Course summary

Community and Development and Youth Work involves working with individuals and communities. It is a values based profession that enables people to identify their own and collective goals, take part in learning and bring about change for themselves and their communities. Studying this course will prepare you for a career dedicated to building stronger, more equitable communities. It will equip you with the skills, knowledge, and values to address various community challenges. These may include contemporary social, political and environmental issues. You will be able to use collective action and community empowerment to promote positive change. You will develop expertise across community development, adult education, and youth work. These include:

• Community engagement strategies and relationship building

• Social justice theory and application

• Environmental sustainability and community resilience

• Critical reflection and ethical practice

• Political analysis

• Social policy development and implementation

• Community organising and grassroots activism

• Participatory research methods

• Programme planning, delivery, and evaluation

• Multi-agency partnership working

• Individual and group facilitation skills

• Critical thinking and problem-solving for complex social challenges

• Research and data analysis to inform evidence-based practice

• Professional communication with and for diverse audiences

• Interdisciplinary collaboration through learning alongside students from other professions

• Leadership and facilitation skills for group work and community organising

• social justice

• equality

• environmental issues

• political perspectives

• personal and professional values