Youth Work and Community Development MA/PG Dip

Course modules

This course consists of five core modules, one core field placement module, and one  option module. Opportunities exist to exit with a PG Dip, gaining the professional qualification at this stage, or complete the dissertation for a full MA.

Core modules include:

• Theory and Practice of Youth Work - introduces key concepts in youth and community development work: political (policy), sociological, philosophical, historical and psychological (core for Youth Work and Community Development course only)
• Theory and Practice of Community Development - focuses on community development and introduces key concepts in relation to practice, policy and the national occupation standards
• Anti-oppressive Practice - analyses concepts of oppression, discrimination and inequality and develops effective anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice
• Health and Social Research Methods - introduces strategies and methods of social science research commonly used in social and healthcare settings
• Field Practice - is practice - based (150 hours) and provides you with the opportunity to further develop your experience and understanding of the role of the informal educator at JNC professional range in an adult and community work setting different to your usual workplace, where you will undertake 500 hours mainly with young people
• Management of Services and People - increases self-confidence and performance as a manager of people and projects within a youth work and community development environment

Plus choose one module from a range of specialist modules, depending on your specific career interests:

• Mental Health
• Contemporary Social Issues
• Global Issues in Youth and Community Development
• Managing Race and Diversity
• The Negotiated Module - allows you to formulate, present and implement an individual proposal in an area of professional relevance and interest

Please contact us for option module descriptions and further information.

• Dissertation - students wishing to achieve a master's will choose a youth and community development related topic identified in discussion with academic staff

Teaching and assessment

All core modules and most optional modules are launched during one of two block teaching weeks held each year (usually in October and January). Attendance at launch days is compulsory. These are supported by a wide variety of written material, individual and organisational tasks.

You are required to engage in a number of online seminars in each module, and you are required to identify a supervisor who will primarily support your field practice, but may also provide a dialogue partner to discuss wider issues arising from the course. You will complete a minimum of 600 hours of field practice, of which 450 hours will be based in your own workplace, paid or voluntary, and 150 hours must be outside of your employing agency.

Through flexible distance learning, you will engage in a supportive learning community.

Assessment is usually by written assignment of 4,000 words per 15-credit module. Field practice assessment requires written evidence, assignments and reports of competence from the supervisor.

Teaching contact hours

This course is taught via distance learning. Compulsory attendance, when there are direct contact hours with staff, is for two block teaching weeks per year when teaching is timetabled for seven hours each day, and when the dissertation is launched.

Following each block week tutors teach via module guides and their integral activities, directed reading, e-seminars or on line action learning sets. Typically this means there is weekly tutor contact via written interventions in the seminars and oral interventions in the sets which are normally for student groups of between six and sixteen students. Personal tutorials and dissertation supervision are either conducted by telephone, or face to face for students studying full time and based in or near Leicester.

Contact hours per week depend on the teaching method used, whether students are studying full or part time and which modules they are studying. The majority of the learning is via personal study – typically six to eight hours studying and revising in your own time each week for part time students (more for full time students), including substantial guided study using module guides, directed readings, online activities, etc. Each student is assigned a practice tutor who will monitor their practice development and meet via telephone or skype at least four times with the student and supervisor over the duration of their assessed practice.

Academic expertise

The department is home to the National Youth Work Collection and has one of the largest teams in the UK. In the past six years, the authors in the division have published nine books and a range of papers. Staff work with a range of organisations that work with young people and communities including charities, voluntary and statutory agencies at local, national and international levels.

Thematic areas of interest include:

• A specialist expertise and interest in global youth and community development work (resulting in numerous conferences and publications by Dr Momodou Sallah, a leading expert in this area, who has also been recently awarded The Times Higher Education Most Innovative  Teacher of the Year
• Work with black young people (again, resulting in key conferences and texts by Dr Carlton Howson and Dr Momodou Sallah)
• Youth participation and citizenship
• Anti-oppressive practice (Dr Jagdish Chouhan)
• Hospital and other health-related youth work (Dr Scott Yates)
• The context, management and operation of children and young people’s services (Mary Tyler)