Top universities degrees like education, social work, childhood..

[DaisyChainWishes]

DD is bright (As and A*s) and school have suggested psychology or geography. However, her heart lies in going on to either work with children or into something like policy work and she has no interest in studying psychology or geography!
She is loves social sciences and we have found some courses at Bristol, York, Warwick, Bath, Southampton, Durham, Leeds (and a few others). These are mainly education/psychology/social policy mixes. She is also looking at social work but I think she is more unsure of this - too young to commit to such a
demanding career I think. Similarly, while primary teaching has crossed her mind, we feel it is too early to cut off other options.
The courses are all ABB-AAA offers and so achievable (providing maths A level goes ok!). DD is booked onto open days and really loves the look of the course content in the prospectuses.
I think she has three main worries:

1. school (an independent high performing school) seem reluctant to let her stray from the normal path
2. can she put down a mixture e.g. some education degrees, some childhood studies, some educational psychology? would it be possible to write a personal statement covering all?
3. would she be better doing a more mainstream subject e.g. Geography even if she doesn't enjoy it much for the CV/job prospects or is the fact these degrees are from 'top' unis and just specialist OK?

Thanks in advance for anyone who has been down this route! We are feeling quite alone as we had never even heard of the degrees until recently but they really are a perfect match for DD.

I wouldn't recommend a general 'social science' degree.

Go for an actual named subject like social policy or sociology. What about politics or philosophy?

Or economic and social history?

Afaik educational psychology is a post grad course.

Psychology is a tough course. Lots of people want to become psychologists so competition for jobs is worse than other jobs.

If she wants to do policy work then volunteering at a charity will probably help more than he actual degree,

Getting a top degree from a top Uni is probably more important than the actual subject. (But avoid Micky mouse subjects)

Social work is worth consideration as it covers a mixture of social policy/ law/ psychology topics plus she would actually have a professional qualification at the end.

Has she thought about law?

Thanks for your thoughts.
There are educational psychology undergraduate courses at Southampton and I think Durham you can do joint hons.
We aren't looking at general social sciences, they have specific focus areas but tend to be slightly multidisciplinary - is that what you mean? They are very similar to social work but offer a broader career option.

She is not keen on economics, politics or sociology as she likes the aspect relating it to children. She is adamant she wants to do a degree she is interested in, not something which will simply look good, and I can understand her point. She has always been fascinated by programmes like child of our time and documentaries about children's lives. She is keen on Bristol's one as it is a BSc and reports some good career options after. It is ranked highly too but we will see more at the open day next week.

She has emailed a few to ask for destinations of their graduates to get a better idea of job prospects and to work out which are verging on 'mickey mouse' and which are highly regarded in the fields DD is interested in.

There was a report recently that suggested phasing out BA social work and to only have postgraduate qualification. This suggests that postgraduate qualification is seen as 'better' so I would hesitate suggesting doing a BA now.

They are also widening the ways for postgrad social work qualification. Currently, the degree subject can be quite varied as what is seen as more important is to have experience working with client groups.

So it is worth looking for a degree in which she can do work placements as part of her studies. This would both give transferable skills and give her a chance to find out if that career would suit her.

If looking at psychology is worth bearing in mind that there is a lot more maths content than most sociology or social policy degrees.

Childhood Studies is an 'actual named' subject - it is an interdisciplinary course that (depending on where it is taught) includes psychology, law, education, social work, children's rights, social policy etc. It can provide a successful route into careers in these areas, plus many more - it is highly regarded by many graduate recruiters. Some departments take a particular stance (eg may be based in a Department of Education), whereas others may be more truly interdisciplinary. Most provide some sort of work / voluntary experience / placement.

If your daughter does choose to apply for different courses, it might be difficult to make sure her personal statement does address her specific interest in children / psychology / education - but I am sure it would be possible!

Oh, and I would always advise students to study a degree they are really interested in, rather than something seen as more mainstream on their CV - spending three years studying a subject that you are not really interested in could be tough-going. The transferable skills learnt on any good social science degree are valuable to employers, whatever the specific topic, so I think it is best to do something that is stimulating and challenging for the individual, rather than just following the mainstream route because that is what the teachers advise.

Thanks again, some great insights. degreeadvice that is particularly useful as she is keen on the Bristol course. I think that one is linked to policy which appeals to her. All the careers listed on their website are the things she is thinking of long term so to hear it is well regarded by employers in those areas is reassuring.
Glad to hear people aren't saying to go for a more mainstream degree which was her main worry. I can see that she is truly passionate and enthusiastic about the areas she is looking into and highly self-motivated so I think she will do well whichever route. We just don't want her to shut off any major doors at this stage as she has no definite career in mind, just a few 'maybe' careers.
We begin our university tours tomorrow so fingers crossed something 'feels right' to her and convinces her.

