BA (Hons) Working with Children and Families (Top-up)

You should have a suitable Level 5 qualification, as well as GCSE English and Maths qualifications at grade 4 or above, or equivalent Level 2 qualifications.

If you are not already employed within the sector, there is an expectation for you to undertake a voluntary placement of 50 hours.

This course is subject to successful interveiw and satisfactory DBS clearance.

All teaching will take place in the classroom environment through lectures, time allocated for tutorial and pastoral support and allocated time with your dissertation supervisor. You will also be expected to use your experience within the workplace to inform your learning.

Throughout your programme of study, you will be required to complete assessments to demonstrate your learning of subject knowledge and transferable key skills.

You will experience a range of different types of assessment during your programme, which will include some of the following:
- Case studies
- Group work
- Presentations
- Plans
- Portfolio
- Reflections
- Project work
- Career interview and set exercises
- Ethics, presentation and professional report

At Level 6, you will typically have around 8 contact hours per week, consisting of:
- 4 hours of lectures
- 2 hours of dissertation seminar
- 2 hours of tutorial/pastoral/dissertation supervision.

Independent learning:
When not attending lectures, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. Typically, this will involve reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research, preparing coursework assignment and presentations.

Your independent learning is supported by a range of facilities including a dissertation supervisor, the HE academic support tutor and the learning centre facilities available to you.

Overall workload:
Your overall workload consists of class contact hours, around 10-15 hours’ independent learning and assignment activity.
Academic support:
Our HE Academic Support Tutor provides help in the following areas:
- Study skills (including reading, writing, note-taking and presentation skills)
- Written English (including punctuation and grammatical accuracy)
- Academic writing (including how to reference)
- Research skills (in conjunction with the learning centres)
- Critical thinking and understanding arguments
- Revision, assessment and examination skills (including time management)

Teaching staff:
You will be taught by an experienced teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes lecturers with industry experience. Our teaching is informed by the relevant practice within the sector and 100% of our lecturers have a teaching qualification.

Assessment:
The course provides you with opportunities to test your understanding of the subject informally before you complete the formal assessments that count towards your final mark. Each module normally contains at least one piece of ‘formative’ assessment for which you receive feedback from your tutor.

There is a formal or ‘summative’ assessment at the end of each module.

Assessment methods examples include written tasks, assignments, portfolio work and presentations. The grades from formal assessment count towards your module mark.

Percentage of the course assessed by coursework:
100% of the course is assessed by submission of module work.

Feedback:
You will receive feedback on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback is intended to help you learn and you are encouraged to discuss it with your module tutor.

We aim to provide you with feedback within 20 working days of hand-in (formal coursework assessment).

English and Maths are important life skills that will help you to achieve your best in your studies and progress to your future career. It is expected that you will have Maths and English qualifications as part of the entry criteria.

There is an expectation for you to undertake a placement of 50 hours. This can be voluntary or paid, but must be within a relevant setting. If you are already employed within the sector you don’t need to undertake an additional placement.

This programme is a University of Cumbria programme. We work with the university and partner colleges to deliver this programme. We also work in partnership with various early years, education, health and social settings within the local area.

When not attending lectures, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. Typically, this will involve reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research, preparing coursework assignment and presentations. Your independent learning is supported by a range of facilities including a personal tutor, the HE academic support tutor, learning centre and the facilities available to you at University of Cumbria.

This is a 1 year programme. Full-time (2 evenings a week).

Timetables are normally available at enrolment. Scheduled teaching for this course is two evenings per week.

The aims of the programme are to:

- Provide a supportive and responsive learning environment that will enable you to have different experiences to develop a flexible and transferable skill set
- Engage you with a variety of learning experiences that build on skills and knowledge to facilitate the development of a critical understanding of the children’s workforce and social care settings
- Develop the skills, knowledge and understanding to work in integrated practice settings across the children’s workforce and social care settings sector
- Confidently engage with and support the development of children, young people, families and communities
- Plan, deliver and evaluate projects and interventions that support social action and social justice
- Provide you with the knowledge and skills to understand and locate yourself within the local, national and global children’s workforce and social care settings
- Engage you in traditional and contemporary debates in the children’s workforce and social care settings with an emphasis on developing analytical skills that enable robust evidenced based theoretical challenge
- Prepare you for Level 7 (postgraduate) study in an allied field, or for employment

This programme has a number of distinguishing features, including an emphasis on interdisciplinary working, employability, internationalisation, research skills and social justice.

Modules:
This module map provides a list of the modules that make up your course.

Semester 1 -

Compulsory modules:
- Enabling Practice and Empowerment for Communities
- Outdoor Environments and Experiential Learning
- Extended Professional Practice Report - Dissertation

Semester 2 -

Compulsory modules:
- Supporting Health and Wellbeing
- Employability, Progression and Leadership
- Extended Professional Practice Report - Dissertation

You can obtain more information about the course from the University of Cumbria website. See link below.

https://www.cumbria.ac.uk/study/courses/undergraduate/working-with-children-and-families-top-up/

University of Cumbria

120 credits (Level 6)