University home > Unit and programme catalogues in 2021/22 > Programme catalogue > Faculty of Social Sciences and Law > School for Policy Studies > Childhood Studies (BSc) > Specification
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Programme code | 9SPOL017U |
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Programme type | Single Honours |
Programme director(s) |
Nadia Aghtaie
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Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
School/department | School for Policy Studies |
Teaching institution | University of Bristol |
Awarding institution | University of Bristol |
Mode of study | Full Time |
Programme length | 3 years (full time) |
This programme aims to develop the student's interest in and knowledge and understanding of the interdisciplinary study of childhood and children in all their contexts, including the family, schooling and wider society both in the UK and globally. We intend to utilise the staff strengths in the School for Policy Studies in policy studies, health studies, psychology, education and social work with children and families to educate undergraduate students who will prioritise children's voices, participation and experience in society and champion children's rights and quality of life. We want to see Bristol graduates becoming the leaders, policy makers and influential professionals in the children's services of the future. This vision is neither age nor discipline-bound and therefore would encompass the whole span of childhood as well as all relevant discipline, contextual and theoretical perspectives that inform a deeper understanding of the childhood experience.
The degree in Childhood Studies is an academic subject of study that draws on a range of theoretical, policy and practice perspectives. Whilst it is not a professional qualification itself,
it provides an excellent basis for several different forms of professional training e.g: Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), Diploma in Social Work, and a variety of professions in the children's workforce or for further study and research.
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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The acquisition of core knowledge and understanding is through lectures, seminars, classes and workshops together with regular course work in the form of essays, presentations and projects involving the collection and analysis of data. Tutorials provide further opportunities in the course of More advanced knowledge in a student-chosen area is Throughout the learner is encouraged to undertake |
Methods of Assessment | |
Throughout the programme there is a combination of Summative assessment is through a combination of unseen written examinations (normally of 3 hours duration) and assessed extended essays, portfolios or reports in accordance with the Social Sciences Faculty rubric. In addition, students are required to produce a final year dissertation which is based on a piece of individual research. The dissertation is the principal assessment for item 10 and 11 above. There are, however, opportunities to choose options in particular areas which will allow greater specialism. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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Students are exposed progressively through the programme to the forms of analysis and criticality indicated in items 1 to 5 above and to the application of theory and research noted in item 6 & 7. Acquisition of these particular intellectual skills/attributes is further developed by the discussion of key issues in seminars and classes, the summarising of key points from reading and the application of these key issues and points in the completion of unit course work essays. Training in research methods and data analysis and |
Methods of Assessment | |
Through the formative and summative approaches indicated in 'A' above. A component of the overall assessment in each case focuses on the student's capacity to think critically, reflect on what he/she has learnt, formulate arguments and draw upon relevant concepts, findings and perspectives. The dissertation particularly tests the capacity to conceptualise, plan, initiate and report in a clear and appropriately structured manner on a piece of individual research. |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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Practical Skills: All learners receive initial guidance on how to identify, locate and use material available in the libraries and elsewhere (item 1). Comprehensive bibliographies are provided for each unit as are guidelines for the production of coursework essays (item 1). Input is offered on reading for academic purposes and on essay writing and making presentations (items 2 and 3). Lectures are provided which set out the steps involved in identifying a research topic and planning, carrying through and reporting on an independent piece of research (item 4). Transferable Skills: All units require written work and feedback concerned with enhancing the learner's power of expression is given (items 1 and 5). Meeting deadlines and keeping to the allotted time in presentations contribute to the acquiring of time management skills (item 4), while use of the library, agency visits and contact with practitioners help to promote a capacity to use a range of resources. Items 1 to 3 are developed in seminars, classes and workshops, which rely on facilitated discussion and interaction as well as joint work on exercises and on individual or group presentations. Items 5 and 6 are substantially promoted through the work on the dissertation but are also encouraged throughout the programme in regular one-to-one tutorials with personal tutors aimed at charting progress to date and looking forward to upcoming demands. Item 7 is developed through the encouragement to use online sources of information, the expectation that submitted work will be word processed and direct teaching on the use of IT in the analysis and interpretation of data: Unit SPOL20004. |
Methods of Assessment | |
Practical skills: An element of the formative assessment of course work essays, presentations and project work is concerned with the student's achievement of items 1 to 3, as is an element of the summative assessment of unseen written examinations or assessed extended essays. The achievement of item 4 is addressed principally through the completion of the final year Transferable skills: Effective communication of ideas is an important criterion in assessing all areas of a learner's work. All skills are formatively assessed through unit course work essays and student presentations whilst items 1, 2, 4 and 7 are also summatively assessed through unseen written examinations, assessed extended essays and the dissertation. |
Statement of expectations from the students at each level of the programme as it/they develop year on year.
