Masters Degrees (Childhood Studies)

Visit our website for more information on fees, scholarships, postgraduate loans and other funding options to study Childhood Studies at Swansea University - 'Welsh University of the Year 2017' (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017).

This course aims to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of children and childhood.

Key Features of Childhood Studies

Performance:

- strong links with a range of international networks and similar university departments in Europe and around the world

Teaching and Employability:

- excellent learning experience and cross cultural views because of international student cohorts

- opportunity to continue studies to pursue a PhD supervised by a well-qualified member of the team

- opportunity to take part in a local field trip

The course in Childhood Studies is designed for a wide range of professionals working with children.

A broad range of topics are covered and students are encouraged to critically reflect on their practice and address theory and research relevant to their own interests in Childhood Studies.

The Childhood Studies course will:

- reflect upon the nature of childhood as a concept and the way in which it comes to be construed as it is

- consider holistic child development in contemporary society

- reflect on childhood and family policy in a variety of contexts

- consider professional roles (one’s own and others) in relation to services for children and their families

- encourage critical analysis of research in relation to childhood

- encourage professional reflective practice.

Modules

Modules on the Childhood Studies course may include:

Researching Childhood

Understanding and Observing Child Development

Child Health

Children's Rights and Safeguarding Children and Young People

Perspectives on Play

Advanced Practice with Children

Therapeutic Work with Children

Childhood Illness

Childhood Nutrition and Growth

Staff Expertise

Team members are active researchers and their work is well published in Childhood Studies.

Childhood Studies students are encouraged to publish their own research – thereby demonstrating the high quality of their work.

Team members include:

Amy Brown – an expert in child health

Jill John – an expert in safeguarding and children’s rights

Pete King – an expert in child development and children’s play across children’s services.

Justine Howard – an expert in child development and play across children’s services

Zac Maunder – an expert in children’s emotional health

Postgraduate Community

The College of Human and Health Sciences has a vibrant postgraduate community with students drawn from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities. The College is known for its friendly, welcoming and supportive environment, which combined with its extensive facilities, state-of-the-art technology and superb beachside location, helps to ensure that students benefit from an exceptional student experience.

In addition, Childhood Studies students have access to a wide range of excellent facilities and equipment for realistic workplace experiences.

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The social study of childhood is the focus of this innovative MA, which takes a global and multi-disciplinary approach to the study of childhood and youth from 0-18.

Drawing on sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, philosophy, human geography and inclusive education among others, this programme will give you an understanding of the lives of children and young people in different social, cultural and educational contexts around the world. Core modules will give you a sound knowledge of concepts and approaches in the study of childhood, but you’ll also be able to choose optional modules to suit your interests and career aspirations.

Research insight

MA Childhood Studies is taught in collaboration with the Centre for Research on Families, Lifecourse and Generations (FLaG) in the School of Sociology and Social Policy, a forum for researchers and research users which offers a wide range of seminars, workshops and training to help you expand your knowledge for a wide range of careers.

Course content

From the beginning of the programme you’ll develop your understanding of childhood and youth through a core module focusing on academic thinking, policy and practice from a range of different perspectives. You’ll also learn more about undertaking research with children and young people, gaining the skills and knowledge to conduct research in a range of different settings.

During the programme you’ll choose one or two optional modules directly related to childhood studies from the range we offer. If you decide to take only one, you’ll choose another optional module from the Faculty of Education, Social Science and Law to suit your interests and career plans – from racism and ethnicity studies to aspects of international educational management.

Throughout the course you’ll be building your research skills and gaining a broad base of knowledge. You’ll put this to the test in your critical study, when you complete an independent piece of research on a related topic of your choice by the end of the programme in September.

If you choose to study part-time, you’ll study over a longer period and take fewer modules in each year.

Course structure

Compulsory modules

• Dissertation 60 credits
• Theorising Childhood and Youth 30 credits
• Research with Children and Young People 30 credits

For more information on typical modules, read Childhood Studies MA Full Time in the course catalogue

For more information on typical modules, read Childhood Studies MA Part Time in the course catalogue

Learning and teaching

We use a range of teaching and learning methods, including lectures as well as seminars, tutorials and workshops that allow you to discuss in more depth the issues arising from the course reading. However, independent study is also an important element of the degree, allowing you to pursue your own interests and develop your skills.

