Overview

Our BA (Hons) Working with Children, Young People and Families course has at its heart a strong commitment to social justice and equalities. We will provide you with a range of teaching and learning experiences to build on your existing skills and motivation so that you can contribute to a changing society, particularly with services who work with, or for, vulnerable children, young people and their families.

Foundation year

The BA (Hons) Working with Children, Young People and Families with a Foundation Year course has been specifically designed to support your transition to degree-level study in Education. As a student, you will undertake a foundation year situated at level 3 study, which has been designed as a prelude to your chosen degree course, providing opportunities for you to develop your knowledge, skills and understanding. Your learning journey through your foundation year will provide a secure platform on which you can build throughout your academic career in higher education.

As part of the foundation year, you will explore and develop a number of essential academic, interpersonal and professional skills that will help you succeed in your future degree level studies.

On successful completion of your foundation year, you are guaranteed to progress on to the first year of the BA (Hons) Working with Children, Young People and Families degree. If you are interested in progressing on to one of our other Education and Social Work degrees, this will be subject to space available on those courses and on meeting the relevant entry requirements, which may include passing an interview.

Employability

Enhancing Employability Skills

A BCU Graduate is professional and work-ready, a creative problem solver, enterprising and has a global outlook.

A wide variety of employability skills are essential for Working with Children, Young People and Families graduates, as the potential employment opportunities are vast. One of the four key themes of the BA (Hons) Working with Children, Young People and Families degree is employability, and there is a clear emphasis on employability skills within each module studied across the course. The skills covered are aligned to careers in health, social care and education and have been identified as being key skills for such professionals. The skills foci will be different depending on the module in question, but modules are likely to promote the development of the following skills consistently:

• Team and group work
• Presentation
• Debating
• Communication
• Confidence
• Time management
• Problem-solving
• Reflection
• Self-motivation
• Resilience

These skills are integrated through seminar tasks and formative assessment methods, with feedback given on the development of these skills, and are also a key focus of Personal Development Tutor (PDT) meetings, with students being asked to reflect on the development of their skills using examples each semester.

Career sessions from BCUs Careers+ team have been embedded across all modules, so that all students benefit from BCUs wider services. Sessions have been designed to increase students’ employability and adapted and focussed on the needs, interests, and year of study. The BCU Graduate+ scheme is also embedded into the course and implemented throughout the employability themed modules. Throughout this degree, students are supported to develop skills that have been aligned to the requirements of relevant sectors whilst the assessments will enhance graduates’ employability.