Community Education
Award
BA (Hons)
Duration & study mode
4 years full-time, flexible part-time
Additional information
Course starting dates
-
Lanarkshire: September
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Find your place at UWS in 2024
Discover what it means to become a professionally qualified Community Educator with our BA Community Education degree.
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.
Teaching, learning and assessment are underpinned by theories and practices relating to youth and community work, equality and social justice, wellbeing and community empowerment.
This degree is designed for those already involved or interested in working with people in communities to promote learning for life and social change
40% of learning is achieved in practice-based placements that provide experiential learning in community education settings
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
Our Programme Leaders have recorded Zoom sessions to help you discover all there is to know about our courses. From professional accreditation to programme modules and career opportunities, our Programme Leaders will help answer all your questions. You can find them on our YouTube Channel or by clicking the link below.
We welcome Scottish, UK and international students and consider all applicants on an individual basis.
Don’t worry if your qualifications are not listed here, we take a range of factors into account when assessing your application and are happy to consider other alternative combinations of qualifications and experience.
If you are applying with an EU or non-EU qualification, please check our Undergraduate Entry Requirements page which gives more information about country-specific entry requirements.
Applicants who do not meet the entry criteria but hold similar childcare qualifications together with relevant work experience are encouraged to contact us for advice on Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for entry to second year.
Successful applicants who gain a place on this course will need to register on the PVG Scheme, managed and delivered by Disclosure Scotland. An application form will be sent from the University once you have accepted your offer. The fee for joining the scheme is £59.
Visit the Disclosure Scotland website for more information on the PVG scheme.
For applicants whose first language is not English, the University sets a minimum English Language proficiency level. The qualifications below must have been gained within two years of the start of your course.
General English language requirements at UWS: International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic module (not General Training)
Exceptions to this level of IELTS scoring exist for some accredited or professionally-recognised courses (see section below for more details).
SOCIAL WORK DEGREES
For our BA (Hons) Social Work and MSc Social Work programmes, applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
All stated English tests are acceptable for admission for both home/EU and international students for this programme:
For our research degrees (MRes, MPhil, PhD, DBA, DProf) applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
For Health, Nursing & Midwifery courses that lead to, or require professional registration with the Nursing & Midwifery Council, applicants are required to have an IELTS or Occupational English Test (OET)*.
For such courses, the IELTS score is as follows:
* Note that the Occupational English Test (OET) will now be accepted in addition to IELTS as proof of a Nurse's English Language Competence (Nursing & Midwifery Council, 2019).
For our BSc (Hons) Applied Biomedical Science, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science and MSc Advanced Biomedical Science programmes, applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
For our Certificate of Higher Education courses, applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
TOEFL IBT*: 78; no sub-test less than:
* Please note that TOEFL is still acceptable for admission to this programme for both home/EU and international students.
For international students, the Home Office has confirmed that the University can choose to use TOEFL to make its own assessment of English language ability for visa applications to degree level courses. We therefore still accept TOEFL tests taken in the last two years for admission to this programme.
West African Senior School Certificate of Education (WASSCE) including acceptance of WAEC Scratchcard*
*UWS will accept a WAEC scratchcard confirming that an applicant has achieved C6 or above as evidence of meeting English language requirement from Nigeria if the student graduated within the last 5 years. After 5 years applicants would be required to provide the WAEC Certificate.
Applicants who do not meet the minimum English language requirements have the option to study one of our preparatory and pre-sessional English courses. The UWS courses available are:
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:
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.
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.
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.
In trimester two, you will further develop your CLD competences by completing a capstone project within a practice learning placement.
Completion of the capstone project will involve developing and evaluating a specific piece of practice. You will evaluate your capstone project and present an artefact (such as a film, training pack or weblog) that can 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. Alongside Childhood Studies, you will develop more nuanced and critical understanding of inter-professional practices.
You will also carry out a research dissertation through professional enquiry linked to practice learning.
This course also gives you the option of taking a language module, which can count towards your degree. These modules cover multiple languages and range from absolute beginner to near-native speaker level.
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 and there are no exams in this programme.
As a qualifying programme 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 programme have gone on to work in:
Students who successfully complete their degree can, for example, progress to a range of aligned UWS programmes.
£1,820 cost per year of study (usually paid by the Scottish Government via SAAS*)
£9,250 Cost per year of study, but not more than £27,750
£9,250 Cost per year of study, but not more than £27,750
£15,500 per year of study
£305 per module (20 credits)
£1,550 per module (20 credits)
£1,550 per module (20 credits)
£2,580 per module (20 credits)
We will always try to make sure that we publish accurate course information but we do not accept responsibility for any mistakes or omissions. We will also try to make sure that we deliver our courses in line with our published information. However, we may not always be able to do so and you can find further information about this in our enrolment terms and conditions.