Assessment

Most of the modules on this programme are assessed by essays. However, you’ll also submit a project report for the Research with Children and Young People module.

Placement opportunities

The MA Childhood Studies programme has links with both Leeds Children's Services and Tutti Frutti children's theatre company; both of which offer exclusive internship opportunities to students studying on this course.

Career opportunities

This programme has been designed to meet the needs of graduates who plan to use the knowledge and skills they will gain in a wide range of careers involving children. We expect this to include educational, social or health settings as well as NGOs. You’ll also be prepared for further study in related areas such as education, social policy, sociology or psychology.

Careers support

We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.

The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more at the Careers website

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MA Childhood Studies is based on an informed and critical approach to the academic study of childhood and youth and is intended to reflect both the desires and ambitions of postgraduate students and the philosophical traditions and current developments in the social studies of childhood and youth.

This taught Masters course has been developed for postgraduate students or senior professionals interested in specialised or advanced study of childhood and youth. It will, therefore, be of particular interest to those wishing to be or already employed in the children and young people’s workforce. In line with recent international developments in social studies of childhood and youth, the MA Childhood Studies is transdisciplinary in approach but has a strong emphasis on perspectives drawn from sociology, social policy, geography, anthropology and history. The course is informed by the United Nations Rights of the Child (UNCRC) framework and draws on current methodological standpoints in childhood and youth research that emphasis participation. It is committed to adopting a ‘child/young person - centred’ philosophy throughout, and reflects the principles of protecting the rights and interests of children and young people and the increasing importance of participation. The changing conditions of childhood and youth and the ways in which children and young people themselves experience and understand their everyday lives is emphasised.

The aims of the MA (including PG Dip/PG Cert) Childhood Studies are:

• To offer an innovative, dynamic and flexible programme that critically considers developments in the academic study of childhood and the changing contexts of childhood and youth in a globalised world.
• To critically explore the cultural and social constructions of childhood and youth and the implications that they have had and continue to have on children and young people’s everyday lives.
• To advance students’ knowledge of the complexity of understanding the relationship between children’s rights, the ideologies and responsibilities for welfare and the lived realities of children’s and young people’s diverse experiences.
• To provide a robust theoretical framework for students to develop an integrated and critically aware understanding of childhood and youth studies and to cultivate a critical and analytical approach to contemporary methodological advances in childhood research.
• To develop in students a range of intellectual skills reflecting both the ethos of lifelong learning and the rigour required at M level, a high level of student autonomy and self-direction in order to facilitate the student to demonstrate initiative, originality alongside integrity and ethical judgement in their advanced scholarship and to become influential and effective specialists in the field of childhood and youth studies.

The MA Childhood Studies course is delivered on a flexible, blended learning basis using both traditionally taught elements of the course with lectures, seminars and tutorials during study days, weekend learning programmes and a research summer school and through new media technologies and the online learning environment. Combined, these provide an effective and dynamic space for engaging students and effectively promoting student learning through a knowledge sharing philosophy.

The course team have a commitment to high quality teaching and they incorporate a wide variety of technological tools and learning and teaching techniques to form a collaborative space that enables a seamless transition between classroom based and online learning. Tutors are able to monitor understanding and clarify and expand on points quickly and efficiently to support student learning. Using audio and video, online lectures, links to key reading and relevant web based materials these methods of technology enhanced learning are part of a blended learning programme. whilst some modules can be studied by students at a time and pace that best suits them, other modules have a more structured approach in their design and students access the course content on a week by week basis. All modules are designed to offer students a shared learning experience with other students and module tutors. They involve discussion boards and blogs and more interactive learning tools and techniques as well as the self-study materials, downloadable documents, email, eportfolio||, podcasts and vodcasts found throughout the course.

Students will require access to Broadband either at home, in their workplace or in a public library and standard PC or MAC technology. Ipods/Mp3 players would be helpful to also facilitate mobile learning for students to download and listen to podcasts.

The course uses a range of different assessment strategies, which could include: essays and reports; critical reviews and commentaries; analytical exercises; individual or group presentations; a project-based or work-experience report; a dissertation; computer-based assessments and informed discussion and debate via module Blogs.

