module specification

This module provides the opportunity for students to develop an understanding of the principles and practice of working with young people and their position in society. Students will learn about youth work policies and frameworks that help shape professional practice; and, issues and social structures that may contribute in shaping the lives of young people and their communities.

Throughout the module, students are encouraged to take into account diversity and anti-oppressive practice, as well as key issues affecting young people and the impact such issues have on youth identities and future youth work practice. Thus, combined with the ethics, values and philosophy underpinning professional practice and students own experiences and knowledge base, this module aims to provide a firm foundation for understanding the ‘youth stage’ and professional practice of working with young people.

The core module aims are to enable students:

• to explore key concepts of values, ethics, theory, policy, principles and practice in relation to youth work;
• to introduce students to the sector’s professional occupational standards and the notion of an informed reflective practitioner;
• to examine youth identities and diverse representations of young people in society;
• to gain an understanding of how partnership and collaborative working can improve youth work practice and the lives of young people, and provide examples of such collaborative partnership work;
• to develop skills in self-management, group work, oral presentation and academic writing; and,
• to critically analyse issues of discrimination and oppression and the effect that these issues have on young people’s lives.

None

Topics include:

• an introduction to youth work policy and practice; the concepts of informal and formal education; and the ‘voluntary’ principle, ethics and values in youth work (LOs 1, 2 and 3);
• examining principles, frameworks and governance of youth work in relation to the professional occupational standards (LOs 1, 2 and 3);
• evaluating the changing role of the youth worker and the significance of reflective practice (LOs 1, 2 and 3);
• exploring equality and diversity perspectives in youth work and anti-oppressive practice (LOs 1, 2 and 3);
• evaluating the process and impact of youth work (LOs 1, 2 and 3);
• introducing ‘youth’ as a concept and representations of young people (LOs 1, 3 and 4);
• examining the formation and social construction of identity, especially with respect to youth identities (LOs 1 and 4);
• examining examples of young people’s participation and rights (LOs 1, 2 and 3); and,
• analysing a range of models and theories relating to anti-discriminatory practice and young people’s transition into adulthood (LOs 2, 3 and 4).

Students’ learning will be developed through their engagement with a range of individual and group-based learning and teaching methods, including: interactive workshops, lectures and seminars; group action learning sets and teamwork activities; personal reflection and reflective writing; case studies and practical scenarios; Weblearn and a variety of online educational resources. There will also be self-directed learning based on tutor guidance and one-to-one tutorials to support personal, academic and professional development, as well as employability skills.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able:

1. to identify key concepts relating to youth work policy, ethics, and practice and to young people within a broad social context;
2. to give examples of the function of youth work and the role of a youth work professional;
3. to identify examples of oppressive practice in working with young people and apply anti-oppressive principles and practice in youth work and in learning settings; and,
4. to perform a range of self-management and inter-personal skills in relation to group work, oral presentation and writing for academic purposes.

The purpose of the assessment strategy is to reinforce students’ learning through a structured and time-bound process of reflection, presenting information both orally (podcasting) and visually (using PowerPoint), and writing. Students’ understanding of the module aims and learning outcomes will be assessed throughout the module through coursework. Assessment will be spread over the 30 weeks of the teaching cycle. A range of assessment methods will be used for formative and summative assessment All modules have opportunities for formative assessment, and draft work is considered and commented on. Comments on draft work are provided a week before the final hand in date, so that students have opportunities to amend their work.

There will be no examination. The teaching team will be responsible for marking.

Students are assessed on their knowledge and practical approach to identifying an issue that affects young people and establishing youth programmes, which should be presented as a podcast (Assessment 001) and has the assessment weighting of 50%.

They are also assessed on their reflection of the subjects (e.g., theories and models) in the module (Assessment 002). In addition to reflecting on the content of the module, the second assessment allows students to reflect on their progress and how anti-oppressive practice plays a role in implementing different modules or applying theory to practice. This reflective portfolio has a word length of 2,000 words, and counts for 50 per cent of the module mark.

Both assessments are linked to professional standards, and together form a basis of further development of research, reflection and professional development.

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