(MA) Professional Practice with Children, Young People and Families

Course summary

The MA in Professional Practice with Children, Young People and Families is a specialised two year, part-time Master course designed to support and challenge professionals working within the education sector and/or the children and young people’s services. The course is designed to utilise students’ experience in setting to develop professional knowledge, academic skills and personal qualities within a close-knit and supportive environment.

About this course

This course is aimed at experienced practitioners, supervisors and managers employed in a variety of diverse and broad roles within children and young people's services and the education sector. With an expectation that students are either employed or volunteering in a relevant practice setting, current and former students typically have experience across a wide range of roles including early years, the youth work sector, as part of a school support team, or within other FE and HE institutions.

Conscious of the challenges that can emerge from combining work and study, the programme is designed to utilise the current roles and experience of students in order to develop their academic and practical knowledge as part of an empathetic and supportive academic community.

Experienced in working with students from a wide range of professional and academic backgrounds, the research-active programme team works hard to support students with all aspects of their studies. Academic, professional and personal growth underpins the content and delivery of the course enabling students to emerge as confident, autonomous, and reflexive learners and employees.

Academic content within the programme addresses current issues at the forefront of the academic discipline and field of study within professional practice at local, national and global levels. Each module provides the opportunity to explore different research techniques, methodologies and advanced scholarship. The module content is designed to allow for maximum flexibility for students to choose specific lines of enquiry and focus in line with their research interests, practice experience and working role.

The course comprises four taught modules and a supervised dissertation. The taught sessions will typically be between 4-8 pm for ten weeks per module, and will take the form of a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials. The modules are designed to enable you to explore lines of enquiry relevant to your employment role and research interests within the overall focus of the module content.

Careers & Further study

This Masters course is a professional development programme and BGU values the partnerships with key stakeholders for academic work-related courses. As such the programme has been formed to reflect the needs and views of employers. Employers in the broad and diverse sectors of education have been widely consulted throughout the development of the programme to ensure that the course is relevant and current for supporting the necessary knowledge and transferable skills required within the sector. This course will particularly benefit those in broader roles working with children, young people, their families and communities.