Childhood and Youth Studies (Honours) The Open University UK

Overview

This Childhood and Youth Studies (Honours) BA degree from The Open University UK key features are:

• Spans the entire age range from early years to youth

• Topics include child development and psychology, international childhoods, research with children, and children’s literature

• Explores children and young people’s lives from different perspectives alongside students studying and working in different settings

• Relevant to a wide range of careers in childcare, education, health and social care

Skills for career development

This degree provides an effective foundation for a wide choice of career paths. It emphasises independent thinking, develops analytical and communication skills and will help you become a clear and confident writer – all attributes that are highly valued by employers. Specific skills you’ll develop include:

• analysing, critically evaluating and effectively communicating information to others

• competence in team and project work, supporting and/or supervising others

• organising, synthesising and questioning opinions and arguments

• evaluating the appropriateness of different approaches to problem-solving

• managing and organising time, resources and information to support decision-making

• reflecting on your own learning and performance and taking steps to improve it

• using ICT effectively and being able to interpret data.

Career opportunities:

A degree in childhood and youth studies gives you skills and knowledge relevant to many careers in childcare, health, education, working with families, playwork, or working with young people. It will develop your understanding of practices and policies that affect children, and introduce you to many new aspects of the subject – helping you make informed choices about future career paths. This degree is not a professional qualification, so many of our graduates choose to undertake postgraduate training before progressing to employment in specialist fields such as:

• teaching

• counselling

• early years work, including play therapy and hospital play

• speech therapy

• voluntary sector work

• youth work

• education support and welfare

• social work

• probation work

• personal and careers guidance

• sport and fitness.

The education sector in particular provides increasing opportunities for teaching and non-teaching staff in schools, further and higher education and non-school settings. 

This degree will develop your research skills if you want to go on to further study.