Childhood and Youth Studies
University of Portsmouth
UCAS Code: L590 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
University of Portsmouth
UCAS Code: L590 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
104-112 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels.
106-112 Tariff points from the Access to HE Diploma.
Cambridge Pre-U score of 44-46.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
3 GCSEs at grade C or above to include English and Mathematics/3 GCSEs at grade 4 or above to include English and Mathematics.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
25 points from the IB Diploma, to include 3 Higher Level subjects.
Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)
H3,H3,H3,H4,H4-H3,H3,H3,H3,H4
Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.
Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
104-112 Tariff points to include a minimum of 2 Advanced Highers.
Acceptable when combined with other qualifications.
T Level
UCAS Tariff
104-112 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent.
104-112 points from the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate including 1 A level, plus the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate.
About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
**This is a Connected Degree**
Portsmouth is the only University in the UK with the flexibility to choose when to do an optional paid placement or self-employed year. Either take a placement in your third year, or finish your studies first and complete a placement in your fourth year. You can decide if and when to take a placement after you've started your course.
**Overview**
Learn the skills and get the workplace experience you need to give children their best start in life – whatever their circumstances – on this Childhood and Youth studies degree.
You'll discover how factors such as the education system, youth culture and social media affect children's development. You’ll also have the chance to explore optional topics such as outdoor education, safeguarding and the role of play in a child’s development, and to focus your studies on a particular specialism - education and teaching, community and youth/family provision, or leadership and enterprise.
Develop the knowledge and skills to support children with special educational needs (SEN) and those from a care background, making sure no child misses out on the educational and development opportunities available to them.
After the course, you’ll be set for a career supporting children and their families in areas such as youth work, social care and education.
**Course highlights**
- Get at least 60 hours of experience working with children in your second year with the option of a placement year between years 2 and 3
- Learn from lecturers with diverse professional backgrounds – from youth work and policing to teaching and SEN
- Gain current insights from your lecturers’ research on themes such as child bereavement, the impact of the pandemic on education and the role of digital tools in supporting learning and wellbeing
- Develop relationships with potential employers through events and workshops with organisations such as an immersive theatre company and a charity that helps children develop life skills through sport
- Build a professional eportfolio featuring examples of your work – essential for standing out in the job market after the course
**Endorsed by:**
On this course, you can choose modules lead to the exit award BA Childhood and Youth Studies with Social Pedagogy. This pathway is endorsed by the Social Pedagogy Professional Association (SPPA), which means you can graduate as a "Social Pedagogy Practitioner".
This demonstrates that you meet the SPPA's Standards of Proficiency, which are central to developing relationship-centred, dialogic practice that supports children and young people, particularly those who are vulnerable or disadvantaged.
**Careers and opportunities**
There will always be a demand for skilled and knowledgeable professionals to work with children and young people.
As well as specialist expertise, this course helps you develop transferable skills valued by all kinds of employers, such as:
- teamworking
- leadership
- people management
- contextual communication
- self-organisation
- time management
- resilience
What areas can you work in with a childhood and youth studies degree?
After the course, you could work in areas such as:
- youth work
- social care
- educational welfare
- probation
- teaching (with further study)
- policing
Modules
Year 1
Core modules in this year include:
- Becoming a Researcher (20 credits)
- Child and Youth Development (20 credits)
- Educational Contexts (20 credits)
- Rights and Responsibilities (20 credits)
- Understanding Childhoods (40 credits)
There are no optional modules in this year.
Year 2
Core modules in this year include:
- Global Childhoods (20 credits)
- Professional Practice With Children and Young People (20 credits)
- Research With Children and Young People (20 credits)
- Strategies for Social Change (20 credits)
Optional modules from this course currently include:
- Children's Literature (20 credits)
- Children's Social Minds (20 credits)
- Development of Learning (20 credits)
- Empire and Its Afterlives in Britain, Europe, and Africa (20 credits)
- Engaged Citizenship in Humanities and Social Sciences (20 credits)
- Gender, Race and Education (20 credits)
- Global Security (20 credits)
- Intercultural Perspectives On Communication (20 credits)
- Introduction to Teaching (20 credits)
- Just Playing? (20 credits)
- Marketing & Communication (20 credits)
- Modernity and Globalisation (20 credits)
- Nationalism and Migration: Chaos, Crisis and the Everyday (L5) (20 credits)
- News, Discourse, and Media (20 credits)
- Principles of Economic Crime Investigation (20 credits)
- Professional Experience L5 (20 credits)
- Puritans to Postmodernists: American Literature (20 credits)
- The Sociology of Education (20 credits)
- Transitional Justice & Human Rights (20 credits)
- Understanding Personal Life (L5) (20 credits)
- Wildlife Crime: Threats and Response (20 credits)
- Youth Culture (20 credits)
Placement year (optional):
Have the opportunity to do an additional work placement year after your second or third year on this Connected Degree - we're the only UK university to offer flexible sandwich placements for undergraduates.
Year 3
Core units in this year include:
- Behaviour Matters (20 credits)
- Professional Themes in Supporting Young People's Relationships and Interactions (20 credits)
Optional units in this year include:
- Aspiring Leaders and Managers (20 credits)
- Dissertation (Childhood Studies) (40 credits)
- Going Outside: Pedagogies for Outdoor Learning (20 credits)
- Introduction to Teaching (20 credits)
- Major Project (40 credits)
- Professional Experience L6 (20 credits)
- Promoting Confident, Capable Learners (20 credits)
- Psychology in Practice (20 credits)
- Supporting Children and Young People's Mental Health (20 credits)
- Working With Looked After Children (20 credits)
We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.
Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry and some optional modules may not run every year. If a module doesn’t run, we’ll let you know as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.
Assessment methods
You’ll be assessed through:
essays
group and individual presentations and projects
examinations
a dissertation
You’ll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark.
You can get feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future.
The way you’re assessed may depend on the modules you select. As a guide, students on this course last year were typically assessed as follows:
Year 1 students: 8% by written exams, 7% by practical exams and 85% by coursework
Year 2 students: 5% by practical exams and 95% by coursework
Year 3 students: 100% by coursework
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
University of Portsmouth
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Childhood and youth studies
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Childhood and youth studies
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Childhood and youth studies
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£30k
£32k
£34k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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