Young People, Family and Community

This module will enable you to critically examine theories, concepts and ideas relating to group work and consider their application when working with individuals in different groups, such as professionals, children, young people and their families. You will learn how important group work skills are becoming as methods for learning and supporting people to live better lives. You will be able to develop your knowledge and understanding of different issues associated to group work. These issues include, power relationships, communication skills, and group dynamics. This module makes explicit the knowledge and skills essential to effective group work for practice. Your learning on this module will provide you with the opportunity to develop your employability skills when working with individuals and groups. These include your mentoring and coaching skills, working as an advocate, managing group interactions, leadership and conflict resolution strategies.

This module gives you the opportunity to undertake a placement in a area relevant to an aspect of your professional practice building on your previous experiences of working with babies, young children and families. You will have the opportunity to further develop your knowledge of the current curriculum (for babies and young children birth to eight) and policy requirements in early years settings and how these are applied in practice. You will also observe and evaluate an aspect of children’s learning and development and you will use research and literature to inform your reflective practice skills in terms of your personal and professional learning.

This module will enhance your knowledge and understanding of the role of the practitioner when working with children, young people and families. You will explore and show critical understanding on the impact of adverse childhood experiences and other social issues that may affect young lives. As part of your learning you will develop a critical understanding of how policy impacts on a range of diverse and vulnerable families and the challenges that policy may present for you, the practitioner, in your day-to day role. Key theories and therapeutic interventions will be evaluated as your professional knowledge and skills of family support are enhanced.

This module will provide you with the opportunity to examine youth subcultures beginning with a historical context relating to the development of ‘youth’ as a subculture. You will then consider how contemporary ideas relating to social, cultural and political contexts of youth subculture have moved over time drawing on a number of sociological theories and concepts to explore issues relating to the lives of young people. These include, gang membership, representation of youth in social media, poverty and inequality, youth justice, and the use of public spaces. You will also extend and consolidate your knowledge of how the social construction of ‘youth’ is seen as ‘problematic’ and a public ‘moral dilemma’ and how these labels influence young people’s developing identity and their transition into adulthood.

This module aims to increase your understanding, knowledge and the practical skills required to work with babies, young children and their families. You will learn about policy and health standards to achieve the health and wellbeing of babies and young children in early year’s settings. You will also gain of knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of an early year’s practitioner when promoting health and wellbeing. By drawing upon literature and research you will develop a critical understanding of the importance of creating a healthy environment, and how you can meet the needs of individual children to enhance their health and wellbeing. This will include the development of planned activities and interventions that promotes babies and young children's health wellbeing and safety that enable them to flourish.

This module provides you with the opportunity to explore theories, principles and concepts relating to third sector organisations, such as Charities, Social Enterprises and Voluntary and Community Organisations and how they provide support for children, young people and their families with local communities. You will be able to develop your understanding of the role of third sector organisations alongside the public sector, social policy, social justice, inequality, welfare and inclusive practice. You will also have the opportunity to apply your learning to the reality of working or volunteering in the third sector and and develop a critical understanding of the challenges facing the third sector, such as sustainability and funding. There is the expectation that you will be able reflect on your ethics and values when working with children, young people and families in community settings that will contribute to the development of your professional learning.

This module provides the opportunity for you to explore theories, concepts and ideas relating to how young people and vulnerable adults are located within society. By drawing upon literature and research you will consolidate and increase your understanding of issues such as inequality, diversity, social policy, equity and inclusion. You will also be encouraged to evaluate the extent to which ‘vulnerability’ influences social policy and practice within family and community settings by reflecting upon the role of the practitioner when working with young people and adults. You will be encouraged to analyse strategies which can be developed to empower vulnerable young people and adults. Aspects such as democratic rights and advocacy, decision-making, power relationships, health and well-being and protection from risk will be examined to enable you to develop your professional skills when working with young people and vulnerable adults. By reflecting your own value systems you will increase your awareness of how beliefs and attitudes towards ‘vulnerability’ have the potential to oppress others and therefore hinder the support individuals receive.

This module will enable you to develop a critical understanding of the theories, concepts and ideas of leadership and management in community settings. Drawing on literature and research on community leadership you will analyse the views that community leadership and management benefits from being collaborative and participative in nature, embedded into social networks, shared vision and decision making. You will be able analyse factors which underpin the purpose of community leadership and management such as promoting a social change agenda; change in individual or community conditions and social structures. You will have the opportunity to explore different models of community leadership and management, in particular the notion of transformative and inspirational leadership. You will also appraise some of the key features of a community-orientated approach to leadership and management to strengthen connections with communities and build trust in ways that will benefit children, young people and families.

This module offers you the opportunity to learn about child and youth provision and support from an international perspective. You will have the opportunity to critically compare provision currently offered in the United Kingdom and globally. You will appraise reasons for the diverse approaches adopted in different countries from social and cultural perspectives. You will also be able to critically analyse government policy, curriculum ideologies, professional training and evaluate provision in relation to theories, research evidence and national guidelines/standards.

This module will increase your knowledge of learning in the outdoors for children from birth to 8. You will consider how developing opportunities for learning in the outdoors relates to relevant curricula frameworks. You will research and critically review a range of key theoretical ideas and pioneers in order to evaluate their influences upon pedagogical approaches concerned with learning in the outdoors. This will be supported by reflective and critical investigation considering global pedagogical approaches to learning in an outdoor context. You will apparaise the challenges that practitioners face in developing and providing opportunities for learning in an outdoor context. This module will also develop your own value systems and you will have the opportunity to relate this to your own practice and professional goals.

The module explores the historical, social, cultural and economic contexts of children and childhood. You will appraise how the changing social and cultural constructions of children can impact on the lives of children living in diverse communities and societies. You will make critical judgments of issues relating to rights, diversity, equity and inclusion when working with children, families and communities in the UK and globally. You will also be able to recognise and critically analyse what meaningful participation looks like for children and how their voice and sense of place can be promoted.

In this module you will explore a range of theories and concepts in relation to how inequalities are constructed in society. Throughout the module you will be encouraged to critically discuss the ways in which different social groups are represented within society, for example, through the mass media and government policy and how they are often marginalised and oppressed as a result of their portrayal in society. You will critically examine how inequalities can be challenged when developing provision to meet the needs of children, young people and families from a multi-agency perspective. You will also appraise the potential challenges that practitioners in multi-agency teams can encounter when working with excluded and marginalised children, young people and their families.