BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Work - L540 - Full-time

Community development work seeks to actively engage communities in making sense of the issues which affect their lives, setting goals for improvement and responding to problems and needs through empowerment and active participation.

The community development and youth work sector is currently undergoing significant change. Traditional sources of employment in the public sector and the voluntary, faith and community sector are changing, and are therefore having to adapt their services towards a broader set of activities. This shift is requiring employees with flexible, transversal and adaptive knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Enabling students to gain a range of skills that can be applied in a range of contexts is a central principle of this degree. Research suggests that future employment in the field will be non-routine, creative and people-centric. This degree is designed to support this broad curriculum and organisations that employ graduates have been involved in the overall course design.

During this course, you’ll have the opportunity to develop a wide range of transferable skills that will support your employment in a number of positions and sectors. These skills include presentation skills, oral and written communication skills, the ability to work idependently and to deal with difficult and challenging situations, advocacy and empathy skills, team work and the ability to understand and work with people from all backgrounds.

The Arts
Mentoring
Teaching and education
Health promotion
Behaviour management
Learning support
Work with refugee and asylum seekers
Advice work
Community education
Family support
Probation
Social work
Careers advice
Prison service
Outdoor education/activities
Residential care
Volunteer co-ordination
Youth offending

Any subjects are acceptable at Level 3. You should also have five GCSEs at grade C or above or grade 4 to 9 (or equivalent) in English and Mathematics.

For this endorsed pathway, you'll need to provide evidence that you've completed at least 100 hours work experience, either working with young people, or in a youth work or community practice setting.

The University of Bolton’s BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Work (Endorsed Route) is professionally recognised by the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for Youth Work (as validated by the National Youth Agency (NYA)) and the Endorsement and Quality Standards Board for Community Development (ESB).

Successful achievement of the BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Work (Endorsed Route) confers professionally qualified status for youth workers in England.

Key Features:
Our programme gives you the chance to enjoy extensive practice-based experience at each level of your studies.
You’ll have access to excellent academic and pastoral support from teaching staff who are also experienced professionals in community development and youth work.
Throughout the course, we’ll support and encourage you as you develop your understanding and articulation of the key theories of personal and social change affecting young people and communities today.
Specialists in the field of community development and youth work join us as guest speakers and lecturers throughout the course.
If by the end of semester 1 you decide that you don’t want the professional endorsements, or your circumstances change, you can transfer to our parallel course – the BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Studies.