OU Childhood and Youth Studies Degree

[Aria20]

Has anyone studied this and if so what are you employed as now?

I am currently doing stage 1 of psychology degree with OU. I am having second thoughts - the research aspects are not as interesting as I thought or maybe it's covid as that has meant we can't do the research ourselves.

Anyway, I have a decision to make ASAP. I can swap on to childhood and youth degree and won't have to add any further years on to my studying as my modules are linked.

Or - I lose the work I've done so far this year and 25% of the fees and start primary education degree next October. This will mean I add another year on to studying which I'm a bit reluctant to do.... Also if I have a degree in primary education will I be limited to only teaching jobs in the future?

I just want to know really if childhood and youth is a waste of time as a degree or whether it is useful for getting a job. I would like to work in education/with children. I always wanted to be a teacher but had my children young and people put me off with negative experiences saying I'd have no time for my own children. I have been deputy head at a preschool and also been a childminder and worked with a lot of SEN children.

When I started doing the psychology degree my intention was to work in a pastoral role in a school which I could probably do with the childhood and youth degree but I am now wondering if long term that is going to have enough job opportunities for progression or pay enough? Could I start off doing a pastoral role and then progress into teaching doing Teach First or similar with the childhood and youth degree?

Sorry that was so long! Feel so undecided at the moment!

I think a psychology degree will give you more options. You can always do a one year PGCE or a two year social work qualification afterwards.

Have you looked at the rest of the modules for the psych degree? You'd expect first year to be more of a general grounding in the subject, research techniques etc.

Pastoral/family support roles in schools is quite a niche career plan, there's only one job in each school generally, not much progression and you don't need a degree qualification anyway. If you have a level 3 qualification in childcare/social care anyway I doubt a degree will give you much more.

Have you asked for an appointment with the OU careers service? They're likely to have a good picture of what people have done after their degree.

@minniemango that was why I originally chose psychology as I thought it would give me more options. I have looked at the other modules and I am interested in the counselling and forensic psychology modules but not the other practical research modules which is what has put me off!

@lanthanum I have spoken to the careers team but to be honest I didn't find them helpful. Was hoping to find people online who have done the childhood and youth degree and what they have done after it....

I did this degree and graduated 4yrs ago. I was a childminder at the time and just did it for my own entertainment... i was already teacher (post 16) trained and I now lecture on early years, safeguarding etc. Some of which is in FE colleges.
I know folk who gave gone on to PGCE and now are in primary teaching. I am just on the good side of 60 and I didn't want all that.

@InTheShadowOfTheMushroomCloud did you enjoy it? Do you feel the degree has helped you career wise and do you enjoy the work you are doing now?

I'm in my 3rd year of this degree. Not quite sure what I am planning on doing with it yet but I have found it very interesting.

@Tillytrotterisarotter what made you choose this degree and are you working with children at the moment or planning to? What are others on the course hoping to do after?

@Aria20 I loved the degree. It was a mix of learning about educational styles, psychology, children's literature and then there was a research module at the end.
I needed a subject degree to teach in FE colleges but apart from that I haven't used it. I could be a manager in a nursery ( I have done some peripatetic/locum work locally) but that's not for me.
I started the degree to just get the first year which used to be a stand alone qualification for my childminding but I really loved it and kept going.
My DH had to put up with six years of tantrums and sobbing ( I would start every module and then lament why I had been so stupid but I also got a buzz when the results came in for TMAs and EMAs) but it was worth it ....I got a very respectable 2:1.
The tutors were mixed......I had one awful tutor who did nothing but I also got a couple of inspirational ones. I have kept in touch with my last tutor who has become a really good friend.
Graduation day was one of the best days of my life. I didn't go to my nursing graduation day as I was 2 weeks post delivery and breast feeding .

I keep looking at the post grad stuff.....

@InTheShadowOfTheMushroomCloud thank you for replying to me and well done on the 2.1! I'm leaning towards doing it as I like the look of the modules much more than my psychology ones and I don't really want to waste the work I've done this year and add another year by starting the primary education degree when I'd still need to do a pgce or equivalent to get qts anyway if I wanted to go down that route in the future.

@Aria20 I work in a primary school now and am looking at a few options at the moment for when I graduate. My options are PGCE secondary with science, PGCE primary or to look in to working in a CAMHS type position working with looked after children.

@Tillytrotterisarotter they all sound like great options. What is your role in school at the moment? I was also interested in CAMHs and I know psychology would be better for that but I just don't fancy the research projects!

I'm a learning support assistant. I'm doing a research project now for this course. So don't let that change your course. I think it must be standard at this point.

@Tillytrotterisarotter what is your research project about?

@Aria20 you can choose anything related to childhood and youth studies. I have decided on how children react to peers with SEN in mainstream school particularly in relation to friendship.

If you're wobbly about teaching - can I suggest a future goal you've not probably considered... speech and language therapy? I'm an ex-teacher - the job absolutely shredded me in the end and I went back to uni to retrain as a SALT and I am absolutely bloody loving it. Huge psychology component to our course and so many potential routes to go down afterwards - I'd started convinced I wanted to do paeds but now I'm much more drawn to the idea of adult LD or mental health based work.

@Tillytrotterisarotter that sounds interesting. Do you decide your own individual project and do it all yourself? I think I'd much prefer that than the one we've been doing in the psychology module....

@CoffeeWithCheese thank you. Funnily enough I've just read a chapter on aphasia and speech and language therapy for people who have had a stroke and it is interesting. Mental health aspects also really interest me, more so for working with children and adolescents though than adults!

Thanks everyone who has replied. I have also seen a couple of jobs advertised in my local authority child services which specify degree in with childhood and youth, education or psychology so even though I am not job hunting at the moment it is reassuring to know there are jobs out there that I could look into in the future!

I did this degree and went on to train as an OT. I thought I wanted to work with children but love working with older people and in medicine/surgery. The degree has been very useful as it enabled me to get onto high competitive OT course, it gave me a great academic grounding, it was great in terms of psychology and sociology, diversity etc.
I love my job and there are plenty of opportunities and scope for progression.