BA (Hons) Youth and Community Work

This is a three-year full time or four-year part-time undergraduate course.

If you are a full-time student, you will be required to attend the College two days a week. In addition, you will be expected to attend placements for approximately 16 hours per week from January - June. If you are a part-time student, you will be required the College one day a week. In addition, you will be expected to attend placements for approximately 8 hours per week from January - December.

This course is aimed at students with a prior experience of youth or community work or with life experience that has enhanced their understanding of these areas. It is built on a strong commitment to furthering equality of opportunity and anti-oppressive practice and outcomes, both for students themselves and for the people with whom they work during their studies and in the longer term.

The approach is founded on the principles, values and ethics of the profession, within an experiential learning environment. The National Youth Agency (NYA) is the validating body for all Youth and Community programmes in England and Wales. Each year they monitor and analyse the quality of each programme and Ruskin’s Youth and Community Work programme was awarded the highest category possible of “Satisfactory with Distinction”. As a team, we are very proud of developing and maintaining the highest possible standards, and this is reflected in the quality of the work that students produce and their active participation in ensuring that their learning experience is exemplary.

What will I study in the course?

The programme seeks to develop reflective and reflexive practitioners and to educate and train students who are not only aware of the professional and academic value-base but actively committed to the principles they embody. The programme aspires to enhance the professionalism of youth work theory and practice, through the continued application of experiential learning of anti-oppressive practice.

Admission Requirements

All candidates must be able to satisfy the general admissions requirements for Ruskin College.

If you have a Certificate of Higher Education or 120 credits in a relevant subject and are JNC qualified, you may be eligible for direct entry onto year two of this course.

Applicants who have successfully completed a Certificate/Diploma or Foundation Degree in Youth and Community work and are already National Youth Agency JNC qualified but who wish to raise their qualification to that of a full BA (Honours) Degree in Youth and Community Work can apply for direct entry into Level 6 (third) year of the BA )Hons).

All students are asked to disclose ANY previous criminal conviction (including cautions, warnings, and reprimands) however long ago they occurred and whether as a juvenile or an adult.

In addition, students will be required to undergo an up to date enhanced criminal records check and to receive clearance before undertaking any placement.

Where a student has a previous conviction, caution, warning or reprimand this may not be an automatic bar to entry onto the course, but it will be given full consideration and may be subject to a risk assessment.

Course Dates

This course starts in September. Applications close 15th August.

Careers

Youth and Community Work career destinations are in local authority youth services all over the country and in a wide range of voluntary sector youth work organisations, including centre-based, detached (neighbourhood and community-based) and faith-related projects. Opportunities also exist for qualified workers to work in a range of other settings of professions including Schools, Drug Agencies, Women’s Refuge, Community Work, Youth Offending services and Connexions.

How to apply for this course

You can apply for courses online via the Ruskin College website, or you can download a pdf of our application form.

Funding your studies

Funding is available from Student Finance England if you live in England (www. gov.uk/student finance, 0845 300 5090). If you live in other parts of the UK, please contact Student Finance Wales, Student Finance Northern Ireland or the Student Award Agency for Scotland. International students will be responsible for the payment of their own tuition fees.

Tuition Fees 2015/16

Access to HE Programmes, Level 3, Full Time: £3,358

Why study at Ruskin?

Individuals like you who want to make positive changes to their lives and have the determination to secure the education, qualifications and opportunities that we offer.

As a Further Education College based in Oxford, Ruskin offers educational opportunities, to adults with few or no formal qualifications in an informal setting. Our curriculum starts with the students, their enthusiasm, needs, ambitions and skills and we offer our applicants potential progression routes from foundation courses, through to Access to Higher Education, Degree Programmes up to Masters level.

Whether you are about achieving qualifications, pursuing a forgotten enthusiasm or simply learning to enjoy education. Our friendly residential college attracts students from our local communities, across the UK and the world to help each other learn.

We’ll help you find a level of study that suits your skills and experience.

Ruskin College has a proud history of supporting individuals to realise their potential. We’re a small college, with big ideas – and the programmes we offer mean your learning can also make positive changes to the lives of others. Ruskin welcomes students who not only want to develop themselves but want also to put something back into society.

All of our courses feature the same high-quality teaching and support and there is a range of options for you to explore, from short courses through degrees to masters programmes.

