Community and Youth Work Studies BA (Hons)

Transform the lives of vulnerable communities. Empower disadvantaged young people to achieve their potential. Qualify for an incredibly satisfying career in youth and community work where you'll be changing lives every day.

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Overview

The BA (Hons) Community and Youth Work degree will prepare you for a successful career in working with young people and in communities across a variety of settings, with a particular focus on personal and social development.

This youth work course, which received 100% Overall Satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2022, offers you the opportunity to develop your ability to work with communities and young people (both theoretically and via extensive practice) and study the knowledge, skills and values of youth and community work in order to graduate with a professional JNC qualification in Youth Work alongside your degree.

Just like the practice of community and youth work, this course has been designed in a creative way and offers much more than lectures and writing essays, by going beyond the theoretical. You will learn how to understand the problems faced by young people and communities and how to change situations and realities. The curriculum focuses on achieving social justice and celebrating the assets that are abundant in communities and societies, particularly within those communities that have been disadvantaged. Our curriculum covers everything from transformational informal education to organisational management.

This BA (Hons) Community and Youth Work Studies course at the University of Sunderland is the only professionally qualifying Youth Work degree in the North East and offers you a holistic learning experience which has professional practice and employability built in. It celebrates young people and communities and supports critical awareness of the social inequality that shapes lives. If you’re ready to make a positive difference in the world, the team are ready to hear from you.

Why us?

This course has 100% Overall Satisfaction (National Student Survey 2022)
The University of Sunderland has been delivering this youth work course for over 40 years
Our Social Work courses are ranked 27th in the UK (The Complete University Guide 2023)
The course is delivered by experienced and qualified community and youth workers who will teach and support you on your professional journey. This will include close pastoral support and support to become competent and confident professionals.

We are committed to offering a family-friendly timetable to ensure we don’t just talk about equality, but live it too
If you are already working in community and youth work, there may be the option to use work hours towards your placement learning
We are the only professionally qualifying (JNC) Youth Work degree in the North East
We don’t just focus on theory, but we embed this learning with practice

Course structure

During your studying, some of your learning will take place in the classroom, learning from each other and reading. However, community and youth work is a vocation, and it’s important to learn from real work-based experience as well as from academic study. For this reason, work placements are an integral part of the Community and Youth Work degree. By the time you graduate, you will have spent at least 800 hours in professional practice, within a minimum of two local community and youth work organisations. This means your learning can evolve in surprising places, such as around a pool table, on a walk, in a community café, or in a multi-agency meeting.

If you’re already working in a community and youth work setting, then you may be able to take a placement at your workplace, as long as the work is relevant and there are adequate supervision arrangements in place. You’ll also need to complete at least one placement in a setting which is not your workplace, to ensure that you get the maximum benefit from your placement experience.

Our teaching style is true to the collaborative, empowering and reflective nature of community and youth work. You will be assessed through essays, group work, presentations, reports and reflective pieces; assessment methods are clearly linked to the skills needed in practice. Throughout your degree, you will have one-to one support from a designated lecturer who will support your progress from Fresher’s week to graduation.

Year 1 (national level 4):

Learning from Lives (20 credits)

Explore your own personal, social, cultural and political development through a process of reflection and engaged dialogue. Examine influencing factors on young people's personal and social identity development in context. Problematise the complex notion of 'youth' and explore a biographical approach to 'youth' transitions.

Understanding Society (20 credits)

Explore social theories and examine the concepts of society and their relationship with community and youth work practice. Gain an understanding of the role of power and the influence of class, race and gender in society. Undertake your own community study to identify how sociological theory can explain social life.

Principles of Informal Education (20 credits)

Develop an understanding of the key principles of informal education and their application to current work with young people and communities in a variety of settings. Link your experience of professional practice to a theoretical framework and develop practical skills in fostering professional relationships. Consider how informal education can make a contribution to addressing inequality issues in working with young people and communities.

Skills for Practice (20 credits)

Gain an understanding of the academic skills needed for university and the basic skills required for the professional practice of Community and Youth Work. Learn about research methods, acquire essential study skills and explore your own and others' professional boundaries. Develop self-awareness regarding effective one to one interactions.

Placement Part One (20 credits)

Undertake a work placement throughout the year in a local community and/or youth project. Learn all the things you can't learn within a classroom and use your placement experience to explore, examine and develop your skills and knowledge.

