Program Overview

The aim of the Certificate in Community Youth Studies is to introduce students to the basic principles and practice that are needed to work with young people and to become competent practitioners at this level, informed by appropriate theoretical perspectives, models of good practice, and evidence. It will equip students with the relevant skills, knowledge, values and understanding to enable them to engage and build relationships with young people, achieve academic results, as well as improve performance and productivity in the work place. The course provides students with an introduction to the approaches and frameworks used within contemporary youth work practice in Northern and Southern Ireland. It also provides an introduction to local and national contexts in which community youth work operates and gives an insight into the historical, theoretical and research perspectives that inform contemporary youth work practice.

Students will also be encouraged to draw on experience in their own work-based agencies to reflect on practice in order to integrate theory and utilise evidence informed approaches.

It also seeks to challenge, motivate and encourage aspiration in individual students to pursue further study and undertake professional study.

Attendance

The course is delivered by part-time mode with a one day per week attendance requirement over one year (Thursday at Magee or Wednesday in Belfast). The venue for the Belfast course is 14 College Square North, Belfast.

Start dates

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Students will be engaged in a range of learning environments including lectures, workshops, small group work and tutorials. Assessments include presentations, poster presentations, essays, reflective journals, project proposals, report writing and work-based projects.

Academic profile

The University employs over 1,000 suitably qualified and experienced academic staff - 59% have PhDs in their subject field and many have professional body recognition.

Courses are taught by staff who are Professors (25%), Readers, Senior Lecturers (20%) or Lecturers (55%).

We require most academic staff to be qualified to teach in higher education: 82% hold either Postgraduate Certificates in Higher Education Practice or higher. Most academic staff (81%) are accredited fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) by Advanced HE - the university sector professional body for teaching and learning. Many academic and technical staff hold other professional body designations related to their subject or scholarly practice.

The profiles of many academic staff can be found on the University’s departmental websites and give a detailed insight into the range of staffing and expertise.  The precise staffing for a course will depend on the department(s) involved and the availability and management of staff.  This is subject to change annually and is confirmed in the timetable issued at the start of the course.

Occasionally, teaching may be supplemented by suitably qualified part-time staff (usually qualified researchers) and specialist guest lecturers. In these cases, all staff are inducted, mostly through our staff development programme ‘First Steps to Teaching’. In some cases, usually for provision in one of our out-centres, Recognised University Teachers are involved, supported by the University in suitable professional development for teaching.

Figures correct for academic year 2021-2022.