Designed for graduates or existing practitioners, this course helps you to gain extensive knowledge of working with young people and community groups alongside providing professional qualifications to practise as a youth and community development worker in the UK.

Professionally validated by the National Youth Agency and the Endorsement and Quality Standards Board for Community Development Learning, this course will help you master skills to support young people and communities and handle the complexities of social justice. Our programme is ideal if you’d like to pursue a career in areas such as education, sexual health, housing and homelessness, and mental health.

Benefit from inter-professional learning, with the course attracting professionals from a variety of settings including youth work, parenting education, children’s centres, sexual health, drug abuse, housing and homelessness, youth offending, mental health, community development and domestic violence.

On this programme you’ll explore the theory and practice of a range of topics including community development, anti-oppressive practice, and health and social research methods. You’ll also develop your practical and professional skills by putting theory in to practice with dedicated work placement modules and a range of specialist option modules which have been specifically designed for staff in local authorities, the NHS (non-clinical and non-medical roles), voluntary, third sector and non-governmental organisations, ensuring your learning is relevant to current practice.

Key features

• Professional validation by the National Youth Agency and recognition by the Joint Negotiating Committee ensures the content you study is continually relevant to industry and the current developments and challenges within the sector.
• Our programme is currently the only youth work and community development postgraduate distance learning programme in England to have dual professional recognition.
• By choosing this course, you have the opportunity to study part-time or full-time alongside your work commitments, mainly through distance learning.
• Achieve planned change and enhance your employment opportunities with modules specifically designed for staff in local authorities, the NHS (non-clinical and non-medical roles), voluntary, third sector and non-governmental organisations; ensuring your learning is relevant to current practice.
• You can benefit from our expert teaching, with more than 55 years’ professional training to draw upon as well as first-hand experience of the field. Our teaching is informed by our diverse team of skilled tutors, with many of our academics actively engaged in professional practice, research and consultancy.
• Graduates from this course have gone on to pursue a wide range of careers in youth work and health and community development in the statutory and voluntary sectors.

“The course has given me a much better understanding of the historical and theoretical background to my profession. The alternative placement was a huge step forward in my professional development. My placement tutor was extremely helpful and pushed me in areas I would have otherwise overlooked.”

Structure and assessment

Course modules

This course consists of five core modules, one core field placement module, and one  option module. Opportunities exist to exit with a PG Dip, gaining the professional qualification at this stage, or complete the dissertation for a full MA.

Core modules include:

• Theory and Practice of Youth Work – introduces key concepts in youth and community development work: political (policy), sociological, philosophical, historical and psychological (core for Youth Work and Community Development course only)
• Theory and Practice of Community Development – focuses on community development and introduces key concepts in relation to practice, policy and the national occupation standards
• Anti-oppressive Practice – analyses concepts of oppression, discrimination and inequality and develops effective anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice
• Health and Social Research Methods – introduces strategies and methods of social science research commonly used in social and healthcare settings
• Field Practice – is practice – based (150 hours) and provides you with the opportunity to further develop your experience and understanding of the role of the informal educator at JNC professional range in an adult and community work setting different to your usual workplace, where you will undertake 500 hours mainly with young people
• Management of Services and People – increases self-confidence and performance as a manager of people and projects within a youth work and community development environment

Plus choose one module from a range of specialist modules, depending on your specific career interests:

• Mental Health
• Contemporary Social Issues
• Global Issues in Youth and Community Development
• Managing Race and Diversity
• The Negotiated Module – allows you to formulate, present and implement an individual proposal in an area of professional relevance and interest

Please contact us for option module descriptions and further information.

• Dissertation – students wishing to achieve a master’s will choose a youth and community development related topic identified in discussion with academic staff

Facilities and features