Placement Part Two (20 credits)

Undertake a second placement module, allowing you the flexibility to work with a different organisation if you do not wish to, or are unable, to continue with your current one.

Some modules have prerequisites. Read more about what this means in our Help and Advice article.

Year 2 (national level 5):

Ethical Practice (20 credits)

Explore the three central themes necessary for the development of critical professional practice. Critically reflect on strategies for implementing equal opportunities and user participation through an empowering educational process. Engage in critical dialogue and identify the practical relevance of theory to ethical youth work practice.

Policy Context (20 credits)

Gain a critical understanding of the major political ideologies underpinning the policy context in the UK. Examine social policies relevant to working with young people and have the opportunity to locate professional practice. Explore how policies are operationalised and consider their impact on inequalities.

Organisational Management (20 credits)

Explore different aspects of management theory, organisational structure and culture, and their relevance to working with young people and communities. Examine the practical aspects of social management in a climate of change and learn how to apply these to the central principles of community and youth work practice. Develop strategies and skills for effective community participation and supporting change within organisations.

Group Work and Integrated Practice (20 credits)

Undertake this reflective opportunity to apply the essential theories of group work to the everyday practice of Community and Youth Work.

Placement Part One (20 credits)

Undertake a work placement within a local Community or Youth Work setting. Demonstrate your ability to take responsibility for an area of practice in order to develop skills in leadership, planning and evaluation.

Placement Part Two (20 credits)

Undertake a second placement module, allowing you the flexibility to work with a different organisation if you do not wish to, or are unable, to continue with your current one.

Final year (national level 6):

Supervision (10 credits)

Equip yourself with the knowledge, values and skills needed to be a competent professional and an empowering supervisor of staff and volunteers within a Community and Youth Work setting.

Entrepreneurship and Project Management (20 credits)

Examine the current emphasis on developing social enterprises to deliver services in the public sector. Explore the ways in which management theory has influenced the development of services in the public and voluntary sector. Develop and apply business and entrepreneurial skills to prepare yourself for professional opportunities after graduating. Gain the ability to apply principles and values linked to equality, diversity and empowerment to practice.

Education for Transformation (20 credits)

Gain an understanding of critical education theory and its contribution to promoting social justice within community based settings. Focus on the wider educational aspects of working with young people and learn about the contribution that critical education can make to the empowerment of communities. Identify and plan focused educational interventions within a variety of professional contexts.

Equality, Diversity and Social Justice (20 credits)

Investigate the importance of the equal opportunities project in relation to Community and Youth Work practice and study equality, diversity and social justice within this context. Undertake an examination of equal opportunity codes of practice, an exploration of strategies to promote equality, diversity and social justice within an anti-discriminatory framework for practice, and an examination of the role of the professional practitioner within this process.

Research for Practice/Dissertation (30 credits)

Build on your understanding of the use of research in professional practice gained throughout the course by choosing an area of interest to undertake a research project. Develop your ability to review literature and build research skills and knowledge. Understand the principles and processes of social research and explore issues of power, values and ethics, and how these issues affect research design and practice. Learn how to organise data, analyse information and present findings.

Advanced Practice or an elective module (20 credits)

Choose a module from a wide variety of courses across the University or undertake a further placement where you will manage and evaluate a specific project. Demonstrate your skills as an independent professional practitioner and enhance your knowledge in leading and managing professional work.

More about BA (Hons) Community and Youth Work Studies at Sunderland

Discover more articles

You can access free Wi-Fi throughout the University campus, so you can work from anywhere. If you don't want to carry a laptop around, just use one of the University’s PCs or Macs. We have hundreds of computers for you to use in the Murray Library, St Peter's Library, and the David Goldman Informatics Centre. If you ever have any technical problems, just ask the friendly helpdesk team.
IT provision
University library services will be central to your study experience and are delivered at our two libraries on campus, as well as online. Our libraries offer a variety of study environments to meet your needs, including areas for groupwork, individual and silent study. You’ll also have access to desktop PCs, space to use your own mobile technology and printing facilities.

The library works closely with academic staff within each faculty to offer specialist, industry standard resources in your subject discipline. The Faculty of Social Sciences provides thousands of relevant books and e-books, with many more titles available through the inter-library loan service. You’ll also have access to a comprehensive range of print and electronic journals which are always kept up to date, including Project Muse, Lexis, JSTOR and many more.

