Undergraduate

Youth: perspectives and practice

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

How have young people’s lives changed in recent years, and what does this mean for those who work with them? This course will deepen your knowledge and understanding of young people’s lives and the policies and practices that shape them, and will enable you to develop a critical and reflexive approach to work with young people. You’ll explore change and diversity in identities, relationships and everyday practices, and investigate how services for young people are changing. The course will appeal if you work with young people in health, education, advice or care settings, or if you simply have an interest in the changing experience of youth.

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

The lives of young people in the UK, as elsewhere in the world, have changed in dramatic ways in recent years. There is evidence that transitions from youth to adulthood are now substantially different from those experienced by previous generations, and also that they are increasingly unequal. Other important changes in the social structures and processes shaping young people’s lives include changes in schooling and higher education; the loss of the traditional youth labour market, and shifts in the nature of family and intimate relationships. Work with young people has experienced a similar process of change, with new forms of youth work emerging, a greater emphasis on inter-agency collaboration, and a drive towards professionalisation.

This course provides an opportunity to explore these changes, and their implications for young people and those who work with them. Its key features include:

• a biographical and holistic emphasis on young people’s lives and lived experience, with extensive use of young people’s voices and perspectives
• a dynamic focus on change in young people’s lives, including the changing experience of youth, changes in ways of working with young people, and young people as agents of change
• an emphasis on diversity and inequalities in young people’s experience, for example on the basis of class, gender, ethnicity and disability.

Teaching is through an online learning guide that introduces readings from two main textbooks, a set book, and the website. Case studies of the lives of young people and professionals are included on DVD-ROMs, which are integral to the course. Skills are developed through activities in the online learning guide and the textbooks. There are opportunities to discuss learning with other students via online forums and group tutorials.

The course is divided into two equal parts that correspond to the two textbooks and their associated materials and activities.

Book 1 Understanding Youth: Perspectives, Identities and Practices

This book provides a detailed analysis of the changing experiences of young people and the ways in which these experiences are influenced by changing social structures and processes. The book is broken down into three distinct sections.

Perspectives introduces three different theoretical perspectives for understanding young people’s lives: a biographical perspective, which focuses on individual lives; a comparative perspective, which sees those lives in a cross-cultural context; and a cultural perspective, which highlights changing constructions of youth.

Identities explores the changing and diverse ways in which young people make sense of their lives. It focuses on gender identities, wellbeing and belonging.

Practices surveys the range of everyday activities that constitute young people’s experience, such as working, playing, moving and relating.

Book 2 Youth in context: Frameworks, Settings and Encounters

Building on the understanding of young people’s lives developed in Book 1, Book 2 explores in depth the diverse and changing field of work with young people. Again, there are three sections:

Frameworks analyses some key aspects of being a youth professional, looking at changing policy frameworks, personal motivation and development, and encouraging innovative practice and participation.

Settings provides an overview of the diverse contexts in which work with young people takes place, such as the local neighbourhood, educational settings, and institutions.

Encounters explores some of the different ways that services for young people are categorised, looking at issues of risk, safeguarding and support.

Entry

This is a Level 3 course. Level 3 courses build on study skills and subject knowledge acquired from studies at Levels 1 and 2. They are intended for students who have recent experience of higher education in a related subject, preferably with the OU.

A Level 2 course such as Working with children, young people and families (K218) or Childhood (U212) would be ideal preparation.

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

Preparatory work

You will receive guidance on how to get started online in your first course mailing. This will provide you with information on using your computer for OU study and working with the Computing Guide. For example, it explains how to access and use your website and online discussion forums. If you have time before the course starts, you can work through this and explore all the online services available to you.

If you have a disability or additional requirement

Written transcripts of any audio 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. The printed study materials are available in the DAISY Digital Talking Book format. 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

Course books, other printed materials and DVDs. You will also have access to a website through which teaching and library resources are available. 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 whom you can ask for advice and guidance. Part of your tuition is delivered online so some of the contact with your tutor will be through email and online discussion forums, although phone communication may also be used. We also offer group tutorials that you are encouraged to attend. The location of these will depend on the geographic 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:

• Research with children and young people (EK310)
• Critical social work practice (K315)
• Applied social work practice (K216)
• Working together for children (KE312)
• Foundations for social work practice (K113)

Future availability

The details given here are for the course that starts in February 2013 when it will be available for the last time.

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.

A taste of OU study

Student Reviews

This was a good course, covering a wide range of issues regarding youth. I did find the exam very hard ...
Read more

I really enjoyed this course and found the content very insightful, useful and up-to-date. However, there was quite a lot ...
Read more

Course satisfaction survey

See the satisfaction survey results for this course.

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

Employers' questions

Contact Corporate Enquiries
Visit our website for employers or Email us

Browse the prospectus

• Undergraduate prospectus
• Postgraduate prospectus
• Research prospectus
• Professional skills
• Open qualifications
• A-Z of qualifications
• A-Z of courses
• A-Z of subjects

Get a prospectus