Most modules run along the UCS based semester September to June but the actual arrangement of the taught content of the modules varies. Some modules can be accessed and studied on a more flexible, independent basis than others allowing greater autonomy in student learning whilst other modules follow a more structured approach and provide a more formalised approach to learning with study days, weekend workshop or a summer school. All modules fulfil UCS requirements in providing the necessary hours of study for students to succeed and obtain credits and masters level. A full-time student is expected to study 3 modules in one year, giving 120 credits and undertake a 60 credit research dissertation. A part-time student will take either 40, 60 or 80 credits per year as taught modules and finally the 60 credit research dissertation.

Students can expect to have to study between four to five hours per module each week and to spend at least an equivalent amount of time per week in additional reading and set learning activities and preparing for assignments. Students will be provided with timetables and learning schedules when they join the course. Personal tutorial advice is a key feature of the course and the course team offer students support either on a face-to-face basis, via telephone or personalised blog.

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The MA Early Childhood Studies provides an opportunity to engage critically with ideas, theory and research for those with an interest in supporting young children and their families. This award encourages critical reflection on diverse social and professional settings that engage with children and families as well as the social structures that support them.

Early Childhood Studies questions the purpose and operation of the systems and structures that support the upbringing of young children. It also explores theories of identity and agency to consider how individuals sit within societies’ structures and expectations. In a time of significant shifts in education, health and welfare services for young children and their families; the ability to apply knowledge and understanding in reflective, responsive and responsible ways to promote values of social justice, are all part of being an engaged and active professional.

The MA in Early Childhood Studies challenges students to think deeply about their own professional contexts and settings as well as the social structures around them. The award draws widely on (inter)disciplinary perspectives that illuminate early childhood in order to think about, and take forward practice.

We encourage applications from practitioners, professionals and leaders who might be working (or volunteering) in a diverse range of roles in education, health, social welfare/care, community, and other settings, and in the public, private, and voluntary or social enterprise sectors. We aim for an inter- and multi-professional student group on the award for the cross-fertilisation of knowledge, experience and expertise that can be brought to bear, and as it reflects complex challenges in practice and collaborative imperatives.

This award is part of the Manchester Met Faculty of Education postgraduate Professional Development Programme.

About the Course

MA Early Childhood Studies is designed to inform a wide range of professionals in inter and multi-professional settings, in education and related health and social welfare/care. The course encourages students to explore and develop their thinking about the nature of young children, their social worlds as well as the social, political and professional structures that surround these.

Assessment details

Assessment is by coursework for each unit and a full assignment brief is available for each unit. Assessment tasks always allow you to pursue your own thinking and interests within the parameters of the unit and award. Formative feedback is available and built in for every unit.

For taught units (30 credits) the assessment is 5000 words equivalent. The final (60 credit) dissertation is 12-14,000 words.

Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) is possible for some credits on this award and with the agreement of the Award Lead on your route through the award. Award of a PGCE recently (within the previous five years) allows advanced standing on the programme up to 60 credits; waiver of some credits may also be possible (under the Manchester Met Accreditation of Prior Learning Policy) if you have a recent or relevant certificated award at Level 7.

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This programme enables you to develop an in-depth knowledge of early childhood studies and to engage critically with issues and developments in the field, in order to enhance your own learning. The programme facilitates advanced understanding of early childhood studies from national and international perspectives. Our flexible study timetable allows you to study full-time or part-time to suit your personal and professional circumstances.

Career opportunities are extensive and diverse. An MA Early Childhood Studies degree may lead to employment opportunities in the private, public and voluntary sectors. Potential career roles include manager of an early years setting or within children’s charities; childcare adviser; and other senior posts in the early childhood field. The award and work undertaken can contribute to academic progression towards a PhD or professional development and the opportunity of subject specialism in the field.

Students are supported through personal, individual and module tutorials. All students will also be assigned a personal tutor who will support them throughout their study. For the final dissertation, students will be supported by a supervisor with the relevant specialist knowledge. The programme permits students to study flexibly, full-time or part-time. Students can accumulate credits over a period to suit their personal and professional circumstance

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You follow this specialist route if you are a practitioner working or intending to work in the early years sector. You draw on your own personal and professional experience, practice and interests to explore an area of early childhood studies that is particularly relevant to you and your career development. If you have previously studied this area at undergraduate level, you can build on the knowledge you have already gained.

Course details

This MA has a full-time and a part-time route. Both routes have taught sessions which are scheduled to enable working professionals to attend. You study 180 level 7 credits made up of four modules plus a final dissertation.

The core modules enable you to update your knowledge and skills and give you the opportunity to reflect on your professional practice whilst developing your understanding of theoretical models and current debates. There is a strong emphasis on the application of your studies to your professional context.