To find out more information, visit our University Library website.
Library Services - social sciences
Map and directions

Facilities

You'll be based at the recently refurbished Wearside View, situated on the award-winning Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's. This stunning riverside location benefits from dedicated library services and has superb transport links with the city centre and City Campus.

Entry requirements

Our typical offer is:

Qualification	Minimum grade
High School Diploma along with one of the following at the required grade: SAT I and SAT II, ACT or Advanced Placement	GPA 3.0 or above and: Sat score of 1100/1600 from SATs AP (Grades 3+ in at least 2 subjects) ACT (score of 26+)

If you don't meet our standard entry requirements, you can take one of the foundation pathways at our partners ONCAMPUS Sunderland. Find out more information and whether your course is eligible on our ONCAMPUS page.

If your qualification is not listed above, please contact the Student Administration team at studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk for further advice.

To apply for this degree you must have experience (voluntary or paid) in a community and/or youth work setting. This could include volunteering during weekends, evenings, or holidays. You should clearly describe this experience in the personal statement section of your application. As a guide, most successful applicants will have experience lasting at least a year, though in some cases we do accept students with a shorter, more intensive experience.

We interview all applicants, and you should be ready to talk about your voluntary or paid experience in a community and/or youth work setting in the interview.

If you don't currently hold a level 3 qualification you may still be eligible for this course – around half of our students are mature students with alternative qualifications or experience. In the interview we'll ask you about your experience, to see if it is equivalent to the required academic qualifications.

Please note that you must also have a satisfactory Enhanced Disclosure Barring Service check in order to go on placements.

If English is not your first language, please see our English language requirements.

Is your qualification not displaying here? For international qualifications, search our full list of international entry requirements for this course.

Fees and finance

The annual, full-time fee for this course is:

£9,250 if you are from the UK/Europe*
£14,000 if you are an international student

Part-time fees are £6,935 per 120 credits if you are from the UK/Ireland/EU settled/pre-settled. Part-time study is not available to international students who require a Student visa to study in the UK.

*European Union (EU), EEA (European Economic Area), and Swiss nationals who do not qualify for the EU Settlement Scheme are classed as international, however, for 23/24 admission you will receive a European student fee scholarship and will pay the home tuition fee rate for the duration of your studies. The discounted fee will be reflected in your offer letter. Learn more in our Help and Advice article.

Take a look at the Your Finances section to find out about the scholarships and bursaries that may be available to you.

This information was correct at the time of publication.

The Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's by night

Career ready

Qualified community and youth workers are in high demand. With a varied repertoire of value-based and practice-related skills, community and youth workers find employment throughout local authorities and the voluntary, charity, and social enterprise sectors.

We are proud that our alumni go on to work and lead within traditional community and youth work, mental health, prisons, schools, housing agencies, children's rights, and many other areas. Importantly, many of our graduates often end up working with some of the most ignored and deprived communities. Some of our recent graduate careers include “Opiate Worker”, “Missing Children’s Worker”, “Supported Accommodation Manager”, “Domestic Abuse Service Team Leader”, “Team Around the Community Worker” and “Advocacy and Participation Lead”.

As a qualified professional, you’ll be eligible for the higher levels of salary scales set by the Joint Negotiating Committee for Youth and Community Workers.

To find out more about what community and youth work involves, read our article.

Centre for Applied Social Sciences

The University of Sunderland’s Centre for Applied Social Sciences (CASS) regularly hosts visiting speakers and it can be an excellent way to learn from the real-life experience of people who already have a strong track record in social policy.

CASS is the centre for applied social science research at the University and you may find opportunities to collaborate with the academic team – particularly in areas relating to children, young people and families.

800 hours of placements

An important part of our Community and Youth Work course is the work-based experience you'll gain from your placements. By the time you graduate, you will have spent at least 800 hours in professional practice, enhancing your youth worker training. As well as exposing you to a range of experiences and helping you understand the realities of community and youth work, placements are an excellent way of establishing professional contacts for your career.

Meet the students

I go home at the end of each day knowing that I've made a real difference to the lives of others.

Holly Robinson
The University of Sunderland has a fantastic reputation with regards to youth work.

Ruth Walker

Related courses

Contact

Contact the Student Helpline for further information about studying at the University of Sunderland:

0191 515 3000

student.helpline@sunderland.ac.uk

View Programme Specifications for the Faculty of Education and Society.

Page last updated: 16 March 2023

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