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Community Education

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,C

Including English

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

24

Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)

H1,H2,H2,H2

Including English.

Scottish HNC

Pass

Entry to Year 1 with a HNC in Social Services. Entry to Year 2 with a HNC with B in the graded unit in one of the following: Working in/with Communities; Social Care; Sport in Communities; Community Arts; Additional Support Needs; Social Sciences; Childhood Practice; Social Services.

Scottish HND

Pass

HND in one of the following subjects: Working in/with Communities; Social Care; Sport in Communities; Community Arts; Additional Support Needs; Social Science.

Scottish Higher

B,B,B,B

Including English

T Level

M

UCAS Tariff

108

You may also need to…

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About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Community work

**OVERVIEW**
The BA Community Education degree will enable you to become a professionally qualified Community Educator.

This degree is perfect for anyone interested in working with young people, adults and communities, to engage in learning about how to live the best life possible and to challenge discrimination and all forms of injustice.

Throughout the course, teaching, learning and assessment are underpinned by theories and practices relating to youth and community work, equality and social justice, wellbeing and community empowerment.

**Guiding Principles**
The BA (Hons) in Community Education provides a range of social and psychological theories and practices that help students take a critical stance in contemporary policy, social economics and in the transformative capabilities of communities.

It prepares you to work in Community Education (CEd) and Community Learning and Development (CLD) at local, national and international levels.

The values and principles of CLD: self-determination, inclusion, empowerment, working collaboratively and promotion of learning as a lifelong activity, underpin the overall ethos of this course.

There are three themes running through the course:

// the dynamic nature of theory and practice and the importance of critical reflection and research in relation to community education, formal and informal practices and educational perspectives.
// the development of anti-discriminatory professional practice in the context of changing cultural, social, political and economic conditions
// the concept of ‘community’ and how this links to processes of globalisation and new communication practices and social relationships

**PRACTICAL FOCUS**
This a very practical degree and 40% of learning is achieved in practice-based placements that provide experiential learning in community education settings.

**PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION**
This degree is professionally recognised and approved by the Community Learning and Development Standards Council for Scotland and is recognised as a lead practitioner qualification.

**CAREER PROSPECTS**
**Jobs**
As a qualifying degree approved by CLD Standards Council you'll find employment opportunities in urban, rural and international locations. As a practitioner or manager within youth work, adult education and community development you will find interesting jobs in the community, voluntary and statutory sectors.

Graduates from this degree have gone on to work in:

// Community and school-based youth work // Lifelong and family learning // Literacy work and TESOL // Faith-based and rural work // Employability // Community development and capacity building // Issue-based practice on climate change and health/wellbeing // Charitable trusts // FE Colleges // Campaigning for human rights, equality and social justice

Modules

In Year 1, you will be introduced to key theories in education, sociology and psychology. You are also introduced to the CLD competences as a foundation for Personal and Professional Development Planning (PDP). You will develop an understanding of social theory in relation to power and community contexts and will be introduced to critical pedagogy. You will explore ideas that can be used to enhance competence in group work and communication skills. Academic practice is embedded in all modules and students will learn one language and also take a practice learning module that is focused on building and maintaining relationships.

In Year 2, you will research the core domains of practice and strategies for participation and inclusion at local and international levels. You will examine and consider how these can be applied in a range of contexts. You will also undertake a practice learning module focussing on project and community leadership.

In Year 3, you will continue your studies of critical pedagogy and its purpose in creating emancipatory practice for equality and social justice. You will develop an understanding of the tensions in managing people and resources and will learn about practice-based research. You will further develop your CLD competences by completing a capstone project within a practice learning placement. The capstone project will involve you developing and evaluating a specific piece of practice through an artefact (such as a film, training pack or weblog). This will be used to show how the capstone project impacted on (a) your development of competences and (b) the CEd/CLD context of the practice project.

In the final year, you will develop your emerging professional identity further by studying the implications of social policy on CLD practice. You will develop a more nuanced and critical understanding of your professional roles and practices. You will also carry out a research dissertation through professional enquiry linked to practice learning.

Assessment methods

Our learning and teaching approaches model CLD values and practices by applying an ethical and emancipatory purpose to a range of contemporary, historical and theoretical perspectives and teaching methods. Our use of alternative, visual and participatory methods engages students in the kind of informal and critical practices that students will use to engage learners in their own practice situations. Over 50% of our assessments involve practical or practice based tasks (40% of learning is achieved in practice-based placements that provide experiential learning in community education settings) and there are no formal exams in this degree.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£15,250
per year
International
£15,250
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£1,820
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

Extra funding

Visit www.uws.ac.uk/scholarships

The Uni


Course location:

Lanarkshire Campus

Department:

Education and Social Sciences

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

59%
Community work

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Social work

Teaching and learning

85%
Staff make the subject interesting
76%
Staff are good at explaining things
76%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
74%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

73%
Library resources
83%
IT resources
80%
Course specific equipment and facilities
31%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

99%
UK students
1%
International students
18%
Male students
82%
Female students
48%
2:1 or above
17%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
C

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Social work

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£24,000
med
Average annual salary
97%
med
Employed or in further education
81%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

48%
Welfare professionals
31%
Welfare and housing associate professionals
11%
Teaching and educational professionals

We're short of social workers - so if you want a degree that is in demand, then this could be the one for you! There's a shortage of social workers all over the UK, and graduates can specialise in specific fields such as mental health or children's social work. If you decide social work is not for you, then social work graduates also often go into management, education, youth and community work and even nursing. Starting salaries for this degree can reflect the high proportion of graduates who choose a social work career - social work graduates get paid, on average, more than graduates overall, but not all options pay as well as social work. This is also an unusual subject in that London isn't one of the more common places to find jobs - so if you want to get a job near to your home or your university this might be worth thinking about.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Social work

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£28k

£28k

£26k

£26k

£30k

£30k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Explore these similar courses...

Higher entry requirements
University of Sunderland | Sunderland
Community and Youth Work Studies
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 112-117
Lower entry requirements
Coventry University | Coventry
Public Health and Community Studies
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 104
Nearby University
Glasgow Caledonian University | Glasgow
Social Work
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time 2024
UCAS Points: 114-120

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here