You study two modules; Using the Literature to Inform Educational Research and the Dissertation. You choose your topics which should be around current debates and issues in early childhood studies.

What you study

This MA has a full-time and a part-time route. Both routes have taught sessions which are scheduled to enable working professionals to attend. You study 180 level 7 credits made up of four modules plus a final dissertation. The core modules enable you to update your knowledge and skills and give you the opportunity to reflect on your professional practice whilst developing your understanding of theoretical models and current debates. There is a strong emphasis on the application of your studies to your professional context.
You study two modules; Using the Literature to Inform Educational Research and the Dissertation. You choose your topics which should be around current debates and issues in early childhood studies.

Core modules
-Combining Professional and Academic Practice
-Contextualising Education
-Dissertation
-Educational Research: Practice and Planning
-Using the Literature to Inform Educational Research

Modules offered may vary.

Teaching

You share experiences and perspectives on aspects of practice. You study with students from other programmes who are from a variety of educational settings and backgrounds – this sharing gives you the opportunity to develop a systematic and critical understanding of the breadth and depth of knowledge in educational research and practice. You can develop a sense of belonging to the programme while being able to discuss and explore your own area of interest.

Peer-led discussion on research and practice issues raised in sessions provides the opportunity for interprofessional discussion and debate, and the opportunity to consider relevant issues from the perspective of other professional educational groups which supports you to integrate and synthesise a diverse range of knowledge. You share taught sessions with the Education Doctorate, enhancing the range and type of discussions held within sessions as well as encouraging you to consider your progression after the programme.

Staff have a wide range of educational backgrounds and specialist interests to support for your cross-disciplinary interests and multi-agency working. Another important element is how we support your transition to studying at level 7. You are offered academic support to help you understand the requirements of master’s level study; to develop your skills in academic writing and referencing, critical thinking and critical writing; and in the key IT skills such as literature searching. The assessment allows you to reflect on your own practice and context, and produce assessed work that benefits your working context. Student feedback on the programme has consistently highlighted the level of support from the staff as a major contributor to their success.

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Why study at Roehampton

• We are ranked best modern university in London for the quality of our research (Research Excellence Framework 2014).
• Roehampton’s School of Education has a historical association with Froebel College which was founded in 1892. As a result, the programme is supported by the renowned Froebel Archive for Childhood Studies, and has developed an international reputation in the field attracting students at postgraduate level from around the world.
• Students become part of the early childhood research centre with its internationally highly respected research team.
• Students graduate with a high level of knowledge and expertise in early childhood and strengthened confidence to contribute to, and advance in their chosen career.

Course summary

Early Childhood Studies at Roehampton is committed to babies and young children as people with agency and unique capacities, and to their overall wellbeing from the prenatal period.

The postgraduate programme draws on Froebel’s understanding of the transformative power of young children’s play on their thinking, and the crucial way that adults can either seek to assist or control young children’s intrinsic creativity. In adults’ interactions with children, however, Froebel recognised the profound influence of the community and social context. 

The syllabus is underpinned by an awareness of the influence of these social, cultural and political contexts on young children’s lives, and of the roots and structures of inequality that arise from these issues. The programme will strengthen your awareness and understanding of these influences and explore how you take account of them in action. In these respects, the programme also draws inspiration from the work of Paulo Freire, the radical and pioneering educator. 

The teaching is informed by active research and scholarship in early years policy and practice, as well as leading research into young children’s well-being, thinking and understanding. There is a deep commitment to working in partnership with families and communities and to the development of students’ professionalism, advocacy and leadership.

The programme is relevant, engaging and of professional and personal value for a variety of roles within the early years sector. For those working directly with young children, engagement with the course content will provide a platform for continuing professional development and career progression, while for those involved in early years policy or research, the course offers an opportunity to engage with up current thinking in a broad range of issues.

Content

Students will first look at babies' and children’s capacity for play, how they think, and how they communicate their ideas and emotions though a variety of ‘languages’ such as talk, mark-making, drawing, construction, movement, music and dance. This is studied from a variety of theoretical perspectives, critically looking at the values and assumptions underpinning these views. 