Level C/4 - Certificate |
Mandatory and recommended optional units at Level C (Year 1) are designed to enable the acquisition of foundational knowledge and understanding about i) historical and contemporary views concerning the care, education and health of children ii) social policy in these and related areas and how it has come to be formulated iii) concepts and theories relating to the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development of children (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6), iv) critical understanding of education and schooling and the complexities related to responding to diversity in education (A2, A3, A7). Students also learn, through seminar and class discussion, project and course work essays, about the nature of enquiry in the relevant disciplines and thus take a step towards the development of a more analytical approach to the subject matter (A1, A2, A3, A4, A6, A7). Required reading, unit course work essays and projects, and seminar, class and tutorial discussions contribute towards |
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Level I/5 - Intermediate |
Mandatory and optional units at Level I (Year 2) are designed to extend the acquisition of knowledge and understanding begun at Level C (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6) but most are also specifically concerned with enabling students to grasp how this knowledge and understanding can be applied to childhood issues and objectives or, in the case of options, to allied topics (A7, A8, A9). Provision and practice are discussed with reference to previously acquired knowledge about children's rights and needs and about what policy and legislation are seeking to promote. In this way, and through seminar, class and tutorial discussions, essays and other assessment mechanisms, critical analysis becomes a more prominent feature of the learning process (B1 to B5). Students undertake joint project and presentation work in a number of units, thereby continuing to develop Practical Skills C1 to C3 and Transferable Skills C1 to C5 and C7. In addition, students are acquainted with social research methods of enquiry, the use of computer-based programmes to analyse quantitative data and a framework for critically evaluating research articles and papers (A10, A11, B2 and parts of B6, Practical Skills C3 and C4 and Transferable Skills C1 to C5 and C7. |
Level H/6 - Honours |
All mandatory and optional units at Level H (Year 3) continue to encourage the acquisition of knowledge and understanding but most deal with more complex processes, thus requiring students to engage with topics where knowledge and understanding are less certain or more fluid and where a more open, explorative and critically appreciative approach to learning is necessary. The dissertation in particular requires students - within their chosen area of study - to grapple in some depth with the processes referred to in A8, A9 & A10 and to sharpen and draw upon the Intellectual Skills associated with B4, B5 and B6, the Practical Skills associated with C1 to C4 and the Transferable Skills associated with C1, C2 and C4 to C7. Other mandatory units similarly require a more intellectually supple approach in addressing topics not previously examined but of emerging or special significance to children's development or to the provision of education and services. Effective team work and oral presentation remain a prominent expectation. |
The intended learning outcome mapping document shows which mandatory units contribute towards each programme intended learning outcome.
For information on the admissions requirements for this programme please see details in the undergraduate prospectus at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/prospectus/undergraduate/ or contact the relevant academic department.
UG Workload Statement
Success as an undergraduate student depends on you being able to make the transition to self-motivated, independent learning. Programmes are designed to assist you in this development, in many cases by starting with units in which timetabled teaching, such as lectures and practical classes, provides the foundations of knowledge and skills in a subject, moving on to individual research-based work. Over time you will be expected to take increasing responsibility for your own learning, guided by the feedback on your work that you will receive. At the heart of your studies at every level there must be regular and disciplined individual reading, reflection and writing and it is this skill of independent studies, above all others, that will serve you best when you leave the University.
Most programmes use credits and a 20 credit unit broadly equates to about 200 hours of student input. This includes all activities related to the teaching, learning and assessment of taught units.
A component of this is the time that you spend in class, in contact with the teaching staff, which includes activities such as lectures, laboratories, tutorials and fieldwork. Some of this activity may be online and could consist of activity that is synchronous (using real-time environments such as Blackboard Collaborate) or asynchronous (using tools such as tutor moderated discussion forums, blogs or wikis).
In some programmes there are field courses and/or placements that will take place in concentrated periods of time.
Outside scheduled activities you are expected to pursue your own independent learning to build your knowledge and understanding of the subjects you are studying. Such independent activities include, reviewing lecture material, reading textbooks, working on examples sheets, completing coursework, writing up laboratory notes, preparing for in-class progress tests and revising for examinations.
We recognise that many students undertake paid employment. To achieve a sensible balance between work and study, you are advised to undertake paid work for no more than 15 hours per week in term-time.
Professional Programmes
Many undergraduates in the Faculty of Health Sciences will be following the professional programmes of:
For these professional programmes, full time attendance is compulsory unless absence is formally approved. Academic activities are timetabled throughout the 5-day week and student workload is around 40 hours per week on average. Where possible, students in the early years are permitted Wednesday afternoons for sport and extra-curriculum activities. This may not be available in later years of professional programmes as when a student progresses through the curricula there is an increasing exposure to clinical and professional activities. Students in clinic or on placements may need to stay later than core times of 08.00 – 18.00 or even overnight to observe out-of-hours activities. This increasing exposure to clinical activities means that students on these professional programmes often have longer term dates than the University standard. Individual years within programmes are likely to vary in length (for example because of the timings of placements) and further information on this will be found in individual programme regulations. Another important point to note is that many of the assessments sit outside of the standard University examination timetable and are likely to be more frequent meaning that students will more oftentimes be engaged in revision activities and self-directed learning.
