Module SOCI51415: Youth Policy and Practice

Department: Sociology

SOCI51415: Youth Policy and Practice

Pre-requisites

Corequisites

Excluded Combinations

Aims

• To offer a critical overview of contemporary youth work practice and policy;
• To examine the ideological and political determinants that have shaped youth policy in Britain;
• To consider the work of key statutory and voluntary agencies.

Content

• The module will provide an opportunity for students to examine critically:
• youth policy in the UK;
• the origins and development of youth work;
• the theoretical underpinnings of youth work;
• the determinants of youth work practice;
• key forms of intervention, including centre-based work, detached and outreach work, issue-based work, specialist practice focussed on specific cohorts of young people: young women, young black people, young lesbian and gay people.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module students should be able to demonstrate:
• Knowledge and critical understanding of the key theoretical approaches and models of practice in youth work;
• A systematic understanding and critical awareness of issues that are central to youth policy and youth work practice;
• Knowledge and critical understanding of the ideological and political determinants that have shaped youth policy.

• An ability to identify the influences shaping practice realities;
• An ability to identify and critique policy initiatives using theory and practice understanding.

• An ability to relate theory and practice;
• An ability to apply practice experience in the interpretation of policy and theory;
• An ability to research documents using relevant institutional holdings and appropriate electronic media.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures, group discussions, independent reading and the assessment of written work.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment

Written Assignment 1,500 words. Assessment methods, both formative and summative focus upon the ability of the students to research a significant area of policy and/or practice, using a range of sources, and to use professional experience in addition to theoretical understanding to develop a critical analysis of that area.