There is special focus on Froebel’s legacy in early childhood practice and other key pioneers in the child-centred tradition, which embodies advocacy and respect for children and their families. You will gain an understanding of the political nature of this work, learn advocacy skills for the well-being of young children and their families and develop effective leadership and collaboration techniques across disciplines in the field of early childhood. Alongside modules going deeper into young children’s emotions and well-being, students will learn skills for undertaking their own social and educational research. These skills will be put into practice with an extended in-depth research-based project, critically enquiring into an identified social or educational problem.

Modules

Compulsory modules

• Dissertation
• Play, Thinking and Communication

Required module

• Undertaking Social and Educational Research

Optional modules

• Early Childhood Pedagogy and Practice
• Exploring the Froebelian Legacy in Early Childhood Practice
• Professionalism, Leadership and Advocacy
• Emotion and the Roots of Wellbeing

Career options

• Careers in professional practice and leadership in early childhood, education, health and social welfare.
• Careers in policy making, implementation and administration of early childhood provision.
• Careers in research and developing the early years workforce in further and higher education.

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Programme description

This is an intensive interdisciplinary programme, designed to explore issues such as child law and how it is implemented through policy and practice, and the implications of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child for child welfare, disability, education, family studies, juvenile justice, social policy and social work.

This programme responds to the increasing importance of the study of childhood in disciplines as widespread as philosophy, sociology and geography. It offers an opportunity to develop skills in research and consultation with children and young people.

You’ll examine the implications of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and gain knowledge and analytical perspectives on particular areas of legislation, policy, theory and practice that affect children. The programme benefits from the childhood studies expertise of academic staff across the University.

Programme structure

Teaching combines lectures, seminars and tutorials, plus a combination of essays and assessed coursework. You will complete three compulsory courses and three option courses followed by an independently researched dissertation.

Career opportunities

This qualification serves both as a conversion course if you wish to pursue careers working with children or children’s issues, and as a career development opportunity if you already have experience in these fields.

Graduates have gone on to a variety of posts, such as employment with national and international non-governmental organisations, research posts and PhD study, and national and local government positions.

You will develop a range of transferable skills, such as communication and project management, which can be applied to roles in any field.

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Recognise and champion the uniqueness of every child as you take a 'whole child' holistic approach to children, from birth to 18, and their families. You will have the opportunity to study the theory and practice through two distinct routes Early Years or Children and Young People.

Our interdisciplinary and global approach to study and research reflects a commitment to children's rights, social justice for children, child-centred learning and developing awareness of social divisions in childhood.

The Early Years route explores young children's learning, education and care across multiple settings. The Children and Young People route focuses more closely on critically examining concepts, contexts and intervention across different spheres of childhood. Both routes emphasise children and young people as social actors with rights and entitlements, according to their particular cultural and social differences.

We're committed to children's rights, social justice for children, child-centred learning and developing awareness of social divisions in childhood, and these themes are at the heart of this course, forming the basis of your study and research.

- Research Excellence Framework 2014: twice as many of our staff - 220 - were entered into the research assessment for 2014 compared to the number entered in 2008

Visit the website http://courses.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/childhoodearlyyears_ma

Mature Applicants

Our University welcomes applications from mature applicants who demonstrate academic potential. We usually require some evidence of recent academic study, for example completion of an access course, however recent relevant work experience may also be considered. Please note that for some of our professional courses all applicants will need to meet the specified entry criteria and in these cases work experience cannot be considered in lieu.

If you wish to apply through this route you should refer to our University Recognition of Prior Learning policy that is available on our website (http://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/studenthub/recognition-of-prior-learning.htm).

Please note that all applicants to our University are required to meet our standard English language requirement of GCSE grade C or equivalent, variations to this will be listed on the individual course entry requirements.

Careers

This course is ideal if you work - or you aspire to work - in early years settings, therapeutic services, youth work, criminal justice service, play-work, child health, teaching, social work or related children's services. The education graduate job market is competitive and a postgraduate qualification in childhood studies and early years is designed to give you an edge.

- Early Years Advisor
- Nursery Co-ordinator
- Children's Charity Worker
- Social Worker

Careers advice:
The dedicated Jobs and Careers team offers expert advice and a host of resources to help you choose and gain employment. Whether you're in your first or final year, you can speak to members of staff from our Careers Office who can offer you advice from writing a CV to searching for jobs.

Visit the careers site - https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/employability/jobs-careers-support.htm

Course Benefits

You can study this course over one, two or three years. It's delivered through day, evening and Saturday sessions or via distance learning to fit around your working pattern.

