Safeguarding Adults: Law, Policy and Practice

The programme is structured in a way that allows students to maintain full-time employment whilst studying, with teaching for each module taking place over an intensive 3-day period.
Students may choose to study from one to five modules per year and may complete the entire programme in one year or up to five years, depending on their preference and external commitments.
To achieve the MA students will study four taught modules followed by a dissertation module. As an alternative, it is possible to exit the course with a Postgraduate Certificate (on satisfactory completion of 2 taught modules) or a Postgraduate Diploma (on satisfactory completion of 4 taught modules). A student must complete all four taught modules before proceeding to the dissertation module.
There are two compulsory modules: The emergence of Adult Safeguarding, and safeguarding Adults: Interventions.
These modules provide a foundation for the understanding of and critical engagement with safeguarding. They also introduce students to the research skills and critical analysis necessary for the successful completion of a Masters programme, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary socio-legal research methods.
Thereafter, students will take two further elective modules, usually ‘Mental Capacity’ and ‘Safeguarding and Carers’, though students may substitute for either of these a module from another M level programme offered by the Law School. Availability of these elective modules will depend on timetabling but may include:
Equality, Discrimination, Minorities
Human Rights and Global Politics
Foundations and Principles of Child Care Law and Practice
Contemporary Issues in Child Care Law and Practice
Children and Medicine
Looked After Children
Education Law
Introduction to Moral and Legal Concepts (in Medical Ethics and Law)
Autonomy and Paternalism (in Medical Ethics and Law)
Life, Death and Human Body
Healthcare, Justice and Society
Dissertation (60 credits)
The final form of assessment is the dissertation, which is an extended (15,000 – 20,000 words)and in-depth piece of writing that brings together all of the skills that students have learned throughout the programme.
The dissertation module runs through the whole of the final year. It is mainly comprised of personal study and research under the guidance of an individual supervisor. At the start of the year students will attend a two day research training block which is designed to equip students with the necessary research skills to plan, research and write a dissertation. Students select their own topic, titles being approved by the course team and external examiner. Students submit a dissertation proposal for feedback and at a recall day partway through the year students give an oral presentation to the group on their progress. Assessment of the proposal and presentation is as a competency assessment.