MA

Working for Children and Young People (Youth Work Initial Qualifying)

Combine academic study with hands-on learning, preparing you for impactful roles supporting young people across sectors including local authorities, charities, mental health services, and youth development programmes.

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Key Course Details

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Newport

  • Campus Code

    C

Fees

  • Home students

    £11,060*

  • International students

    £17,900*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Newport

  • Campus Code

    C

Fees

  • Home students

    £1,229*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
Make an Enquiry

A professionally accredited course that allows you to qualify as a Youth and Community Worker in just one academic year, providing you with the skills and recognition needed to progress in the field.

DESIGNED FOR

Those already working with young people who want to gain a professional youth work qualification. It suits those seeking promotion, a career change, or to formalise experience—whether in councils, charities, mental health, or community settings supporting young people and families.

Endorsement

  • Education Training Standards Wales (ETS)

Career Paths

  • Youth Worker
  • Support Worker
  • Youth Engagement Worker
  • Sports Development Worker
  • Children and Young People Mental Health Advisor

Skills taught

  • Leadership
  • Research
  • Safeguarding and Ethics
  • Outdoor Skills
  • Professional Values

We make a difference in practice, not just on paper. Our courses are designed by people who offer jobs - and taught by people who have real work experience.

a lecturer and student in a practical session at a rock climbing centre
Three students sat in Newport campus library studying together
A group of students smiling at the camera learning how to make a fire

Course Highlights

Get Professionally Qualified

This course is professionally endorsed by Education Training Standards Wales (ETS), meaning you can qualify as a Youth and Community Worker in just one academic year. You can continue into a second year to complete the full MA.

Hands-On Learning

Practical modules take you beyond the classroom to explore how young people grow through new experiences. Your classroom becomes lakes, mountains, and gorges—using the outdoors as a space to learn and connect with young people.

Designed with Employers and Communities

We’ve worked closely with employers and community organisations to design course content that reflects the real world. That means what you learn is always relevant and shaped by those working in the sector.

Learn While You Work

You’ll complete 300 hours of professional placements during the course. This gives you the chance to apply what you’re learning in real youth and community settings, helping you make sense of theory through direct, face-to-face practice.

Outstanding Graduate Outcomes

99% of USW Education graduates are in Employment and/or Further Study 15 months after graduation (Graduate Outcomes Survey 2022/23)

Module Overview

In your first year, you’ll complete the taught modules through lectures, seminars, and tutorials, alongside professional practice placements and a range of outdoor learning experiences.

Applying Values, Principles and Policies in Youth and Community Work
You’ll explore the values, purpose, and professional identity of Youth Work, helping you understand and take ownership of your own professional role by studying the key theories, practices, and principles behind the field.

Professional Practice
You’ll build and strengthen your Youth and Community Work skills, knowledge, and competencies through 300 hours of professional learning combined with thoughtful reflection on your experiences.

Restorative Justice with children, young people and communities
You’ll critically explore traditional and community-led cultural practices that address conflict, examining how they have influenced restorative approaches across different countries, disciplines, and services.

Ethics, Reflection and Safeguarding
You’ll gain the tools to think independently, sensitively, and critically about the role of ethical values and how to navigate ethical challenges when working with children and young people.

Sport, Play and Outdoor Learning in Youth Work
You’ll explore the development of young people through sport, play, and outdoor learning, focusing on targeted support and reflecting on outcomes to inform your practice.

Research methods, leadership and project management
You’ll develop the skills, knowledge, and understanding needed to plan research and demonstrate vision, originality, reflective practice, reflexivity, and leadership.

In year two, you’ll focus on completing either a dissertation or a major project, guided by an academic supervisor with expertise or professional experience relevant to your chosen research area.

Major Project
You’ll learn to produce a clear, well-structured, and critical study that evaluates your research process and findings, drawing thoughtful conclusions and recommendations for practice or further research.

Dissertation
You’ll be supported to produce a logical, coherent, and well-argued study that critically evaluates your research process and findings, drawing thoughtful conclusions and recommendations for practice or further research.

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

You’ll learn through interactive tutorials and seminars, combined with hands-on experiences that bring theory to life. Small group sessions and one-to-one support are available both in person and online if you’re working full time.

In the Outdoor Learning module, the classroom transforms into rivers, gorges, and lakes, giving you the chance to apply theory through activities like paddleboarding and gorge walking. These physical challenges deepen your understanding and develop the skills needed for youth and community work. Throughout your placement, reflective visits with your supervisor will help you shape your practice and apply your learnings in real-time.

Teaching Staff

Our teaching team brings a rich mix of practical experience and academic expertise. All staff are qualified youth workers or teachers, many holding advanced degrees and deep knowledge in areas like safeguarding, ethics, and therapeutic practice.

The team includes specialists in creative youth work, outdoor learning, and restorative justice, with strong ties to local communities. This blend of hands-on practice and theory ensures you receive a well-rounded, professional education that prepares you for real-world youth and community work.