This course is valuable if you want to explore contemporary issues about children's and young people's social, political, cultural and educational lives in a global context. We have students from a variety of professional backgrounds on the course which encourages a significant number of valid and relevant perspectives in class discussions. We also draw ideas from a great variety of academic disciplines including history, geography philosophy, psychology, sociology and anthropology. All of these things mean that you will come away from your course with a broader and more developed view of the sector and what children and young people need today.

Howard Stones

Senior Lecturer in the School of Education

"Our course provides you with the theories, concepts, knowledge and skills to explore children's lives in a global context. This academic course will appeal to anyone who is interested in studying, or working with, children from birth to eighteen."

Howard taught secondary school physics and mathematics for ten years. Subsequently, he has worked on photographic and drama projects with young people before moving to higher education to lecture in community studies, managing change in community, applied criminal justice and childhood.

Facilities

- Online library
Global access to Leeds Beckett's extensive online library, with over 100,000 electronic journals, books and databases to supercharge your study.

- Dedicated Support Team
A highly-skilled and dedicated support team whose job is to work with you through every step of your online learning.

- Virtual Learning Environment
A Virtual Learning Environment that?s easy to use and available whenever and wherever you are.

Find out how to apply here - http://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/postgraduate/how-to-apply/

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This distance-learning programme is designed for professionals working within the early childhood workforce, including those who may not be working directly with children but are involved in developing the early childhood workforce, such as further education lecturers and local authority advisors.

More about this course

This course is a high quality, contemporary and coherent programme that has been designed to meet the needs of professionals working within the early childhood workforce.

The MA offers you an opportunity to advance your knowledge, understanding and professional practice through engagement with current research and thinking in early childhood. It also involves a reflection on and analysis of your own professional practice. A commitment to equality, diversity, social justice and advocacy are themes central to this programme.

The course is delivered by distance learning using an interactive online platform and individual academic support from tutors. As well as academic content the interactive online platform includes podcasts, video, online discussions and links to identified reading – either as scanned chapters or through access to our wide range of online books and academic journals.

The early childhood studies team has a long history of developing accessible study for the early childhood workforce. London Met was one of the first universities to offer an undergraduate programme designed for those working within the early childhood workforce – both as a face-to-face and distance learning programme.

The course is underpinned by the following aims to:
-Develop a detailed understanding of current research and thinking in the field of early childhood
-Continuously appraise research and theory and reflect on its impact on early childhood provision and practice with an emphasis on students’ own professional practice
-Develop a sophisticated understanding of the historical, economic, social, cultural and political contexts which impact on the lives of young children and their families
-Develop a comprehensive understanding of and commitment to issues of equality and diversity, social justice and advocacy in relation to the field of early childhood

You are assessed through coursework as well as a dissertation.

Modular structure

The modules listed below are for the academic year 2016/17 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.

Year 1 modules include:
-Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood (core, 30 credits)
-Distinctive Approaches in Early Childhood Education and Care (core, 30 credits)
-Research Methods and the Dissertation (core, 60 credits)
-Creativity in Early Childhood (option, 30 credits)
-Equality and Inclusion in Early Childhood (option, 30 credits)
-Foundations of Being (option, 30 credits)

After the course

Career opportunities and potential continuing professional development include:
-Advisers to local and national government
-Further and higher education tutors
-Leadership roles within early childhood
-Doctoral research

Moving to one campus

Between 2016 and 2020 we're investing £125 million in the London Metropolitan University campus, moving all of our activity to our current Holloway campus in Islington, north London. This will mean the teaching location of some courses will change over time.

Whether you will be affected will depend on the duration of your course, when you start and your mode of study. The earliest moves affecting new students will be in September 2017. This may mean you begin your course at one location, but over the duration of the course you are relocated to one of our other campuses. Our intention is that no full-time student will change campus more than once during a course of typical duration.

All students will benefit from our move to one campus, which will allow us to develop state-of-the-art facilities, flexible teaching areas and stunning social spaces.

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If you're looking to develop your career within the specialist field of early childhood education, then this course could be for you.You'll have the opportunity to focus on current issues faced by early year professionals and you'll study early years education in international contexts. Themes include children's rights, sociology of childhood, psychological perspectives on childhood and international approaches to early years education. The course can be tailored to suit you to help ensure your knowledge and academic skills progress throughout the course.

