MA Community and Youth Work Studies

This MA programme aims to provide an intellectually and professionally challenging course of study at the highest quality.  The structure enables students to demonstrate their competence in applying theories in practice.  These competencies are aligned to the standards for community and youth work required by the National Youth Agency (NYA) and meet the National Occupational Standards for Youth Work for England (2008), the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education’s subject benchmark statement for youth and community work (2009) and the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge for the Children and Young People’s Workforce (2010). The programme seeks to achieve these aims by encouraging students to develop a critical understanding of community and youth work issues, informed by theoretical debates and research at the forefront of the discipline, and to inculcate a desire to search out new knowledge commensurate with the demands for developing professional practice. It aims to facilitate opportunities for students to develop their conceptual understanding in order that they are able to critically evaluate research, scholarship, and different policies, practices and approaches and apply the knowledge to community and youth work.

The programme aims to develop in students knowledge and understanding of:

• The changing historical, political, cultural and organisational contexts for community and youth work, and contemporary issues affecting the personal and social education of young people including health, education and youth justice
• The impact of globalisation processes, including human rights legislation, on social, political and economic developments in Britain and other parts of the world, and the implications of these for community and youth work approaches to multi-agency and partnership working in youth work
• The theoretical and practical basis of the management of youth work and organisation theory, and the  underlying principles, values and concepts of community and youth work
• Approaches to fostering democratic and inclusive community and youth work practice through building trusting relations, encouraging participation, increasing voice and influence, developing and maintaining sustainable organisational responses to support communities and young people, and creating effective alliances and networks
• Relevant research techniques and methods in collecting, analysing and interpreting qualitative and quantitative data, and present this in different formats
• Reflective thinking and the ability to critically locate and justify a personal position in relation to their practice

All the modules offered on this programme are core modules, the modules on this programme consist of:

Postgraduate Stage (Level 7)

• Theorising Reflective Practice in Community and Youth Work
• Theorising 'Community' and Community Development
• Professional Practice Placement One
• Quality Youth Work Management
• Discrimination and Anti-oppressive Practice
• Professional Practice Placement Two
• Research Proposal (2,000 words)
• Dissertation (12,000 words)

The teaching methods for these modules varies between: lectures, group discussions and activities together with practice placements. Assessment methods consist of a range of methods including essays, Case Study reports, a Quiz, Fieldwork Practice Portfolios and a Dissertation. There are no formal examinations.

Special Features

The programme is characterised by specific values deemed applicable to community and youth work practice including a commitment to collaborative learning and democratic participation, and its engagement with debates around ethical dilemmas likely to emerge in professional practice - consistent with the National Youth Agency’s statement of values and principles for ethical conduct in youth work. These values and principles require students to learn to recognise the connections between the interpersonal, the interpersonal and the cultural and structural aspects of power relationships in which people’s lives are embedded, including the relationship between our own inherited and developing value system and our professional practice. Consequently, the programme is based on the principle of enabling learners to become reflective critical practitioners who are actively thinking at an advanced level when engaging with individuals and groups. This will include encouraging learners to recognise the debilitating effects of injustice and oppression, and to develop inclusive and anti-oppressive practice in their own contexts.  

Research Areas

Staff teaching on the programme have researched and written extensively on community and youth work related themes.

Entry Requirements

Normally an upper second class degree or equivalent in a cognate subject area. Additionally, students who have substantial practical experience relevant to community and youth work may be admitted on to the programme. All applicants are required to have had a minimum of a year’s practical experience – paid or voluntary, part-time or full-time - relevant to community and youth work. All applicants will be interviewed to assess their suitability for the programme. Competence in the English language (IELTS 6.0 or equivalent) is required of international students.

Duration, Attendance and Location

The MA Community and Youth Work Studies programme runs over one year full-time or two years part -time, with compulsory university attendance of 8 hours per week (full-time) or four hours per week (part-time). All classes are held at the University of Hull's main campus on Cottingham Road, Hull.

This programme starts in Late September 2011.