FdA Working with children and young people

Course Content

This two year full-time (1 day a week) Foundation Degree, validated by the University of West London, will build on your skills and knowledge from prior experience of working with children and young people, and your previous training at Level 3 as a practitioner in Child Care or a related field such as Play work.

The course will raise your awareness of the theoretical knowledge and practical skills that underpin your work as a childcare practitioner. The emphasis is on the balance between taught elements and facilitated learning within the practitioner’s own workplace.

The course has been designed to develop individual knowledge through an active, student centred approach, which draws on the resource of your own experiences in line with individual research and study.

From the beginning you will be actively developing study skills and extending the knowledge and understanding necessary to develop your skills when working with children, young people and their families.

Learners will achieve 120 credits at level 4 in year 1 and 120 credits at level 5 in year 2. There is a longitudinal 40 credit module in each year which will promote and assess practice skills linked to the theoretical learning.

Level 4 Module summaries

Search: Sources of Information for Essays, Assignments and Research (10 credits)

The aim of this module is to improve your skills in finding and using information which can then be used to enhance the quality of your essays, assignments and research. It will help you to develop search strategies using a wide range of sources, including the virtual learning environment (blackboard), the internet, general and subject databases. Your navigation skills will be improved and you will become more adept at evaluating the quality of the information which you find and at presenting in your written work.

Using Evidence in Health & Social Care (10 credits)

This module provides an introduction to the use of evidence to inform and influence the nature of practice in health and social care settings. Also to introduce and develop the skills of using models of reflection to analyse critical incidents and scenarios, in order to seek solution to potential problems, or substantiation for best practice.

Child and adolescent Development (20 credits)

This module contains essential theoretical principles of child development that you will be able to apply to your own practice and work setting. The module promotes the development of assessment methods to identify individual needs and how to plan to enhance and extend holistic development.

Policy Perspective and Practice (20 credits)

This module contains an overview of how policy, perspective and practice are integrated and the impact of this on your practice within the workplace. It enables the critical review of your role in the development, implementation, maintenance and review of policies within your routine practice.

Learning Research and Theory (20 credits)

This module contains an overview of how children and young people learn and how research and theory influences your practice. This module gives you the opportunity to reflect on the identification of ‘theory in practice’ and how to provide learning opportunities that enhance and extend children’s learning opportunities.

Developing the Role of the Reflective Practitioner: Work Based Learning (40 credits)

This module will enable you to consider your personal skills and attributes and to plan, negotiate and undertake the learning activities you need to develop the specialist skills required. The module will enable you to develop self-evaluation so that you are able to determine your own personal development plan and specify your exact learning needs to gain the skills you require. You will work closely with a work-based mentor and compile a portfolio of evidence that charts your progress.

Level 5 Module summaries

Leadership and Management (20 credits)

This module contains an overview of leadership and management involved in working with children and young people that you will be able to apply to your own practice and work setting. This module clearly differentiates between leadership and management and promotes awareness of how the management of change can enhance provision within your practice.

The Child, Family and Society (20 credits)

This module contains an overview of the position of the child within the family and in the wider context of society in general. The module promotes reflection and review on how practitioners engage with children and their families and considers how to achieve best practice.

Child and Young Persons health (20 credits)

This module contains essential theoretical principles of health that you will be able to apply to your own practice and work setting. This module encourages reflection on the promotion of health and how government policy impacts upon the health and wellbeing of children and young people.

Communication in a Multilingual Society (20 credits)

This module contains an overview of working effectively in a multilingual society and was specifically written to reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of the local area. It enables you to reflect on your own practice and promotes best practice in enhancing children and young people’s communication opportunities.

Reflective Practice and Project (40 credits)

This module is work based that runs throughout the second year and offers you the opportunity to develop the understanding, knowledge and skills to undertake a of small scale research project based in your setting. The research will enable you to identify an area of development of practice or provision and to understand the role of change and how to manage it effectively. The module will give you the opportunity to develop your skills of reflection and analysis through a research diary or journal. This is an important feature of the learning process and will enable you to develop your capacity to be a reflective practitioner and improve your practice.