The course combines knowledge about practical aspects of the early years curriculum with the opportunity to bring a theoretical understanding to help to deepen and challenge your thinking.

You'll be taught by an outstanding team of teachers; in fact we've been ranked in the top five in the Guardian Guide for Education for the sixth year running. You'll also have access to our extensive professional and academic network which feeds directly into course design and delivery and to excellent facilities and specialist equipment.

Titles of work undertaken by students on this course have included:

• Understanding Nigerian Educators' Perceptions of Child Voice and its impact on practice

• Early Childhood Care and Education: the future for sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa

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If you’re a teacher, lecturer or trainer in Early Years, or working in an Early Years setting who is keen to boost your professional qualifications and knowledge, this course is for you. It may also appeal if you’re someone who is simply interested in the field of education and have recently completed a degree in Early Years, Education Studies, Social Work or a related subject area.

What's covered in the course?

Highly flexible, this course is an attractive option if you want the opportunity to study without having to give up your job. Our Education Master’s framework allows you to choose your own path by selecting the core modules, area of specialisation and optional modules, that way you can tailor your study to suit your needs and areas of interest.

The modules available explore current issues in education, leadership and management, change and improvement, as well as a flexible portfolio, reflection and research opportunities, leading to a final dissertation.

Why Choose Us?

• You don't need a Bachelor’s degree to do this course, but you do need professional experience.
• This recognised qualification will help you to meet a variety of Continuing Professional Development requirements.
• We’re proud of our high employability rates, with 98 per cent of the School’s postgraduate students in employment or further study six months after their course (DLHE survey results 14/15).
• If you're thinking of changing your career for a move into teaching please be aware that this course doesn't lead to qualified teacher status.
• You can use evidence of previous study or relevant experience to claim Accreditation of Prior Certificated Learning (APCL) or Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL).
• You'll be able to develop professional knowledge, skills and understanding in your practice, which will support you to offer consistently excellent teaching.
• You can use this course to put you at the forefront of professional practice in your specialist field or subject. This will enable you to help your students to succeed.

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Childhood studies is an interdisciplinary area of study that puts children and childhood at the centre of its inquiry. It asks questions like 'What is a child?', 'How is childhood changed by wider changes in society?' and 'How do class, gender and "race" shape children's lives?'.

International childhood studies put these questions into a global context, to ask how global forces such as war, economy and international development are reshaping childhood.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Of interest to anyone working, or intending to work, with children in service provision, in social policy or in international development, particularly in culturally diverse settings, or anyone who has an interest in cultures of childhood.
Helps develop the skills needed to produce high-quality independent research.
Taught by experts in childhood studies: the programme director is the author of Childhood in a Global Perspective (Polity, 2009) and many other publications on global childhoods.
One of only 2 childhood studies Master's degrees in the UK with an international focus.
We offer student support and have a range of research resources.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated ‘world-leading’ or internationally excellent.

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The only graduate program in Cultural Studies in Western Canada, the University of Winnipeg's multidisciplinary Master of Arts in Cultural Studies is an innovative, 12-month, course-based program that offers specializations in Texts and Cultures or Curatorial Practices. Bringing together instructors from across the university and from the city's vibrant arts and culture community, the MA in Cultural Studies provides students with strong methodological and theoretical training in order to pursue further postgraduate studies or careers in a range of fields, including education, publishing, arts management, art curation, and journalism.

What is Cultural Studies?

Cultural Studies is an interdisciplinary field, drawing on theories and practices from a range of humanities and social sciences disciplines, that seeks to investigate the ways in which cultures produce and are produced. At the centre of Cultural Studies sits a host of questions, such as what constitutes a text, how some texts, visual images, and cultural artifacts come to be valued over others, and how questions of value relate to the distribution of power and authority.

Rather than concentrating exclusively on the group of elite texts that make up so-called "high culture," Cultural Studies takes as its focus the whole complex of changing beliefs, ideas, feelings, values, and symbols that define a community’s organization and sense of itself. Culture in this sense is often understood to be a primary vehicle of globalization in the contemporary world and deeply enmeshed in particular social, economical and political environments. As such, when we study culture, we are studying the world we live in and how we function in it.

Cultural Studies MA at the University of Winnipeg

Small seminars, individual attention from dedicated instructors, and strong academic development are just some of the benefits of being a student in the MA in Cultural Studies. Students specialize in one of two areas: 1) Texts and Cultures, which emphasizes theoretically-grounded cultural analysis and 2) Curatorial Practices, which focuses on museum studies.

