner to enable graduates to be both excellent academics and excellent practitioners.

Known often as the ‘best kept secret’, youth work is a powerful approach to supporting young people to build resilience and resourcefulness, and to achieve their full potential.  Youth work is based on developing good, positive relationships with young people, and acts as the foundation for supporting young people through a range of issues.  This is why the youth work degree is often viewed by other professions as a highly desirable qualification.

Course details

Start date:
Study modes:
  • On-campus
  • Part-time
Language:
  • English
  • Welsh
  • Bilingual
Course length:
6 Years Part-time
Entry requirements:
80 UCAS Points

Tuition Fees 2023/24 and 24/25
Home (Full-time): £9,000 per year
Overseas (Full-time): £13,500 per year

Why choose this course?

01
Gain a professionally endorsed qualification and an academic degree.
02
Explore practice with young people and their communities through engaging in youth work placement opportunities each year in wide-ranging young people and community settings.
03
Preparation for employment opportunities such as youth justice, health and well-being, community development, social enterprise and the police.

What you will learn

Youth Work and Social Education (BA) (ETS Endorsed) degree will equip students to be able to work with young people, communities and families, and to be practitioners who are fit for purpose in the 21st century.  Through a social science lens, the programme will explore practice with young people and their communities in an applied manner, with a clear commitment to social justice, anti-oppressive practice, and underpinned by the core values and principles of youth work.

The course prepares students to become professionals to work with young people around a variety of issues – issues which are very current in today’s society, such as Child Sexual Exploitation, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Homelessness, Substance Misuse, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Poverty and Obesity among young people – and exploring these in an applied manner, drawing on current research and best practice to equip graduates to be highly effective and reflective in their chosen fields.  The programme aligns fully with Welsh Government’s commitment to “develop and strengthen specific provision aimed at supporting and improving outcomes for more vulnerable or marginalised young people’’ (WG, 2019, p.13).

Compulsory

Professional Practice: Principles and Contexts of Work with Young People

(20 credits)

Youth Work Practice 1: preparing the workforce

(20 credits)

Compulsory 

Understanding Adolescence

(20 credits)

Counselling Skills, Mindfulness and Therapeutic Practice

(20 credits)

Young People and Society 1: Advocacy, Empowerment, Participation and Rights

(20 credits)

Compulsory 

Social Research for Professional Practice

(20 credits)

Youth Work Practice 2: Developing Practice

(40 credits)

Compulsory 

Supervision, Leadership and Management for Professionals

(20 credits)

No one is too small to make a difference: Working with young people to create a climate of change

(20 credits)

Young People and Society 2: Mental Health, Well-being and Adverse Childhood Experiences

(20 credits)

Compulsory 

Dissertation

(60 credits)

Youth Work Practice 3: Leading and Managing

(20 credits)

Compulsory 

Young People in Focus

(20 credits)

Young People and Society 3: Trauma, Exploitation and Toxic Childhood

(20 credits)

Young People's Well-being and Resilience

(20 credits)

Course Disclaimer

  • We listen to student feedback and insights from industry and from professionals to ensure that course content is high-quality and up-to-date, and that it offers the best possible preparation for your future career or study goals. 

    For this reason, there might be modifications to the content of your course over time, to keep up to date with changes in the subject area or in the sector. If a module is no longer running, we’ll make sure to keep you informed, and work with you to choose a different suitable module.

testimonial

Staff

Our People

You will be taught and supported by a wide range of professional staff and teams here to help you get the university experience you are looking for. Our teaching staff were ranked 2nd in Wales for assessments and feedback (NSS 2023) meaning the comments you get back from your work will help you learn. Our commitment to your learning has seen our students us as Top 10 in the UK for Lecturers and Teaching Quality. Find out more about our academic staff who teach across our courses. 

Accommodation

Carmarthen Accommodation

Carmarthen Accommodation

Carmarthen has a variety of accommodation and we guarantee accommodation for 1st Years with availability for your 2nd and 3rd Years. Based on our Carmarthen campus you will be right in the middle of everything, with options to suit all budgets. 

Further information

    • All applicants will be required to provide a satisfactory enhanced disclosure Child and Adult Workforce document from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
    • The programme requirements are between 80 and 96 points and above, however entry to the programme is based on individual merit.
    • Due to the professional endorsement of the degree programme, all applicants need to have at least 100 hours of recent and relevant Youth Work experience.
  • Assessments are designed to reflect the requirements of the field and develop wide-ranging employability skills in students.  There are no exams.

  • Mandatory: 
    None.

    Necessarily incurred: 
    Travel costs to and from placements (one placement at each level of study).

    Optional:
    Students who decide to take the opportunity to study abroad for one semester at Level 5 will incur additional costs associated with this;
    Potential residential activity at Level 6 may incur additional costs.

  • You may be eligible for funding to help support your study. To find out about scholarships, bursaries and other funding opportunities that are available please visit our Scholarships and Bursaries section.

  • There is also an opportunity for students to study abroad as part of their studies in the second year, in Finland or British Columbia.

  • Due to their aspirations when applying for a place on the degree programme, many of our graduates find employment directly in the youth work field, in both the voluntary and maintained sectors.  However, the youth work qualification is known for its transferability to wider associated fields, thus demonstrating how the skills that the graduates have developed while studying on the degree programme can be transferred into many settings, and skills that are welcomed within multidisciplinary teams.

    Here are some specific examples of graduate destinations:

    • Face to face youth work in a range of contexts including in schools, corporate parenting teams, post-16 work, Local Authority youth homeless projects
    • Education Welfare Officer
    • Work with organisations focussing on issues including substance misuse, projects which support homeless young people and others that focus on adoption, looked after young people, and young adult carers
    • Community education
    • Youth justice
    • Local Health Board
    • Students Union President
    • PGL Activity Instructor and Group Leader
    • Young People’s Peer Mentor for a national mental health charity
    • Emotional Health Worker for a Local Authority Youth Service
    • CAMHS Support Worker
    • Family Support for young people with disabilities
    • Post-16 Youth Worker for a Local Authority Youth Service
    • Youth Worker with the Corporate Parenting Team at Local Authority Youth Service
    • Unit Co-ordinator with a Childcare Team at a Local Authority
    • Corporate Manager at a Local Authority Youth Service
    • Senior Youth Officers at a Local Authority Youth Service

    Many graduates decide to engage in further study. Recent graduates’ MA programmes include:

    • Children and Young People: Health and Wellbeing (MA), UWTSD
    • Children and Young People: Children’s Rights (MA), UWTSD
    • Women and Child Abuse (MA), London Metropolitan University
    • Criminology and Criminal Justice (MA), Swansea University
    • Social Enterprise (MSc), Stirling University

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