I did a year of childhood studies Bsc at Bristol and it was interesting and the lecturers are very knowledgable. I transferred due to house move but I would definitely recommend the course.

There is are subdisciplines of sociology, anthropology, geography etc that deal with children. If she looks up where the prominent people from within childhood studies are, it's a pretty safe bet that they'll be teaching about childhood within the more general degree programmes.

Edinburgh has a MSc Childhood Studies, and the programme leader also runs undergraduate modules within the social policy degree. Sheffield has a well-respected centre for the study of childhood and youth, which will filter down into the teaching areas within different degree programmes.

You'd want to clarify this with the British Psychological Society (BPS) website, but an undergraduate degree in Educational Psychology is not going to lead directly to chartered educational psychologist status. For that you usually need a BPS-accredited first degree in Psychology followed by a postgraduate qualification. My impression is that most people do some teaching in between the two degrees, but I'm not sure whether that's a requirement.

Psychology students should make sure that all the undergrad degrees that sound specialist (Educational Psychology, Forensic Psychology) still cover all the core modules that the BPS requires in an accredited Psychology degree. If they don't they won't get the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership that you need to progress to postgraduate training.

The open Uni does a childhood course. Maybe she could do that whilst working to build up experience?

Otherwise I still think she'd be better doing social policy/ anthropology etc ug then masters in childhood.

The OU childhood degree is very good. You can buy the textbooks for the main childhood module on it, which cover a lot of the basic ground of childhood studies.

I worked closely with educational psychologists in my professional life and they were all teachers first. Not a psychology degree to be seen. They all did post grad and it takes years. I would definitely recommend the course you have identified at Bristol though. There is no reason why you cannot do the degree you want and then do teach first and then do educational psychology. I never met an ed psych under the age of 40! I am sure there are some out there, but it is a job that requires experience and qualifications.

AllMimsy the Southampton undergrad degree does have BPS- www.southampton.ac.uk/psychology/undergraduate/courses/cx83_education_and_psychology.page so a massive bonus in my DDs eyes as ed psych is potentially an area of interest.

Open uni probably isn't for DD as she is keen to (and ready to!) move away and have the student experience and independence it brings. But useful to know about the textbooks to get a feel of that type of course. Will run the masters idea by her too.

I am feeling a lot more reassured about the potential of these degrees now, thanks all. Fingers crossed the open days help her narrow it down.

Cross posted MillyMolly - thanks for that insight. It is more the route I can imagine DD taking if she does choose education/teaching/ed psych later on. We are really liking the look of the Bristol course and thinking you cannot go too wrong with a Bristol BSc degree.

weatherall Sorry, I don't understand your logic - why would a degree in social policy be better than a degree in childhood, when that is what the OP's DD is interested in? She could then do a Masters in social work, international children's rights, law, ed psych, PGCE etc - or go straight into a whole range of jobs working with children. I don't mean to be critical, just not sure of your reasoning!

Well for one thing we have huge gender discrimination in the workplace and to some employers a degree in childhood will scream: potential multiple mat leaves.

The class will be almost all women.

Social policy is more mixed and is more of an established academic subject.

There are employers who will see childhood as a Micky mouse subject.

Better to do childhood modules within another degree imo.

Interesting weatherall
I don't think DD is too bothered about the female nature of it, we discussed this ealier. She has male friends.
DD is looking at many female orientated jobs related to childhood and so I can't see a Bristol BSc degree being viewed as Mickey Mouse.. I could be wrong. I can see your point if she was aiming for accountancy or big firm corporal jobs.
Thanks for the further comments - I will let DD have a look at all the options at the open days and see where she gets to.

You did ask about the personal statement your DD would have to write for courses that might not be identical. My DD2 had to do the same and she ended up writing for the course she wanted the most but with nods to the others. We had brilliant advice from her school though and the course she wanted was unique with 800 applicants for 30 places. I would try and steer towards, say, education based courses. They may not be identical but she will be able to tailor her PS as necessary. Just look very closely at what the course wants applicants to demonstrate and ask questions of staff at the open day. If she does not do it already, any volunteering with children will be a good thing to back up the academics. Why is she interested in educational psychology? Can she demonstrate what she has done to promote her interest in this?