Childhood and Youth Studies

At the heart of ‘Childhood and Youth Studies’ is a view of children and young people as social actors: people with something to say, with resilience, with complex lives that are experienced amidst all the cultural, social, educational and political shifts that happen in the world around them. 

Our degree in Childhood and Youth Studies allows you to engage with issues relevant to 21^st century childhood and youth. These include a broad range of subjects such as mental health, communication and behaviour, growing up, education for life, families and substance abuse, relationships and adolescence, rights, and gender identity.

Students studying a BA in Childhood and Youth Studies will be interested in questions that are difficult, important and relevant to a modern society such as:

• When does childhood really end?
• Has technology ruined or liberated childhood?
• Who decides what is in the ‘best interests’ of a young person?
• Why does society think young people are deviant?
• How can we create a positive cycle of family literacy?
• Do all children have rights? How do they get them?
• How can practitioners work with children in empathic ways?
• How do gender norms impact on a child’s sense of self?