B.A (Hons) - Working with Children, Young People and Families with Foundation Year

Our BA (Hons) Working with Children, Young People and Families with a Foundation Year program has at its heart a strong commitment to social justice and equality. We will provide you with a range of teaching and learning experiences to build on your existing skills and motivation so that you can contribute to a changing society, particularly with services who work with, or for, vulnerable children, young people, and their families.

Why choose a foundation year course?

By studying a foundation year in either Society, Childhood, and Education, your first year will be spent learning a wide range of broad subject areas which then open up opportunities for you to specialize further in your next year –  which would be the first year of a full degree program. 

You will study very broad subjects in your foundation year, which is designed to prepare you for a range of courses and not just one particular BSc or BA degree. 

So although you are studying a BA or BSc in a specific course – BA Working with Children, Young People and Families – the foundation year sets you up for a number of other possible degrees starting the following year. It may be that you don’t end up doing a degree in precisely the same subject as your foundation year.

This flexibility is one of the great things about the foundation year category - Society, Childhood, and Education, allowing you to find out more about your interests and talents before focusing on a three-year degree. The foundation year also helps us at BCU to make sure we help to match you to the degree that fits you best.

What's covered in the course?

With a focus on personal, as well as professional development, our program will engage you in understanding the complexities of working with children young people and their families, in theory, and in practice.  We want to support you so that you can develop to become effective agents of change, making a difference to vulnerable children and young people.  

The rights of children and young people, and a commitment to social justice are at the center of what we believe, teach and research. 

As you progress through the program you will become confident and competent advocates of children and young people; developing your personal and professional skills so that you can, in future careers, be influential in developing practice, provision, and policy.

Through a supportive and nurturing learning environment, you will be encouraged to develop your communication skills, drawing on digital technologies and to take ‘risks’ as you explore and find out new things about Working with Children, Young People, and Families, as well as yourself.

Experienced tutors on the program come from a wide range of professional backgrounds and are research active, understanding the demands of study, work, and family life.  The programme draws on experienced professionals from the field of education, social work and health.  They are committed to the same agenda of social justice, social mobility and social responsibility that forms the underpinning philosophy of the program.