Modules

Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability is subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Full-time

In this programme, you will have opportunities to explore practice, analyse research, and review policy in the Youth Studies field at individual, societal and global levels, especially in relation to sustainability. You will develop understanding about the various factors that affect young people and help or hinder them from living sustainable lives and having sustainable futures.

The first year of your studies explores the understandings that underpin the programme. This year focuses on the significance of theory, international definitions and perspectives of youth. The second year deepens your knowledge by focusing on research and practice. It also develops employability skills within the Youth related sector, with the possibility of an industrial placement. The third and final year supports your understanding of leadership and professionalisation and includes a research project within Youth Studies.

Every year, you will critically examine tensions and knowledge of global and local interpretations of youth. You will also undertake practice-based modules to engage with professional values and develop leadership skills, including problem-solving, teamwork and decision-making.

Year 1 Compulsory Modules

Introduction to Youth Studies

This module introduces students to the varied and disputed definitions of youth, through a biological, historical and legal lens and as a socio-cultural construct. It also examines international frameworks such as the UN Youth Strategy, and other conventions and initiatives related to youth and the challenges young people face at home and globally including issues pertaining to sustainability in the Anthropocene. Key programme ethical foundations and issues of inclusivity, decolonisation, feminist approaches and social and intergenerational justice are explored within this module.

Sociological Approaches to Youth Studies

This module considers young people’s agency, social relations and the societal structures and pressures they face. It focuses on young people’s relations with others including family and peers, adolescence in schools, the young carer, friendships and intimate relationships, and the impact of social media on social relations. It also examines young people’s relations with society: determinants of inequality, educational innovation and change in provision (e.g., during and post COVID-19 and impacts of AI on education and jobs), access to health, education, housing and decent employment, advocacy and association for change, youth voice, equality, diversity and discrimination especially gender equality, political exclusion and marginalisation and considering social relations within legacies of power such as colonialism and empire.

Young People and Technology

This module considers young people’s relations with technology including issues related to Generation AI, impacts on future education and work, tensions between digital mastery/abuse and physical and mental wellbeing, technology and social isolation/connection, gaming, youth relations with technology and consumerism, technology as privilege or an equaliser, etc. The module expands the debate about the positive and negative impacts of technology on young people’s lives through an angle of social justice and youth/south divide.

Youth and Sustainable Futures

This module explores young people’s relations with nature and the environment and their right to more sustainable futures at times of rapid environmental change through three approaches, a theoretical perspective the lived perspective and an action- based perspective and is taught over two terms. In term one, it explores the theoretical field in relation to sustainability, examining international frameworks and contested notions about sustainability and sustainable development, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Education for Sustainable development (ESD). The module also considers emerging eco-pedagogical, non-anthropocentric, and indigenous approaches to sustainability and locates these as well as climate justice debates within wider political and economic discourses in relation to Colonialism and hegemonic notions. The module also considers the lived perspective of young people in relation to sustainability by considering issues such as urbanisation and Nature Deficit Syndrome, biodiversity, habitat loss and species extinction, climate anxiety, climate justice and intergenerational justice, interaction between young people and nature including through leisure activities and green/wild spaces, and the future of urban vs rural young livelihoods in relation to sustainable futures. The module employs and promotes pedagogies of hope and love and transformative action in the face of environmental challenges.

In term two, the module examines young people as actors of change and considers their emerging interest and activism in issues related to the environment and sustainability both within their local communities and wider new social movements (e.g., extinction revolution and climate strikes). It will utilise guest speakers and real-world case studies alongside research

Psychological Approaches to Youth Studies

This module considers young people’s relations with the self and the psychological factors which may help youth or hinder them from living sustainable and flourishing lives. Topics covered include psychological theories, especially in relation to adolescents and other youth, including positive psychology development and practical interventions for mental health and wellbeing in a variety of settings. Issues of identity, self-image, self-worth and self-esteem including through media/social media and beauty/fashion industries are explored and the psychological and developmental issues and pressures related to gender and sexuality are considered. The module explores the psychological stresses and traumas experienced by young migrants and young refugees and factors contributing to a more resilient young self. It also examines factors that can promote young people’s self-actualisation, agency and psychological wellbeing.

