Childhood, Youth and Education MSc

This interdisciplinary Masters applies a comparative, cross-cultural approach to understanding the relationship between childhood, youth and education.

The first of its kind in the UK, the degree draws on insights from anthropology, geography, development studies, education and sociology. This interdisciplinary approach will equip you with the top-notch analytical skills you need in the contemporary world to pursue careers in education and teaching, government and the civil services, international development and aid work, counselling, educational and child psychology, youth services, community and social work, advocacy and policy making, community outreach, healthcare and paediatric specialisms, non-governmental agencies, and much more.

The degree will appeal to those intending to work with or for children and young people, within or outside of educational settings across the globe, as you seek to understand the contemporary issues, debates and challenges that impact upon current and future generations.

Teaching for this degree is research-led and the curriculum is continuously updated in response to contemporary global events that impact on childhood, youth and education. A combination of lectures and interactive seminars, presentations and debates will challenge you to critically address questions about:

How ideas about ‘childhood’, ‘youth’ and ‘education’ differ across cultures
Learning, identity and social difference
The way children’s everyday lives impact on their education
Child rights and child labour
Young people and migration
Class, race and gender
Youth cultures and subcultures
Education, inequality and social reproduction
Through cross-cultural comparison, you will interrogate these kinds of issues, along with prevailing assumptions about the relationship between childhood, youth and education.

As well as undertaking rigorous intellectual training, you will have the opportunity to carry out your own ethnographic fieldwork in the UK or overseas. In recent years, Brunel students have carried out fieldwork in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Philippines, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, China, Morocco, and New Zealand, as well as within the UK and the rest of Europe.