Working with Children, Young People and Families with a Foundation Year

Our BA (Hons) Working with Children, Young People and Families course has at its heart a strong commitment to social justice and equalities. We will provide you with a range of teaching and learning experiences to build on your existing skills and motivation so that you can contribute to a changing society, particularly with services who work with, or for, vulnerable children, young people and their families.

Foundation year

The BA (Hons) Working with Children, Young People and Families with a Foundation Year course has been specifically designed to support your transition to degree-level study in Education. As a student, you will undertake a foundation year situated at level 3 study, which has been designed as a prelude to your chosen degree course, providing opportunities for you to develop your knowledge, skills and understanding. Your learning journey through your foundation year will provide a secure platform on which you can build throughout your academic career in higher education.

As part of the foundation year, you will explore and develop a number of essential academic, interpersonal and professional skills that will help you succeed in your future degree level studies.

On successful completion of your foundation year, you are guaranteed to progress on to the first year of the BA (Hons) Working with Children, Young People and Families degree. If you are interested in progressing on to one of our other Education and Social Work degrees, this will be subject to space available on those courses and on meeting the relevant entry requirements, which may include passing an interview.

What's covered in this course?

With a focus on personal and professional development, our course will support you to understand the complexities of working with children, young people, and their families, in theory and in practice. We want to support you so that you can develop into an effective agent of change, making a difference to vulnerable children and young people, and providing family support.

Many people who choose to undertake this degree do so because they want to make a difference. The rights of children and young people, and a commitment to social justice, equity, sustainability, anti-discrimination, community empowerment and collective action are at the centre of what we believe, teach and research. As you progress through the course you will work and learn together with experienced tutors and professionals to become a confident and competent advocate of children and young people, developing your own personal and professional skills so that you can be influential in developing sustainable practice, provision, and policy in your future career.

We will encourage you to develop your communication skills in a supportive and nurturing learning environment. Drawing on our close interaction and partnerships with the sector, as well as digital technologies, case studies and practical experiences, we will help you to take calculated risks as you deepen your knowledge of yourself, alongside your skills and understanding of working with children, young people, and families.

Tutors on the course come from a wide range of professional backgrounds and are research active, understanding the demands of study, work, and family life. They are committed to the agenda of social justice, equity, anti-discrimination, community empowerment, sustainability and collective action that underpins the course.