Year 2 Compulsory Modules

Youth and Consumerism

This module considers the global ideological and economic systems that shape young people’s behaviours as consumers and new and emerging trends in young people’s consumptive behaviours in relations to sustainability. The module considers the effect of new social movements on young people’s consumption while considering the influence of the beauty and fashion industry, social media and young YouTube influencers on youth as a consumer category. The module covers issues about sustainable design and sustainability in the age of fast fashion and the attention to sustainable practices (packaging, labelling, recycling, etc.) as well as young people’s activism in relation to consumption and its effects on sustainable futures.

Working with Young People

This module prepares students for working with young people through introducing students to work in youth settings and the professional and ethical principles and practices required for performing these jobs effectively, ethically, safely and sustainably. There is a focus on knowledge, skills, and attitude development as well as understanding the codes of practice and standards required for work in a variety of youth settings. This is a pre-requisite module for the placement module.

Young People and Determinants of Health

This module covers the various determinants of health, with a focus on young people, and demonstrates how healthy lives go hand in hand with a sustainable lifestyle for a healthy planet. It reflects the positive mental and physical benefits of being in nature and the impacts of our health and lifestyle choices on nature and the environment. In particular, the module considers critically varied definitions of health, and explores WHO determinants of health as factors that may help or hinder young people from living healthy lives, and the relationship between having healthy and sustainable lifestyles. Young people’s mental health, physical health concerns such as malnutrition including obesity, sedentary lifestyles, substance misuse and addictions, sexual health and sexuality, and relationships between health and the environment are amongst key areas critically examined.

Youth and the Green Economy

This module introduces young people to the principles underlying the green economy (and the blue economy) as a sustainable employment sector for youth and examines careers in the “green and clean sector”. It covers aspects of youth employment, entrepreneurship and investment in these sectors and why these are important for securing current and future youth employment while reducing environmental harm and supporting more flourishing and sustainable lives. The module also considers how the green and caring sectors can intersect to provide healthier and more sustainable lives while reducing youth poverty.

Researching with Young People

This module examines issues and practices pertaining to researching and doing research with young people as participants and partners including ethics, protection, vulnerability, power relations, modes of partnership, etc. It introduces students to what is meant by research, what are the aims of social research and what are research paradigms. It considers issues of methodology and methods, data collection and analysis, and best practices in writing and presenting research.

Year 3 Compulsory Modules

Youth Leadership and Participation

This module considers issues of youth participation and leadership in society and the international and national frameworks supporting such endeavours. It also examines how economic, political and cultural factors can affect youth representation, participation and leadership, especially in relation to gender, and considers critically the rise of young people’s voice through young advocates and activists such as Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg and social movements.

Youth, Education Arenas and Transition

This module considers youth and their education settings, issues of transitions between phases and stages, and the adaptations and mitigations that may support successful transition. The module considers issues arising from national examinations, support for young NEETS, support for moving to college and university and the transition to work. Relevant policies and practices are examined to support young people at crucial stages of their life trajectories.

Dissertation module

The dissertation is a research inquiry module which develops students’ academic research and communication skills and enacts the learning acquired in the “researching with young people module”. This module is based on research undertaken by students, including within their own placements to produce a 6000words dissertation. Students are encouraged to present their work in a format suitable for publishing.

Strongly recommended Optional Module:

Year 2 Placement:

This is an industrial placement module undertaken off site where students choose their own youth setting placement supported by information from tutors and admin staff. This module allows students to develop industrial links, employability skills and practical work experience at a youth setting of their own choosing. Students will apply previous learning acquired in the “working with young people” module into a work setting while developing further their practical communication skills. A variety of youth settings are included in the placement such as youth charities, local and international NGOs, youth leisure schemes, forest schools, etc. The placement module is optional but strongly recommended and every student who wants a placement will be supported to get one through provision of lists of suitable placements with contact details.

Your learning

The programme will involve lectures, seminars, visits, guest speakers, group projects, production of artefacts, creative problem-solving activities based on real-world scenarios, placements and industry links and interdisciplinary practices.

No compulsory fieldwork although students may go on self-directed or other planned visits.

Typical contact hours vary between 8-12 hours a week, depending on the year of study and module choice. They include lectures, seminars, practice-based activities and e-learning activities. You will also display a level of independent study (25-30 hours per week), for example, by engaging with key topics and required readings in preparation for the discussions promoted in the programme.

Assessment

Coursework, including multi-modal presentations, technical reports, case studies, posters, podcasts, blogs, films, project proposals with logframe, group work and essays, a placement report and a dissertation.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services team.