What’s special about Ruskin?

• Academic excellence - Ruskin offers highly qualified staff who provide a supportive and enriching learning experience
• A supportive environment - with our help you can realise your potential and overcome your own personal barriers to learning. Your tutor will help you to find the skills you need and handle the challenges you face
• A like-minded community - you’ll be joining a community of like-minded people, and studying alongside other adults like you who have chosen to make a positive change in their lives
• Clear progression - your learning journey is tailored to your ability and aspirations and that can mean direct access to a degree programme (subject to interview)
• An eye to the future - what you can achieve depends on the skills you have developed during your studies. Our longer courses can lead you directly into professional careers or on to further higher education.

Our story began 115 years ago, rooted in educating working-class adults. Today, we continue to offer opportunities and support to students who often face challenging circumstances. Students come to us from all walks of life, of all ages, some with family or caring commitments, many who are familiar with unemployment or part-time, low paid jobs, and many who have been denied education, qualifications and chances earlier on in their lives.

Why not make Ruskin College the next chapter in your story?

Accommodation at Ruskin

Ruskin College is located in Old Headington, an area just three miles from the centre of Oxford and rich in history. Ex-residents of Headington include CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Sir Isaiah Berlin and Elizabeth Bowen amongst others.

From Headington, there are regular and frequent bus services to the city centre and a regular coach service to London.

Once offered a place, full-time students can apply for a single study bedroom for the entire academic year (40 weeks). Accommodation for students on site is of a high standard, recently-refurbished and offering study/bedrooms in small blocks on the peaceful, semi-rural campus.

There is a choice of standard rooms with shared bathrooms or shower and toilet facilities or en-suite rooms at a higher cost, and subject to availability. All have shared kitchens, and there are three common rooms for use in the evenings.

The College occupies a beautiful site with lawned areas to the front, featuring specimen trees and an avenue of elms, a walled garden behind with opportunities to become involved, an orchard, a small wood and meadowland beyond. Above all, this provides a calm and tranquil environment in which to study.

Life on Campus

The College attracts students from all over Britain and many parts of the world. Within its residential community, students socialise, study and help each other learn in a friendly, supportive environment.

Up-to-date computer facilities are available throughout the week, including weekends, and the modern, purpose-built Callaghan library is well-stocked with over 40,000 volumes.

There is an active Students Union, called the Ruskin College Student Union (RCSU), which promotes and supports the interests of Ruskin students, co-ordinates activities and sponsors groups and societies within the College.

Students are also eligible to join the Oxford Union, and University of Oxford clubs and societies, which offer a wealth of sporting, theatrical, musical and political activities.

Ruskin College is one of the liveliest venues for literary and political meetings in Oxford. We have visiting speakers, music evenings and creative writing and poetry readings, in addition to hosting a variety of Platform events in theatre, law, gender and history.

Life in Oxford

The City of Oxford offers a wide range of cultural and leisure opportunities.

The Ashmolean was the world’s first public museum and houses collections from classical sculpture to impressionist paintings. The Museum of Modern Art offers the best of contemporary work. Within Oxford colleges, many fine collections of art are available for public viewing.

The Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, counts among the most prestigious in the world, and Oxford’s Blackwell's bookshop is the flagship for one of the UK’s largest academic booksellers.

The Oxford Playhouse and the New Theatre showcase the best in touring performance – from classic drama, through opera and dance, to stand up and big name bands and singers. A variety of other smaller scale performance spaces cater for all tastes, many offering opportunities to participate.

A vibrant music scene also exists in Oxford’s pubs and clubs right across the city, from folk to funk, rock to reggae.

There are great sports and leisure facilities within Oxford. The University Sports Centre has squash courts and a gymnasium, and there are opportunities galore for individual and team participation. The city itself also offers an ice rink and a variety of sports centres and facilities.

University Access

Many of the facilities of the University of Oxford, its libraries, social life, and events, are open to Ruskin students through the College’s links. Students studying for the Foundation Degree in Business and Social Enterprise are able to access facilities offered by Oxford Brookes University, including the library, careers service and sports facilities.

Ruskin College also has established links with Universities to provide progression into higher education for those completing one of the Access to Higher Education Diploma courses or the first (CertHE) or second (Foundation degree) courses.