Placements

The professional placement is a core part of your learning, giving you the chance to apply theory through real face-to-face work with young people. You’ll complete 300 hours of professional placement, a requirement for your JNC professional qualification. If you don’t already have a placement, our dedicated placement coordinator will help connect you with a range of trusted local organisations.

Facilities

Studying at our Newport campus means you'll benefit from modern, student-friendly facilities designed to support your learning and professional development. You’ll have access to bright, collaborative learning hubs, fully equipped IT suites, an extensive library, and bookable study rooms. 

You’ll also have the chance to experience our state-of-the-art Hydra Simulation Suite, a unique immersive learning environment used across disciplines like policing, nursing, and social care. Here, you’ll engage with realistic scenarios through video, audio, and written tasks that challenge your decision-making and problem-solving in real time.

Endorsement

Careers and Employability

Graduate Careers

Graduates from this course go on to work in a wide range of youth and community settings, both locally and internationally. Many take up roles with third sector organisations such as Barnardo’s, YMCA, Pobl, Barod and Newport Mind. Others join local authorities and statutory youth services, including community youth projects and initiatives like ‘Newport Live’. With strong ties to employers and a focus on real-world experience, the course helps develop confident, capable professionals ready to make an impact in the sector.

Possible Career Paths

This course prepares you for a variety of roles supporting young people across different settings. You could become a youth worker, youth support worker or youth engagement officer, working directly with young people in schools, communities or charities. Other options include sports development, drug and alcohol support services, or children and young people’s mental health. The course also equips you with the skills and knowledge needed for further postgraduate study or training in specialist areas. 

Careers Support

You’ll benefit from strong careers support throughout your course, with regular input from guest speakers across the youth and community sector. These include practitioners in restorative justice, teaching, youth services, sport, and outdoor education. You’ll also receive personalised support with job applications and interview preparation, often on a one-to-one basis. The teaching team have a wide pool of connections and are happy to provide references and help you build your professional network, giving you the confidence and connections to take the next step in your career.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

This innovative course is for graduates from a relevant academic background (2:2 or above) and profession, looking to gain both a JNC professional qualification in Youth Work and a postgraduate qualification.

In exceptional circumstances students who do not meet the academic entry requirements but can evidence extensive Youth and Community work may be considered. Such decisions are always made in consultation with ETS Wales.

Additional Requirements

Applicants should be able to evidence a minimum of 200 hours practice experience with young people aged 11 to 25 years old. Please submit a reference with your application to confirm this.

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 4 overall and a minimum of 4 in each component or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£11,060

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£17,900

per year*
UK Part-time Fee

£1,229

per 20 credits*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Busaries Alumni Discount

ADDITIONAL COSTS

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

* Obligatory

 Students will be expected to pay for a DBS or certificate of good behaviour from their home country. The DBS fee includes £49.50 for the enhanced DBS certificate, the Post Office Administration fee and the online administration fee

Cost: £64.74

Subscription required for each year of the course for a yearly fee of £16. Please note the service has to be joined within 30 days of receipt of your enhanced DBS certificate

Cost: £16

Short Taster Courses

Thinking of a career in Youth and Community Work? Learn more about the field and the types of skills you’ll need to progress, through USW’s Youth and Community Work taster courses.

Youth and Community Work Taster Courses

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

THE MASTERS GAVE ME A WIDER PERSPECTIVE OF WORKING WITH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE. IT ALSO HELPED ME DEVELOP MY PRACTICE THROUGH UNDERSTANDING AND NAMING RELEVANT THEORIES, PRACTICES AND POLICIES.

MA Working for Children and Young People (Youth Work Initial Qualifying Student)

THE COURSE IS REALLY INFORMATIVE, THOUGHT PROVOKING WITH THE RIGHT BALANCE OF CHALLENGE, ALL DESIGNED TO PUSH AND DEVELOP YOUR SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE.

MA Working for Children and Young People (Youth Work Initial Qualifying Student)

THE COURSE HELPED DEVELOP MY SENSE OF WORTH AND SUPPORTED ME TO REBUILD MY PROFESSIONAL CONFIDENCE SO EFFECTIVELY THAT WITHIN A FEW WEEKS OF FINISHING MY DISSERTATION, MY WORKPLACE PROMOTED ME INTO A LEADERSHIP ROLE.

MA Working for Children and Young People (Youth Work Initial Qualifying Student)

Studying at USW

Our courses are designed with industry leaders and provide the practical skills and experiences industry demands. Our flexible courses reflect the need for life-long learning. If you value education in practice, not just in theory, then USW is for you.

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Postgraduate fees and funding
University of South Wales Newport Campus.
Newport Campus
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Postgraduate Open Events

How to apply

There is an online application process for this course. Please choose the application form for your preferred start date and mode of study (i.e. full-time or part-time).

International admissions

Please see our international admissions advice for further information about how to apply as a prospective international student.

Related Courses

Working with Adult and Young People who Offend - MSc Learn more

Next Steps

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