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty Assessment and Feedback Statement for Undergraduate Students. University of Bristol access only.
The degree in Childhood Studies though not a professional qualification itself, provides an excellent basis for several different forms of professional training, including teacher training and social work.
The Childhood Studies programme is offered within the School for Policy Studies
(SPS). It is an inter-disciplinary organisation focusing on the critique, analysis, development, implementation and impact of policy. SPS has four specialist research centres with researchers and academics who work collaboratively on many projects and from whom the teaching staff are drawn:
• Centre for Family Policy and Child Welfare
• Centre for Health and Social Care
• Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Social Justice
• Centre for Urban Studies
Running the Childhood Studies programme within SPS offers a wide range of optional units allowing students the opportunity to follow and develop their own interests in some detail.
SPS UG Admin Team - sps-ugadmin@bristol.ac.uk
The programme is also available as part-time over 6 years of study.
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | |
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Constructing Childhoods | SPOL10023 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Contemporary Debates in Global Childhood | SPOL10024 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Critical Skills for Social Scientists: Childhood Studies | SPOL10025 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Introduction to psychology for Childhood Studies | SPOL10016 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
Education, Schooling and Diversity | SPOL10039 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Students choose 20 cp from the following list, including up to 20 cp of Open Units | ||||
Key Concepts, Theories and Ideologies in Social Policy | SPOL10033 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Segregation and Inequality in International Perspective | SPOL10038 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Collective Action and Policy Change | SPOL10040 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Responding to Crime and Social Harm | SPOL10031 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Debates in Psychology of Education | EDUC10004 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Choose open units | OPEN | 20 | Optional | |
Certificate of Higher Education | 120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | |
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Social Research Methods | SOAD20004 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 |
Introduction to Child and Adolescent Health | SPOL20060 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 |
At least 40 credit points to be chosen from the following: | ||||
Family Support | SOWK20002 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Child and Adolescent Psychology | SPOL20032 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Youth, Sexualities and Gendered Violence | SPOL22023 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Youth Policy and Social Welfare | SPOL22022 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Youth Justice | SPOL20022 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Work and Work Placements: Childhood Studies | SPOL20040 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 |
The remaining 40 credit points to be chosen from the above list, or from the list below: | ||||
Social Care in Crisis | SPOL20047 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Poverty, Social Exclusion and Social Policy | SPOL20019 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Harms of the Powerful | SPOL20034 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Crime, Harm and Money | SPOL20064 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Punishment in Society | SPOL20052 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Curriculum Design for Learning | EDUC20001 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Diploma of Higher Education | 120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | |
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Dissertation (Childhood Studies) | SPOL30033 | 40 | Mandatory | TB-4 |
Intercalating students will take the following 20 credit point unit instead of the dissertation: | ||||
Guided Independent Study | SPOL30041 | 20 | Optional | TB-4 |
At least 60 credit points to be chosen from: | ||||
Children in a Global Context | SPOL32008 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Children and Young People in the Law A | SPOL30057 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Play and Creativity | SPOL30077 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Therapeutic Work with Children | SPOL30035 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Children and Social Harm | SPOL30079 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Child Nutrition, Activity and Health | SPOL30034 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Disability in Society | SPOL30075 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Quantitative Data Analysis for Policy Research | SPOL30082 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Remaining 20 credits to be chosen from the above list, or from the list below: | ||||
Gender based Violence | SPOL30029 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Climate Emergency | SPOL30074 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 |
Drugs and Society | SPOL30011 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Violence, Conflict and Forced Migration | SPOL30066 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Leisure, Pleasure and Harm | SPOL30063 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 |
Childhood Studies (BSc) | 120 |
Unit Pass Mark for Undergraduate Programmes:
For details on the weightings for classifying undergraduate degrees, please see the Agreed Weightings, by Faculty, to be applied for the Purposes of Calculating the Final Programme Mark and Degree Classification in Undergraduate Programmes.
For detailed rules on progression please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes and the relevant faculty handbook.
Please refer to the specific progression/award requirements for programmes with a preliminary year of study, the Gateway programmes and International Foundation programmes.
All undergraduate degree programmes allow the opportunity for a student to exit from a programme with a Diploma or Certificate of Higher Education.
Integrated Master's degrees may also allow the opportunity for a student to exit from the programme with an equivalent Bachelor's degree where a student has achieved 360 credit points, of which 90 must be at level 6, and has successfully met any additional criteria as described in the programme specification.
The opportunities for a student to exit from one of the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry with an Award is outlined in the relevant Programme Regulations (which are available as an annex in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes).
An Ordinary degree can be awarded if a student has successfully completed at least 300 credits with a minimum of 60 credits at Level 6.
The pass mark for the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine and Dentistry is 50 out of 100. The classification of a degree in the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry is provided in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided.
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