Undergraduate

Social work with children, young people and families in Scotland

On this page

• What you will study
• Entry
• If you have a disability or additional requirement
• Study materials
• Teaching and assessment
• Students also studied
• Future availability

Social work with children, young people and families is a contested area of practice. Social workers need to have a sound knowledge of theories and practice in childcare and child development. While studying this course you will explore the complexities of social work practice with children, young people and families. This course is specifically designed for students in Scotland and meets the requirements of the Key Capabilities in Childcare and Child Protection at Level 8. It is also a compulsory module in the BA (Hons) Social Work (Scotland) (B41).

Course facts

Register for the course

This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees and financial support may vary by country.

What you will study

Underpinning this course are five themes:

• the application of knowledge, skills, values and technology to work with children, young people and families
• critically engaging with the interrelationship between diversity, inequality and practice
• knowledge and understanding of child care and child protection required by social workers
• deconstructing and reconstructing practices and services with children, young people and families
• critical application of life course and social ecological perspectives to constructions of childhood, youth, parenting and family life.

An online learning guide will help you to work through four areas of work involving two newly published course books, additional readings and audio visual materials.

1 Effective communication

This area of study is designed to introduce you to the course and its themes. Initially you will have an opportunity to familiarise yourself with the study materials, structure, learning outcomes and your tutor group. There will also be activities if you wish to update your IT skills that essential for study. The course themes will be introduced with an emphasis on some key theories that can help you deconstruct and reconstruct practice and services. An important issue here concerns the historic and cultural meanings attributed to childhood, youth and family in different spaces. You will be encouraged to examine your own values and the value base underpinning practice.

2 Knowledge and understanding

This area of study teaches the importance of dialogue, knowledge, skills and learning as a basis for good practice and to support effective assessment, planning and engagement across a range of services for children, young people and families. You will consider different ways of researching, reviewing and reflecting on practice. Audio-visual materials will be used to illustrate the importance of communication skills between practitioners and with service users. The implications of information-sharing between state agencies will be considered, including its impact on citizenship and democratic participation.

3 Professional competence and confidence

This area considers how services and support for children, young people and families develop in relation to social change and legal and policy frameworks. You will have the opportunity to examine general principles and influences (e.g. the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) as well as law and policy specific to Scotland that can shape universal and specialist services. Safeguarding is a topic that illustrates the application of policy at the level of face-to-face practice. You will examine the roles and responsibilities of practitioners ensuring they work together to protect children and young people from harm. Some of the implications and dilemmas for practitioners and service users resulting from the implementation of policy frameworks will be considered. Resilience will be introduced as a practice concept that illustrates the interrelationship between policy, practice and the agency of children and young people.

4 Values and ethical practice

In this final area you will consider a wide range of spaces or contexts where the lives of children, young people and families are affected by socio-economic factors and social policy. You will be encouraged to investigate the meanings children and young people and their carers/parents attribute to the spaces in which they live. You will use contemporary research and audio-visual accounts from practitioners and children and young people to examine important issues including health and well-being, identity, social cohesion, fear, crime, family relationships, migration and transitions.

At the end of the course you will be encouraged to reflect on your learning and consider your next steps as learner and/or practitioner.

Vocational relevance

This course is a compulsory module in the BA (Hons) Social Work (Scotland). It will also be of interest to people working with children, young people and families in a range of professional settings in Scotland such as residential childcare workers, family support workers, social work assistants and others.

Entry

This is a Level 2 course and you need to have some knowledge of the subject area obtained either through Level 1 (SCQF level 7) study with the OU, or by doing equivalent work at another university.

This course is open to any student living or working in Scotland but is of particular relevance to people studying, or hoping to study The Open University qualification BA (Honours) Social Work (Scotland) (B41).

If you are registered on the BA (Hons) Social Work (Scotland) you should have completed Stage 1 before studying this module.

If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.

If you have a disability or additional requirement

Written transcripts of any audio-visual components and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of printed material are available. Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader and scientific, diagrammatic or foreign language materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way. Other alternative formats of the study materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.

If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our publication Meeting Your Needs.

You can also find information about accessible study materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.

Study materials

What's included

Two course books, a course guide, and a DVD. You will also have access to a website through which details of assessment, teaching and library resources are available. Online learning guides will lead you through the different components of the course. Electronic versions of most of the printed study materials are provided on the website.

You will need

The audio-visual components of this course are delivered on a DVD that will play on a standard DVD player and television. If you want to view this on a computer, it will need a DVD-ROM drive and software for viewing DVDs.

Computing requirements

This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.

You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2005 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.

Teaching and assessment

Support from your tutor

You will have a tutor who will help you with the study material and mark and comment on your written work, and who you can ask for advice and guidance. We may also be able to offer group tutorials or day schools that you are encouraged to attend. Where your tutorials are held will depend on the distribution of students taking the course.

Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.

Assessment

The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.

You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.

Students also studied

Students who studied this course also studied at some time:

• Foundations for social work practice (K113)
• The law and social work in Scotland (K207)
• Applied social work practice (K216)
• Diverse perspectives on mental health (K225)
• Death and dying (K260)

Future availability

The details given here are for the course that starts in February 2013. We expect it to be available once a year.

Fees 2012

See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.

Study explained

Financial support

- find out if you qualify for support with your fees with our eligibility checker.

Study explained

- all you need to know about distance learning with the OU.

Your questions

We may have already answered it in our frequently asked questions.

Or contact an adviser in our Student Registration & Enquiry Service Email or call +44(0) 845 300 60 90+44(0) 845 366 60 35

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