Course Outcomes

This course will encourage your participation in higher-level study by completing a Foundation Degree that will help you develop the skills necessary to be a reflective Practitioners at this level; providing progression to Level 6 study.

It will provide you with a supportive learning environment that will develop your interpersonal skills, enhance self-awareness, encourage personal and career growth and establish a foundation for lifelong learning.

It will:

• Encourage you to use reflection to question your own practice and seek solutions to potential problems, or identify best practice

• Enable you to access, analyse and evaluate evidence, in order to decide the extent to which it should inform or influence your practice

• Facilitate you in assessing and fulfilling your learning needs in relation to the development of key skills required by your leadership role

• Empower you to have confidence in your ability to study at higher level

At the end of Year 1 (Certificate in Higher Education – level 4) you will be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes:

• Recognise the established principles for working with children and young people and their families and the way those principles have developed

• Develop knowledge and understanding of child development theory and perspectives related to practice

• Demonstrate the importance of reflection in implementing policy in practice

• Explore opportunities to develop practice based on current theoretical, legal and ethical perspectives

At the end of Year 2 (Foundation Degree in Working with children and young people - level 5) you will be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes:

• Analyse and demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of the well-established principles for working with children, young people and the way those principles have developed.

• Ability to evaluate and apply underlying concepts and principles and the application of those principles in a work context to inform planning.

• To critically evaluate the different approaches to solving problems and applying these in a work context.

• Assess, review and evaluate theoretical perspectives relevant to leadership and management roles in working with Children and Young People

• Analyse the social, economic and psychological factors In achieving these outcomes you will have gained qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment and progression to other qualifications and the ability to utilise opportunities for lifelong learning.

Progression

To complete a Level 6 ‘top up’ Bachelor’s Degree course followed by Post Graduate opportunities.

• BA (Hons) Working in integrated services for children and young people (Stanmore College) • BSc (Hons) Promoting health and Public Health (University of West London) • Alternative top up degrees through other institutions

Employment opportunities:

• Senior management posts as Early Years Professional • Graduate status on completion of Level 6, leading to post graduate opportunities

Entry Requirements

This course has been developed as a local programme of study for childcare practitioners working within and young people aged 0 to 18 years. You can be working in a variety of settings, including, working within the early years sector or related areas such as after-school clubs or child minding. The course will enable level 3 practitioners to undertake the additional academic study and practice skills development required to work towards gaining graduate status.

• GCSE Maths and English or equivalent Level 2 or above qualifications in Literacy and Numeracy • Minimum of a current level 3 qualification in Childcare or a related field • 2 years’ work experience in a related childcare field • Good communication skills • Evidence of employment in the childcare sector for at least 12 hours a week

Assessment

Studying one day a week at Stanmore College, you will also access blended learning via the internet and access to the library and resources of the University of West London.

The teaching and learning strategies for this course will reflect a range of approaches in response to different learning styles and your experience. It is recognised that although you will have already attained a Level 3 qualification before starting the course, your previous experience of academic study and the professional context of your practice is personal to you.

The intention of this course of study will be to encourage you to develop your individual knowledge through an active, student centred approach, which draws on the resource of your own experiences in line with individual research and study.

You will be expected to carry out independent study preparing for seminars and assignments by doing background reading from recommended texts and personal Internet research.

Teaching strategies include the following:

• Tutor-led learning (taught sessions, workshops, directed e-learning) • Group learning (group work, seminars) • Work based learning (mentors/practice teachers) • Self-directed learning (action learning sets, learning contracts) • E-learning (online resources and access to electronic resources) • Working on an individual basis with a mentor who will help you to develop your reflective skills at level 4

Equipment

There are no specific resource requirements for this qualification. General costs: We recommend that you budget £75 a year for costs of photocopying, memory sticks, DVDs and CDs, printing charges, binding and specialist printing.