Law, Society And Controversy

The unit has a principle aim to provide a broad introduction and foundational knowledge to the legal system, its institutions and practices, in the UK and internationally. The learning on the unit will consider the relevance of the law and how it impacts on society and orders social life. These frameworks will enable a range of current controversies to be examined and integrate controversy with regards to key issues and legal cases into the syllabus of the unit.

The syllabus is based on research addressing many of the key issues and debates at the centre of the law and society both within the UK and internationally. These lie at the heart of all the undergraduate courses taking this unit. The relevance of the unit is also evident in the many links between the law and the human services; the unit explores these links in terms of the practical application of knowledge and research by different
practitioners in the human services with regards to children and families, the police, health care professionals and social workers.

Introduction To Academic Study And Work-Based Learning (Work Based Learning Activity)

 Constructive oral and written communication, and the effective and ethical management and presentation of knowledge and information, are essential for both academic work at degree level and your professional practice. This unit will enable you to develop your understanding of the skills and conventions of academic study in higher education and recognise their transferability to and relevance for your work with children and families and with professional colleagues.

You will be encouraged to identify your own academic and professional strengths, areas for development, and strategies to support your academic and professional growth enabling you to plan for your future employability.  Your Personal Development Planning (PDP) is embedded within this unit.

This unit will prepare you for the Work based project unit at Level 5; and provide you with an understanding of the skills and areas for personal and professional growth in a child and family-related area of employment.

Introduction To Working With Children, Young People And Families In Practice

This Unit aims to introduce you to the skills, concepts and theories needed to work with children, young people and families within a multi-agency context. It explores the social factors that impact on the status of these groups and their priorities within an international and national context.  

The unit will enable you to identify, analyse and apply the skills required to work with children, young people and families within the human services. This will be explored within the framework of human services and current government policy. This unit should be considered as an important starting point to your study of working with children and young people. You will be able to revisit the main themes and issues discussed within this unit in more depth at level 5 within Perceptions and Discourses of Childhood and Working Together: Inter-agency approaches to Child Welfare assessment and intervention and at Level 6 within Child Protection: critically analysing policy and practice, Childhoods in Global Context and The lived experiences of children and young people in diverse family and social circumstances: developing participatory responses.

Narratives Of Childhood And Youth

This unit examines children and young people’s lives through historical, sociological and philosophical perspectives. It explores the ways in which children and young people’s social and learning worlds are experienced by them and constructed, surveyed and regulated by adults. It draws on different theoretical perspectives to investigate notions of childhood through to adulthood, interrogating the subjective realities of their lives and learning across different spaces, places of family, community and school. It explores how social, economic, technological and cultural change, alongside difference, diversity and inclusion shape various narratives around contemporary childhood and adolescent experiences and raises critical questions for policy and practice about their care, equality, welfare and education. 

The unit is relevant to students who intend to work with children, young people and families, both in formal and informal education settings. It provides a broad understanding of the theories underpinning the studies of childhood, youth and education that is relevant to professional practice across family, school and community contexts. Completion of this unit will provide foundational knowledge that leads into Level 5 unit ASS032-2 Perceptions and Discourses of Childhood.

Perceptions And Discourses Of Childhood

Children and young people’s development will be highlighted, exploring current and continued theory and perceptions with regards to physical, cognitive and identity formation and how children and young people perceive themselves and others.

Children’s lived realities are explored and critically analysed to create a worldview that is child focussed. International, national and domestic conventions, policy and practice are identified and used to make sense of children and young people’s lives.

Managing And Applied Experience Within A Work Based Learning Environment

The aims of this unit are:

To provide opportunity for you to utilise your current work experience to make theoretical links and place your practice in a wider contextual legal and policy framework. This will afford you scope to enhance your overall skills and understanding in working with users of education, health and social care.

To enable you to reflect on and enhance your insight into the field of health and social care provision for children and adults, remit, policies and procedures and how these impact on service delivery and working with other agencies.

The recruitment of personnel will be covered and related to your current employment setting and will be followed by the theoretical context of career development learning and career management skills. In class discussions and activities will include communication, conflict, team work, and through exploring management styles.  

This unit aligns to Model 1 of the Universities Foundation Degree Framework and incorporates subject specific placement learning. It also takes into consideration the Foundation Degree Characteristics 2015.

Researching Children And Family Practice (Work Based Project)

Due to the independent and situation-specific nature of the work-based project the majority of this unit subscribes to no formal shared syllabus.  The majority of this unit will be supported by one-to-one tutorials with a project supervisor.  These may be face to face or via electronic media (e.g. email or video conferencing (e.g. FaceTime or Skype).

Working Together: Inter-Agency Approaches To Child Welfare Assessment And Intervention

Current legislation and policy prioritise joined up working and partnership practice in relation to child welfare and safeguarding. This unit considers the historical roots of approaches to both child welfare and multi-agency working alongside current and emerging initiatives. It also explores how interdisciplinary approaches operate in the context of child welfare assessment and intervention and identifies the concepts, reasoning and purpose behind these.

The unit supports students in identifying and developing professional skills required by different human services employers such as resilience and the ability to challenge decisions and advocate for the needs of children and young people.

In sum, the unit fosters students’ critical appreciation of the legislative, policy and operational environment of the range of services relating to child welfare, in order to develop their professional employability.