Students in the MA in Cultural Studies take a total of 24 credit hours (the equivalent of 4 full-year courses) in a range of topic areas, including Cultural Theory; Visual Cultures; Curatorial Practices; Cultures of Childhood; Gender, Sexualities and Culture; Local, National and Global Cultures; and Manuscript, Print and Digital Cultures.

What is a multidisciplinary degree?

A multidisciplinary degree is one that allows you to study courses in a variety of subject areas. The Cultural Studies MA degree incorporates theories and methods from a variety of disciplines, including Literary Studies, History, Art History, Women’s and Gender Studies, Politics, and Rhetoric and Communications. In the Cultural Studies MA program at the University of Winnipeg, instructors from these disciplines regularly teach courses in the program and are available for Special Studies courses in which they direct the research projects of individual students.

How to prepare for an MA in Cultural Studies?

Cultural Studies is an academic field that uses critical and cultural theories to study cultural phenomena. Therefore, it is recommended that a student choose classes that use feminist theory, social theory, political theory, literary theory, and/or media theory while pursuing their undergraduate degree in order to prepare for an MA in Cultural Studies.

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Childhood and Youth is a growing field of inquiry across the social sciences. This MSc offers an opportunity to study in one of the UK's leading centres for childhood and youth based research.

This course is aimed at practitioners, policy makers and postgraduate students who want to develop their knowledge of childhood and youth and consider what it means to conduct research with children and young people at an advanced level.

It offers the opportunity to examine leading theories, methodologies and research evidence in order to understand the relationship between the conceptualisation of childhood, methodological approaches to researching with children and young people and the social impact of childhood policies and practices in a variety of social and cultural contexts and across the young life course.

Distinctive features

A distinctive feature of this programme is that two of the modules are taught as a cluster of stand-alone, day-long workshops, each focusing on cutting-edge policy and research issues. These workshops are especially designed for practitioners and policy makers who want to enhance their substantive or methodological knowledge on key areas of childhood and youth policy and practice. They also provide the opportunity for students on the full programme to engage with contemporary issues and debates through a more focused and practical lens, with leading specialists in the field.

The programme also offers exciting opportunities for you to work in an interdisciplinary social science environment and to benefit from a breadth of substantive, theoretical and methodological expertise with leading childhood and youth scholars. Members of our Childhood and Youth Research Group operate at the forefront of public policy debates, advising and steering at local and national levels on a range of contemporary issues (e.g. 'sexualisation', 'domestic violence', 'adoption') and drawing on their own research.

Structure

The course can be completed in one year with full-time study or in two years by part-time study.

A 20-credit module comprises 200 hours of study, including about 30 hours of contact time, and the MSc as a whole, 1800 hours of study.

The MSc in Childhood and Youth comprises up to three 20-credit specialist modules in childhood and youth, two 30-credit modules in social science theory and research methods, and one 60-credit supervised dissertation on a childhood and youth topic of your choice.

For a list of modules for the FULL-TIME route, please see website:

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/taught/courses/course/childhood-and-youth-msc

For a list of the modules for the PART-TIME route, please see website:

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/taught/courses/course/childhood-and-youth-msc-part-time

Teaching

Our teaching is research-informed and led by researchers and scholars in one of the foremost childhood and youth studies research groups in the UK. The programme benefits from being located in an inter-disciplinary environment so that in parts of the course, you will come into contact with staff and students from other subject areas and, in other parts of the course, with staff and students in the same substantive area.

Modules employ a diverse range of teaching including lectures, seminars, group and individual tutorials, and independent guided study. All modules within the programme make use of Cardiff University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Learning Central, on which you will find course materials, links to related materials and information on assessment.

Assessment

Modules are assessed by a combination of essays, reports, reviews and presentations.

Career Prospects

Graduates from this programme will have a theoretical, methodological and substantive foundation from which they can critically evaluate how contemporary social structures, institutions, media, policies and practices impact upon children and young people's everyday lives.

This makes the programme suitable if you wish to work in child and youth-focused research, policy and advocacy roles in the private, public and voluntary sector, both nationally and internationally. It also provides a good foundation for those wishing to go on to further training in a variety of professional fields involving work with children and young people, such as education, health and social care, family policy, youth work, justice, international development and charity work.

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