Entry requirements

Applicants should normally hold, or be close to completing a first or second-class undergraduate degree in a social sciences or humanities subject. However, other applicants will be considered if they can demonstrate, through recent and relevant experience, that they have the ability to undertake the course.

Applicants whose first language is not English are required to obtain a minimum overall IELTS score of 6.5 with a minimum of 6.5 in writing and at least 5.5 in all other categories.

Applications should be made via the Online Applications Service. Please make sure that you explain clearly in your personal statement why you are interested in applying to this MSc in Childhood and Youth, a course that adopts a sociological approach to childhood and youth, including a focus on research, methods and policy.

In your statement, you should refer explicitly to the particular aspects of this course and its modules that most interest you, and what topics or themes you are hoping to learn more about in taking it. If this information is not included, this may cause delays in processing your application, and we may contact you with a request for further information.

The deadline for applications from international students for this course is 1st August. The deadline for applications from home students for this course is 1st September.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Childhood and Youth is a growing field of inquiry across the social sciences. This MSc offers an opportunity to study in one of the UK's leading centres for childhood and youth based research.

This course is aimed at practitioners, policy makers and postgraduate students who want to develop their knowledge of childhood and youth and consider what it means to conduct research with children and young people at an advanced level.

It offers the opportunity to examine leading theories, methodologies and research evidence in order to understand the relationship between the conceptualisation of childhood, methodological approaches to researching with children and young people and the social impact of childhood policies and practices in a variety of social and cultural contexts and across the young life course.

A distinctive feature of this programme is that two of the modules are taught as a cluster of stand-alone, day-long workshops, each focusing on cutting-edge policy and research issues. These workshops are especially designed for practitioners and policy makers who want to enhance their substantive or methodological knowledge on key areas of childhood and youth policy and practice. They also provide the opportunity for students on the full programme to engage with contemporary issues and debates through a more focused and practical lens, with leading specialists in the field.

The programme also offers exciting opportunities for you to work in an interdisciplinary social science environment and to benefit from a breadth of substantive, theoretical and methodological expertise with leading childhood and youth scholars. Members of our Childhood and Youth Research Group operate at the forefront of public policy debates, advising and steering at local and national levels on a range of contemporary issues (e.g. 'sexualisation', 'domestic violence', 'adoption') and drawing on their own research.