Course summary

The BA (Hons) Professional Development (Childhood Studies) is designed for current and future practitioners in child health and welfare. It builds your knowledge of children’s development and gives you the skills to be a better practitioner with innovative approaches to supporting your learning. The course content explores the range of subjects fundamental to an understanding of children’s development in society and how policy and professional interventions contribute to better outcomes for children. You will begin by studying developmental psychology and how a child’s early years form an understanding of themselves and their world. You will look also at sociology and related early years research to consider the context for childhood study and practice. In understanding how society responds to the needs of children, you will study the development of social policy and review the issues and approaches to managing children’s welfare. A particular focus of the honours programme is the research and submission of a detailed dissertation on your choice of subject from a range of challenging contemporary concepts in childhood studies. It is a test of your ability in a team to devise and carry out a project relating to a work situation, documenting your learning and its application. Further study will enable you to focus in detail on your chosen subject area helping you advance your learning and define a specialist path.